HR Connect, a leading UK HR provider, has released its State of HR in Education 2025 Report, offering a detailed snapshot of current challenges facing schools. The report draws on insights from more than 125 education settings across the UK, including primary and secondary schools, special schools, independent institutions and academy trusts.
Available to download free of charge, the findings highlight a sector experiencing growing strain. School leaders and HR professionals are navigating tightening budgets, ongoing difficulties with recruitment and retention, and increasing compliance responsibilities. These pressures are intensifying as schools prepare for the Employment Rights Act, described as the most significant shift in UK employment law in a generation.
Key findings from the Report include:
- Budget pressure is overwhelming schools: 56% of schools say funding and cost pressures are now their biggest HR challenge, dwarfing all other concerns.
- Hiring is slow and getting harder: 3 in 4 schools take more than a month to fill vacancies, with nearly 1 in 5 waiting two months or longer.
- Critical classroom roles are hardest hit: Classroom teachers and teaching assistants top the list of hard-to-fill positions, alongside SEND specialists and subject experts.
- Pay is the deal-breaker: Almost half of schools cite salary and benefits as the single biggest barrier to attracting quality candidates.
- Nearly half are standing still: Despite fierce competition for staff, 49% of schools have made no changes to their recruitment or retention approach.
- HR is still stuck in hybrid mode: Spreadsheets and paper remain widespread, and just 5% of schools are very confident their HR systems are fully integrated and efficient.
- Safeguarding systems are stronger, but not universal: While confidence is higher here, a significant minority of schools still lack full integration with HR.
- Major legal change is coming, but awareness is patchy: Fewer than 1 in 8 schools are very familiar with the Employment Rights Act 2025, with day-one dismissal rights and flexible working the biggest concerns.
Speaking about the Report, Elliot Masters, Associate Director of HR Advisory, Strategy & Systems at HR Connect, said:
“This year’s findings reflect a sector at a critical crossroads. School HR teams are doing extraordinary work under intense pressure, balancing shrinking budgets, hard-to-fill vacancies and increasing legal complexity. While we’re seeing progress in areas like digital HR and safeguarding, too many schools are still constrained by fragmented systems and limited resources.
The message from this report is clear: HR in education is no longer just operational. It is strategic. Investing in people, processes and technology is essential if schools are to stabilise their workforce and continue delivering high-quality education.”
HR Connect’s State of HR in Education 2025 Report is free to download in full and provides detailed analysis, benchmarking data and practical insights across recruitment, retention, HR systems, compliance and legal readiness, offering school leaders and HR professionals a clear view of where the sector stands today and what must change next.
