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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think most people have no idea how little HLTAs/Teaching Assistants earn?

754 replies

LorlieS · 25/01/2024 22:58

Anybody want to hazard a guess at the average monthly income of a ft HLTA/TA?

It really is quite shocking!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
16
LorlieS · 27/01/2024 22:47

@KissMyArt Absolutely there is a distain and lack of understanding on MN for lower earners, especially from those who earn well and have never experienced what it is to work your arse off but still struggle. Their answer to everything: "Just get a better job!"
I wonder what your financial situation is, for example?

OP posts:
SmudgeButt · 27/01/2024 22:49

LorlieS · 27/01/2024 22:35

@SmudgeButt Do people working in food banks regularly teach classes of 30 children unsupported?

No but on the Friday before Christmas our Food bank handed out about 90 family hampers and delivered 75 meals to isolated individuals and homeless people.

All I meant was there's lots of people who are underpaid or working for free and trying to do a good job against the odds. And it was the second post I'd seen with exactly the same question about a different job. Seemed a bit staged.

Sn1859 · 27/01/2024 22:51

I've just moved to being a TA from being a canteen assistant. 32.5 hours a week from 30 and I'm being paid less to be a TA. The job is less stressful though so I prefer it.

whatsappdoc · 27/01/2024 23:06

I think what this thread is proving is that support staff, like teachers, need a national standard of salaries, grades, terms and conditions. Half of us can't believe the other half! Some are well off, some are being completely taken for mugs. Some are paid a living wage, some are paid just above NMW. Some have no idea on FTE, pro-rata, holiday pay, 12-month smoothing etc. Not surprising really! It's a minefield, not helped by the people who write the adverts having no idea themselves.

KissMyArt · 27/01/2024 23:10

LorlieS · 27/01/2024 22:47

@KissMyArt Absolutely there is a distain and lack of understanding on MN for lower earners, especially from those who earn well and have never experienced what it is to work your arse off but still struggle. Their answer to everything: "Just get a better job!"
I wonder what your financial situation is, for example?

Edited

I wonder what your financial situation is, for example?

You appear to be asking this question to anyone whose replies you don't like, why is that?

Not that it's any of your business but I'm in a fairly low paid job that I'm happy in, therefore I don't complain as I knew what the pay was like when I chose it.

I mean I could sit around all day moaning that I'd like more pay for what I do but what's the point? If I want more pay then just like you, I'll have to get a better job.

0rangeCrush · 27/01/2024 23:30

KissMyArt · 27/01/2024 23:10

I wonder what your financial situation is, for example?

You appear to be asking this question to anyone whose replies you don't like, why is that?

Not that it's any of your business but I'm in a fairly low paid job that I'm happy in, therefore I don't complain as I knew what the pay was like when I chose it.

I mean I could sit around all day moaning that I'd like more pay for what I do but what's the point? If I want more pay then just like you, I'll have to get a better job.

The thing is though, 3 years ago people might have felt they are comfortable/managing on relatively low salaries. However, with brexit/covid/cost of living; people are no longer managing.

It isn’t just as easy as “getting another job” especially when we are speaking in reference to people who work school hours - they’d need to fork out a months childcare upfront; unless they were very lucky to find a better paid job with school hours.

LorlieS · 27/01/2024 23:30

@KissMyArt So overall your family income is low? In which case do you get additional support?
The reason I ask is because it appears all of those who are of the opinion "Well just suck it up" actually have no idea what it is to just be getting by.

OP posts:
KissMyArt · 28/01/2024 00:11

No I don't get additional support and I very much know what it's like to be just getting by, but since I have no intention of changing the job I love, I just get on with it.

The thing is, you seem to really have a problem believing that when other posters have said similar.

Fair enough you said you couldn't handle teaching so you took a TA job instead and it works around your DC so it suits you and that's great. You also said you'd rather your DH was a hands on dad than a higher earner with a stressful job (or words to that effect).

