Stop Juggling Classes and Crisis Calls
Fill teacher and childcare shifts in minutes, cut costs, and keep classrooms safe and compliant.
When a teacher calls in sick or an educator can’t make it, you’re the one left scrambling.
Students get split across classes, childcare ratios are at risk, and your staff cover double duty until they burn out.
Agencies and last-minute favors aren’t cutting it anymore because they’re expensive, slow, and unreliable.
Locumate gives education leaders like you a smarter way to keep every class and care room staffed without the daily panic.
The Reality Education Leaders Face
If you run a school or childcare center, you’ve probably dealt with this:
- Chasing relief teachers at 6 am only to come up empty.
- Combining classes and stretching staff to breaking point.
- Parents get that dreaded call to pick up their child early because ratios couldn’t be met.
The statistics are brutal:
- 9 in 10 principals say they faced teacher shortages last year.
- 97% of childcare centers lost educators in the past 12 months.
- NSW schools alone reported 10,000 lessons a day without adequate staff.
Understaffing doesn’t just cause chaos. It risks safety, breaches legal ratios, and damages your school or center’s reputation.
A Smarter Way to Cover Classes and Ratios
Locumate makes filling gaps faster and easier by putting all your staffing options in one place.
Here’s how it works:
- Offer shifts to your own staff first.
- If they’re unavailable, tap your trusted ex-employees or contractors.
- Still unfilled? Instantly post to a marketplace of verified professionals.
- Only when necessary, send the shift to agencies… but on your terms.
Instead of burning hours on phone calls, you fill shifts in minutes, with compliance checks done automatically.
Why Education Teams Switch to Locumate
Schools, childcare centers, and universities are done with the stress of last-minute cover.
With Locumate, they can:
40%
Cost Savings
Save 30–40% on staffing costs
Fill internally first and avoid expensive agency markups
14s
Fastest Fill
Fill shifts faster
Avoid class cancellations or parent complaints.
100%
Integration
Stay compliant
With staff-to-student ratios and duty-of-care obligations.
$100k
Client Savings
Protect teachers
From burnout by ending the cycle of doubling up classesWhen every class is covered and every child supervised, you don’t just save money, you rebuild trust with parents, students, and staff.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Will this work with our current rostering and payroll system?
Yes. Locumate.ai integrates seamlessly with most major rostering and payroll systems. Our flexible API architecture allows data to flow between systems, reducing double handling and ensuring a smooth transition from shift creation to payment.
2. How fast can I get cover if someone calls in sick?
Minutes. Open shifts are instantly pushed to qualified staff nearby via mobile alerts.
3. What if our internal pool is too small?
No problem. Locumate.ai is designed to connect your internal pool with a broader ecosystem. If you can’t fill a shift internally, we have industry partners that can help build your talent pool and provide access to preferred workers, partner agencies, and the wider marketplace to ensure every shift is covered quickly and efficiently.
4. Does it work for both schools and childcare??
Yes. Locumate adapts to your needs, whether that’s filling classrooms, covering university tutorials, or meeting childcare ratios.
5. How long before we’re up and running?
Implementation is quick and straightforward. Most customers are fully operational within 6–8 weeks, depending on the level of integration and training required. Our onboarding team will guide you through setup, configuration, and go-live to ensure a smooth rollout.
Take Back Control of Your Rosters
Right now, you’re paying too much for too little. Your staff are exhausted, your budgets are under strain, and patients feel the impact.
Locumate changes that.
You cut costs, fill shifts faster, and stop firefighting.
… and see how many shifts you could fill this week.