To think this is an unacceptable wage?

[Youthiswastedontheyoung]

I'm a qualified teacher with 21 years' experience who has just started supply so flexibility with a poorly husband and three kids of my own.
Just did a full day supply (8.30-3.30) and came out with £112 net.
Hubby thinks decent wage, I think piss-take!
Opinions please!

Exactly, it’s always unfair to try compare to cleaners wages. I pay my cleaner £16ph but from that the agency takes a cut, they provide all their own cleaning products, plus they have unpaid travel time between each job. So the cleaner themself is only making £13/14ph max, with several unpaid travel breaks throughout the day. You can’t compare that to the hourly rate I make in my one location, without agency cut, without me having to use some of that money to buy supplies to do my job. Comparing apples with oranges.

I used to earn £120 gross doing supply as an NQT 18 years ago so that definitely is on the low side!

I agree. My DH works in retail. He's not even in a managerial role and he gets £15 phr before tax. He didn't go to uni and he's only been in this job 4 years since losing his business during covid.

I would expect a supply teacher to be paid more than that.

No you can’t have a full time job but that doesn’t make being a foster carer a job, any more than parenting is a job. You’re taking in a child to be a part of your family. Foster carers tend to be families who already had a stay at home parent or were retired rather than people quitting their job to do it though. The allowance is supposed to cover expenses (travel to appointments, increased bills etc) and upkeep of the child (clothing, extracurricular). It isn’t a salary. This is explained to foster carers during the assessment process.

Correction to my earlier post, minus an hour for lunch and 2 x 15 minute breaks equals 5.5 hrs, equals £25.45 per hour

Well if you work every day, that's £2240 net per month. Doesn't sound terrible, however, I work for myself, I have hardly any qualifications, never did Uni, and I always earn more than that. So on the basis, it does seem low, given that you have a degree etc.

OP, you can pay your water bill now

Yes, OP has a degree and 21 years of experience BUT

She has openly said she now needs flexibility, she will be doing the core minimum hours only and has no responsibility for marking/prep/tutor group/everything else that comes with being a permanent teacher.

So the pay rate is going to be lower to reflect that.

Supply used to be quite well paid, but it’s not any more. Many schools are so skint that they would rather get a supply TA/HLTA instead for the class for the day and pay them £50!

I know lots of teachers who have left recently and supply is a route most haven’t taken!

A cleaner in my school gets about £13 per hour gross (although they do get pension contributions too).

Supply teachers cost schools a fortune - the agency is probably charging the school about double what OP is actually getting.

£16 per hour net is pretty good. I’m the school administrator, plenty of responsibility but because of the way recent pay rises have worked I don’t actually get paid much more per hour than the cleaners! For the last couple if years we haven’t had percentage rises, everyone has had a set figure increase - so say £1200 per annum for ALL school support staff. For those at the lower end of the pay scales it works out to nearly 10%, for people at the higher end it’s nearer 2%.

If OP wants to be paid more then she needs to work more hours as a teacher employed by the school, she’ll also get pension contributions that way.

Supply teachers don't get holiday pay or sick pay and only work term time obviously. Unlikely that they will work every day of every term time week so earning potential is limited. The problem is the massive cut agencies take so schools pay loads and the teacher gets a day rate. No marking and no prep is a positive I guess.

I'm not sure. It does sound a bit low. But I only know of hourly lecturer wages from about 20 years ago. It was about £30 p/h but you only got paid for the lesson so it wasn't a full seven hours ever. It could have been if you accepted lots of classes in different levels I guess.
In London, the living wage is about £14 isn't it? So I'd hope a highly qualified teacher would be getting significantly more than that.

I presume it's the wage you agreed to on taking the job? So what is the issue?

The rate of pay may be low compared to a full time teacher with your experience, but you presumably didn't have to do lots of prep and marking outside hours, let alone school trips, parents evenings etc, so it's not bad. I hope the children were easy to deal with - friends have said that can be a problem when doing supply teaching.

Most employers dont pay the living wage though, they pay minimum wage which is 11.44 in London

Best retrain and do something else then...

‘To babysit the class’

How insulting.

You say this was your net pay and this is your second job. That means you paid tax on the full amount of your earnings because your allowances are used entirely by your main job. With NI deductions as well, your gross pay was around £22-£23 per hour (ignoring any other deductions). That is pretty good - over £40k per annum.

And no, cleaning would not pay better (unless cleaners where you live are very well paid!).

As a previous poster says, it seems you don't understand the difference between gross and net pay and have failed to recognise the tax implications of having a second job.

Of course it is a supply teacher doesn't compare to a full time teacher in a permanent role.

By the way, a lot of posters seem to have overlooked the fact that the £16 per hour figure is your net pay. If that was your gross pay you might have a case (although I still think you would struggle to get that much for a cleaning job). But you say it was your net pay and that this is your second job, so your gross pay was much higher.

people in minimum wage pay tax too!
You are comparing gross minimum wage with your net pay.
If your gross pay is £140 per day for 7hrs work then that equals £20p/h - £8.56 or about 75% more per hour than minimum wage. Which yes I think is pretty fair for no additional planning, marking, reports, ongoing safeguarding etc.

@IOSTT You may benefit from a basic online maths course?
If a bill is £129 and someone is paid £112...

Thanks all. I've been looking into alternatives and there's a lady looking for a cleaner one day per week in our village. It's £16 p/h but also a bonus of no travel so I'm going to pop and see her to talk about that.

self employed cleaners in my area charge £18-£25 an hour, probably the best paid profession in the north east

Mine charges £26.50 (W Midlands)