So you've chosen this part time job that suits you and your family situation, knowing full well what the pay is like 🤷‍♂️

Catxxxxxxxxxx · 28/01/2024 00:11

It is right. Its pro rata so holidays are deducted then salary split across 12 months

LMBK · 28/01/2024 00:15

That's more like a 1st year teacher

Newstarto · 28/01/2024 00:18

Is it an unskilled role? Like a supermarket worker etc

LorlieS · 28/01/2024 00:29

@KissMyArt Do you have a partner who earns well?

OP posts:
KissMyArt · 28/01/2024 00:44

LorlieS · 28/01/2024 00:29

@KissMyArt Do you have a partner who earns well?

Oh FFS seriously? No I don't 🙄

But he too enjoys his job too much to want to change it.

Therefore, doesn't moan about the wage he's choosing to bring in.

DemBonesDemBones · 28/01/2024 00:52

I genuinely do not know what we would have done without classroom assistants. Our youngest is disabled and 'his people' have become like family to us in both the schools he's attended. I could cry at how poorly paid they are.

emziecy · 28/01/2024 02:30

LorlieS · 25/01/2024 22:58

Anybody want to hazard a guess at the average monthly income of a ft HLTA/TA?

It really is quite shocking!

I used to be a TA in England. Yes it is shocking. I now live abroad and am qualified to teach, first with an ESL diploma and now a PGSE. I don't actually earn much more than a good uk school 🤦‍♀️

Workwoes2024 · 28/01/2024 02:38

This is ridiculous. My 16 yo daughter earns more than this in hospitality with tips.

itispersonal · 28/01/2024 04:40

whatsappdoc · 27/01/2024 23:06

I think what this thread is proving is that support staff, like teachers, need a national standard of salaries, grades, terms and conditions. Half of us can't believe the other half! Some are well off, some are being completely taken for mugs. Some are paid a living wage, some are paid just above NMW. Some have no idea on FTE, pro-rata, holiday pay, 12-month smoothing etc. Not surprising really! It's a minefield, not helped by the people who write the adverts having no idea themselves.

Couldn't agree more and if the role is advertised as pro rota it should give the actual salary too! As I see lots of people get a job then ask on groups what their salary and take home will be because it is pro rotad! Maybe we need to be all salaried rather than on a wage!

However until budgets in schools increase considerably, TAs will continue to be poorly paid hourly by some LAs, given work hours of 9-3 but to actually do the job properly need to be half hour before and after which is unpaid!

DwindleBug · 28/01/2024 04:57

KissMyArt
“I mean I could sit around all day moaning that I'd like more pay for what I do but what's the point? If I want more pay then just like you, I'll have to get a better job.”

So basically children with SEN who receive much of their teaching hours delivered by TAs don’t deserve well qualified staff who stay in the job on a valued career path with a salary that recognises the work that is done.

Basically the only qualification their TAs should have is being able to get by on a woeful wage without moaning.

Nice

Creativepotter · 28/01/2024 06:34

I work in recruitment for a school, our TAs get paid £18.9k annually plus £1.2k sen allowance. This is market average for our area and we’re increasing again very soon.

ArnieLinson · 28/01/2024 07:02

Creativepotter · 28/01/2024 06:34

I work in recruitment for a school, our TAs get paid £18.9k annually plus £1.2k sen allowance. This is market average for our area and we’re increasing again very soon.

That’s interesting. Youre saying TA pay through you recruitment agency is over £20k? And that isnt the FTE amount? The take home pay is £1400+ a month?

Singleandfab · 28/01/2024 07:05

The adverts say £22k but then they pro rate it for part time hours… you’re not paid for holiday so take off a third of the year (when it’s very hard to earn). It’s an absolute scandal. I write to my MP about it. No reply.

