AIBU to expect a take home pay of roughly £920 from an annual salary of £11,745?

[AlohaMolly]

A month ago, I took a new job that paid around £700 more annually than my previous job. More money on paper and also in practice because of the difference in commute. The annual salary was £11,745. Ive just been paid £787 for my first month of work and I can’t figure out how that works? I absolutely gutted as it’s roughly £150 less a month than I was earning before. Have I been really stupid? I asked about the annual salary, not the monthly one and did some rough calculations based on the NIC I paid in my last job. I feel like such a fool, this job was supposed to better my life.

Re Teaching Assistants employment type it's very much down to the LA. All schools Ive known there are permanent contracts.

@Downwiththatsortofthing252

Hi OP, I'm a payroll admin.

Take a look at your payslip under the deductions section, is there an amount down there for PAYE? If there is, then that's incorrect, since you earn below the taxable income threshold of £12,570.
As others have said, you have been charged PAYE because of an incorrect tax code. Happens all the time, especially since HR should have asked for a P45, but sometimes we get them too late.

The good news is next month a new tax year starts, and you will automatically go onto a new, correct tax code. You will also get the incorrectly deducted PAYE back.

Sorry, I disagree. Unless things have changed since I last ran payroll, OP would need to reclaim any overpayment of tax relating to the current tax year from HMRC because there are no more months in which it can be rectified. As we go into the new tax year, only adjustments relating to the new year can be done through payroll. However, I don't think it will turn out to be a tax problem. OP, speak to the school bursar. Either they will be able to explain what calculations have been used or will be able to put you in touch with someone who can.

I had this the first month of a new job. I hadn’t worked for a couple of years and was starting a new job close to the end of the tax year. I contacted payroll who discussed the options and they added the overpayment of tax (I was going to be nowhere near the tax threshold for the year) to my pay the next month.

But this was a January payment not the last one of the year

Speak to your salaries and wages department, it's possible that you are on emergency deductions for your first month but will receive a rebate and be properly assessed next month.

You dont earn enough to pay tax so the only deductions should be pension and ni - it's unusual to have pension deductions in first payslip.
NI on £11, 745, assuming married women's rate should be around £552 so that leaves £11, 192. 26/365ths is £797 - so that's an exact £10 unaccounted for. Thats too close to be an odd tax code or adjustment for the 5 weeks - union fees perhaps?

Married women's rate? Only if op was married and working in the 1970s!

ok so might be pro rated?
eg if it was £12k annually, would it actually be £1k a month, or would it be (12k / 52 weeks = £230pw, *39 weeks actually worked = £9k per year, or £750 per month)?

are these things deliberately confusing?

@Solmum1964

Regardless of whether OP is on an emergency tax code or not, she doesn't actually earn enough to pay any tax - so it shouldn't be that!

You do if they put you on a 0 tax code tho! That's what happened to me - I was paying 20% tax on every penny of my paypacket.

This happened to me a long time ago when I first started my TA role. It didn’t say in the job advert the yearly pay was pro rata! I had a big shock first month. Thankfully they were happy to put me up to the next pay band and I was also allowed to work an hour extra a day to bump up my wages. It’s really sad actually how much we get paid especially since I cover the class a lot! I love my job though.

Is this a part-time job? Why is it so low?

@Downwiththatsortofthing252

Hi OP, I'm a payroll admin.

Take a look at your payslip under the deductions section, is there an amount down there for PAYE? If there is, then that's incorrect, since you earn below the taxable income threshold of £12,570.
As others have said, you have been charged PAYE because of an incorrect tax code. Happens all the time, especially since HR should have asked for a P45, but sometimes we get them too late.

The good news is next month a new tax year starts, and you will automatically go onto a new, correct tax code. You will also get the incorrectly deducted PAYE back.

Are you sure about getting it back next month, someone I work with had too much tax taken this month, I don't know why but the payroll person told her that she would have to speak to HMRC as there's no way to get it back after the new tax year starts and they would need to arrange the refund

What should she be saying to the payroll to get it back in her next pay, I know she's really appreciate that @Downwiththatsortofthing252

This thread tells me that employers are doing a very poor job of explaining:

Tax and how it works
Getting the correct paperwork for new starters
Tax Codes and Emergency Tax
How prorated pay and TTO contracts work

As a matter of course I get every new employee to complete a P46 regardless so they never pay BR (unless it’s a second job) and then this nonsense wouldn’t happen.

Hope you get it sorted OP.

I work in a school on a 39 weeks per yr contract. Schools generally advertise the salary for 52 weeks and then you are paid it pro rata’d. £11,745 pro rata’d in 39 weeks would give you a monthly salary of £706.

Hi, sorry to confuse. When I said she would get the money back I meant it, but it probably won't be through her job, especially as you say so close to the end of the tax year. HMRC will either automatically pick up the overpayment and rectify it by sending a letter to OP, or she can call/log in online to get them to notice faster.

@rifling

Is this a part-time job? Why is it so low?

Unfortunately it’s that low because it is a job in school! Notoriously badly paid.

I am on the max pay for a school administrator in my London Borough I am on a few pence over £12 per hour. The school can only afford to have me part time and my hours have been reduced since I started due to severe budget constrictions. I work 39 weeks per year (term time plus inset). The head would love to pay me more but once you hit the top of your grade that’s it! I do actually earn a little more because the hourly rate gets holiday pay added - there is a complicated formula where they calculate how many days holiday you should get for 39 weeks instead if 52 and then that is then reduced again because I don’t work 35 hours…..

Fortunately I do this job because I love it and not for the income.

@BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou Wow, I am surprised at these low salaries. I live in a country with low salaries and I thought the UK would be better! I have friends who are TAs (one has a PhD!) and just presumed it paid more.

Its probably a BR/0T tax code which means a flat 20% has been taken. Your tax free allowance is £12,570 a year so if you are paid monthly you can earn £1047 per month tax free. When you have your payslip feel free to send me a DM if you want me to have a look at it (current HMRC employee).

@BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou I don't understand why the holiday entitlement is complicated unless you are on different terms and conditions to the rest of us. E.g. 4 weeks of holiday pay is just added on to the 39 weeks. You can't actually take the holiday so you just get paid for 43 weeks. And regardless of how many hours a week you work, your normal weekly wage will be the amount you get for a week's holiday pay. This should all be transparent. 43 weeks salary divided into 12 monthly payments. Apologies if I have misunderstood.

@LadyLazarus40

I work in a school on a 39 weeks per yr contract. Schools generally advertise the salary for 52 weeks and then you are paid it pro rata’d. £11,745 pro rata’d in 39 weeks would give you a monthly salary of £706.

Op's quoted the pro-rata salary. The FTE would be c.22k.

Correction c.20k

I don't understand why the holiday entitlement is complicated unless you are on different terms and conditions to the rest of us. E.g. 4 weeks of holiday pay is just added on to the 39 weeks. You can't actually take the holiday so you just get paid for 43 weeks

I can't remember the exact formula but I used to get 30 days plus bank holidays then you divide the actual FTE by the previous figure.

@airrrrAIRRRRiELLLL

Correction c.20k

I think she may have misunderstood- it looks like the salary was the FTE. No TA job pays £20k

No TA job pays £20k

Some London ones will

I think she may have misunderstood- it looks like the salary was the FTE. No TA job pays £20k

I just googled TA jobs and one of the first ones that came up says

“Band 2 £13,149.24-£13,680 (£18,887-£19,650 Full Time Equivalent)”

Ok it's £350 short of £20k but that's a random post on a national job site nowhere near London so I don't think you are correct @LadyLazarus40