Low pay for Teaching Assistant ?

[walker05]

My official title is 'Learning Support Assistant' i'm contracted to do a 37.5 hour week and paid on a pro-rata scale. My monthly take home pay is 1193 per month and i'm on a gross annual salary of 15,870.

I'm one of the 'lead LSAs' and have the job of ensuring that students' medical information is in place, up to date and that measures are put in place.
I carry out a variety of interventions and liaise regularly with the occupational therapist, nurse, parents etc.
Last year I was just classroom-based, and for this new role I have been given a rise of 20 pounds per month.

I feel like this pay is incredibly low for what i am doing, and it works out as below min. Wage.

Do others agree ? I do enjoy the job a lot, staff and kids are lovely, but I feel like I deserve a lot better, especially since I have a Masters and a Degree.
Any other TAs ?

Most TA contracts are only for 38 or 39 weeks (term time only) and so during the school holidays they are not on holiday but they are unemployed (not being paid at all)

That isn't correct, most support staff have the 39 week contract but that salary is paid over 52 weeks so they are paid every month. They never go without being paid because it is the holidays

I used to be a ta ( after graduating before I did my teacher training) your take home Pay is much more than I was on and more than I took home as an nqt.
The pay is rubbish for what you do but well above minimum wage. But as others have said it's 9 months not 12 months. I was just glad I didn't have to sort out holiday childcare. Others I worked with did other jobs in the holidays or summer school for a few weeks

TheRebelAlliance when I used to teach teachers officially weren't paid for the holidays but the salary for 40 weeks was paid over 52. Is that no longer the case?

I can’t believe how little TAs are paid in London. I live in the North East and was paid 22k as a level 2 TA. My husband is a HLTA and he is on 26k.

I get 200 more then you and am a registered nurse. Also expected to do training in my own time unpaid. I have to pay 125 a year for the privilege of being on the nmc register. If I dont do the training and pay the nmc I cant work. I even had to 200 to attend a smear taking course for my job. It sucks.

But you work 37.5 hours per week, 39 weeks per year, so that is 1462.50 hours per year.You earn 15870 divided by 1462.5 hours equals a pay rate of £10.8512821.You are not under or anywhere near minimum wage

I think the £15870 is pro-rated. So she earns about £13400 (including holiday pay- so paid for equivalent of 44 weeks?) so about £9.27 an hour

Op you said it's not a choice not to be paid for holidays.

So can you look for normal full time work?
These jobs are exceedingly rare and for those with young dc, they are amazing, to have all those holidays off.

That isn't correct, most support staff have the 39 week contract but that salary is paid over 52 weeks so they are paid every month. They never go without being paid because it is the holidays

It is correct. It depends on the LA or MAT -it is not the same across the country as there is no standard pay system or pay scale.

Some pay term time only with a supplement to cover the legal holiday pay requirement.

Some have different pro rata/44 week type models

Some are paid for the school holidays- so are on 52 week paid contracts but that is declining rapidly.

I'm a teacher and I don't get 52 weeks pay! I'm paid for 43 weeks (39 working and 4 holiday) but it's spread over 12 months pay checks so I don't go without a salary one month. Our LSAs and support staff have the same arrangement.

It’s brilliant you have those qualifications OP

But they aren’t actually required in your position. Considerably less is required, which goes part way to explaining the low salary

It seems higher than most TA jobs in my local area (are you London?). However, I do agree that TAs' salary in general is very poorly paid.

She will be paid for more than 39 weeks (which incidentally is Term Time + 1 week).

It’s more likely she’s being paid somewhere around 43.1286 weeks per year, which includes pro rata holiday.

It's not that bad, my dp is an lsa/ta at a special school where he gets bitten, punched, scratched daily and gets paid less than that and he is one of the higher paid lsa's.

Its quite hard to find work supporting the education of children with special needs outside of school hours, Autumnwindy. So if you have spent a long time building up skills and training to, say, support communication in non verbal children, it isnt a 'choice' as such to only work term time. Or no more than a teacher chooses to. The terms and conditions are very different though.
Its quite interesting really. Schools/society relies on SEN TAs to support the education of these children to quite a high level sometimed but pays a wage that means apart from people who want to save on childcare, it can be quite difficult to do.
Society also berates women for doing 'mum' jobs that we are depending on being done.
But if you paid TAs more per hour you'd have to raise teacher pay too.

I'm a teacher and I don't get 52 weeks pay! I'm paid for 43 weeks (39 working and 4 holiday) but it's spread over 12 months pay checks so I don't go without a salary one month.

Where do you work?

There are two issues:

1. TAs are very low paid and do a very important job.

1. You don’t need the high level qualifications you have to do the job. They undoubtedly help but they aren’t necessary.

My Finance Assistant is easy qualified to be a senior finance professional but she doesn’t want to. She’s happy with the role she does and is over qualified for it but the reality is her role just won’t pay more than £27k.

If any of you with the skills Grasspigeons mentions speak German I suggest brexiting, and earning 36,000€ basic, 40,000€ upwards if you're prepared to do shifts and/ or work in residential settings and a massive shortage of personel with qualifications...

Do you sign on during the holidays?

Most can't because their pay is split over 12 months.

that was one of the objections of the TAs in the school I worked in several years ago when that change was brought it. It had a hyge negative impact on them financially, but it was brought in under the guise of showing job security

Rebel teachers don’t get paid for 52 weeksa year at all.

TA jobs pay really badly but they get loads of applicants because they are so popular with mums with children.

I agree it is low, but a lot of skilled jobs that are mainly done by women are low paid

STPC 2018

Working days
51.2. A teacher employed full-time must be available for work for 195 days, of which:
a) 190 days must be days on which the teacher may be required to teach pupils and perform other duties; and
b) 5 days must be days on which the teacher may only be required to perform other duties; and
those 195 days must be specified by the employer or, if the employer so directs, by the headteacher.

and

A teacher employed full-time must be available to perform such duties at such times and such places as may be specified by the headteacher (or, where the teacher is not assigned to any one school, by the employer or the headteacher of any school in which the teacher may be required to work) for 1265 hours, those hours to be allocated reasonably throughout those days in the school year on which the teacher is required to be available for work.

In addition (not directly quoted from STPC). • teachers cannot be directed to undertake duties on any of the 170 calendar days, 171 in a leap year, not specified as working days by the employer – this includes school holidays and weekends;

Teachers don't have holiday entitlement as such- they have an annual salary and directed hours/days within a year.

I was a LSA once. Worked 25 hours a week for £650 a month. Was it worth it .. not at all. Did it for two years and it was a complete waste of my time. The hours and school holiday restrictions disrupt your life. I’m now a nurse and do 12 hour shifts which is so much better.

We are paid a salary, spread over a year. But we are paid for 1265 hours a year working, and that can only be over a max of 195 days. We then get 4 weeks extra pay. So we aren't paid for the full 52 weeks, even though its a salary. It's why many teachers take on extra work such as exam paper marking and 11+ tutoring.

OP, if they are paying under NMW then they are breaking the law and I can't believe that a school would do that. You need to discuss this with the HR department to clarify your hourly rate of pay and contracted hours.