The absolute problem is that women are still prepared to work for ‘pin’ money whilst doing all the roles at home. I now refuse to. I am a single mum and thought I would try being a TA for it to fit around being a single mum (I’m a qualified teacher and lawyer but if I do those jobs around looking after child and home by myself I break). I had to race down country lanes at breakneck speed between schools too after dropping/collecting daughter and the stress of doing this for £800 a month (I was half an hour later starting and had to leave half an hour earlier to collect DD - there was no afterschool childcare for her and it would have cost more than I earned anyway). It was all so tight on timings… This meant that one day I got to the school I worked at to realise I still had my daughter in the back of the car! I took a mental health day and then I quit…

Now I’m looking into becoming a foster mum. There’s a shortage of foster carers. Still extraordinarily poorly paid but at £800 a month per child (all year round), if I take on 2, I’d be doubling my ‘earnings’ for 12 months of the year and hopefully get some children back to their biological parents once they have had a chance to get through a tricky part of their lives.

ArnieLinson · 28/01/2024 07:08

Newstarto · 28/01/2024 00:18

Is it an unskilled role? Like a supermarket worker etc

No it isnt. They are creating adapted resources, leading small group learning, doing interventions, dealing with parents, completing documentation necessary for the senco, running exams for sen. The list is endless. One thing they're not doing much of is supporting teachers or students in an actual classroom.

MsJAH26 · 28/01/2024 08:06

Sadly there are very few Teaching or Classroom Assistants available to work in the actual class, so many children qualify for 121 support that TAs are mostly in these roles now. At my Sons’ primary school they share one TA for their entire year, which is 61 children. So they dont get paid much, and in a lot of cases, cant even help all the children that need it because of various restrictions. Its a worrying state of affairs.

Cathyuk · 28/01/2024 08:19

I am a Teaching Assistant in Essex and I work 30 hours a week (8.30-3.30 with a lunch break) I get paid for 39 weeks a year, which is spread over 12 months.
I take home after deductions £1250 a month. This includes a small amount of London Waiting money which obviously others who are in other areas do not get.

I am in my fifties and have worked in the same school for almost 20yrs. I went to college for two years and gained childcare qualifications. For me the job was almost the perfect job as, as a mum it gave me the hours of work and the holidays off to fit around my own family. Yes, I am off for around 12 weeks a year, I only get paid for 5 of them!

If I was a youngster now, the low wage would certainly put me off doing the job. It would not even cover a months rent on a two bedroom home in my area.

Sunnydays60 · 28/01/2024 08:28

A lot of people seem to be getting confused about the hourly rates and job description details. There are so many variables.

It is not enough to say, "well you work a part time role, you get paid less". It's the hourly rate that's really being discussed. Of course you take on the role knowing you're only ever going to get paid for part of the year. I don't think anyone here is asking to get paid the FTE for no extra work (although, when I first started that was the done thing in one of the LAs I worked for. Interestingly enough, the LA across the border did not. How is that fair??).

At the end of the day, I feel like what is needed is a nationalised payscale for TAs (I'm sure a lot of people mistakenly think it's a UK wide payscale like teachers).

The grades/job descriptions should be clearly reflected in the paygrades and these need to be nationwide too. Yes certain parts of the job can be done with no qualifications however there are certainly some expectations in certain roles (like a few people have said - teaching whole classes and planning work for example) that absolutely cannot if you don't want to end up with carnage (which I've witnessed this a few times). We should not be looking at people getting paid at the bottom end of the scale and taking on these huge responsibilities because "thats what the job entails"! The roles should be recruited for and the grade paid accordingly and relevant tasks given to the correct level employee instead of getting someone in at grade 1 and expecting them to do everything (job descriptions in this sector often list a bunch of stuff and then bung on "and any other task relevant to the role" or similar so are ultimately meaningless. I realise a lot of schools will be doing this because they don't have the budget for anything else.

Just as an aside, it really grates on me when you read threads on here about people working from home on huge salaries, worried that they don't actually do much to earn their money and then others reassuring them that it's ok because the more experienced you are, the less you have to work. People get paid more for experience apparently. It's certainly not the case in this role!

Over qualified people might choose a TA role because it suits their childcare and mental health needs. They are prepared to take a pay cut. I don't see why that means they can't state that they feel they're being taken advantage of. They're there because they find the work meaningful and are not asking to keep their teacher's wage and simply do less. They're just asking for pay to be reflective of their daily work.

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