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!

The £16ph is after tax though? it's the £20 gross figure that's important - seems roughly comparable to what you're getting in your 2.5 day a week role?

The pensions and holidays are what enhance the employed rates - maybe the solution is to go from 2.5 days to 3.5 days a week?

@MiraculousLadybug Couldn't agree more - some of these calculations are so far off it is ridiculous!

For somebody who's posted in AIBU, you're being very rude to some of the people who are taking the time to respond?

I’m a qualified professional with a degree & post grad. On less than you. With a lot of after work / weekend worry. I’m responsible for peoples lives on site.

I think yours is a fair salary. I’m an engineer ☺️

Did they not discuss the hourly rate when you joined the agency? Do they take any pension or sickness cover pay off you? Also, which part of the country are you in?

@Lisanoonan And 21 years' in the job? If I were an ECT I could understand it more.

Teaching isn’t well paid. I thought that was common knowledge?

The job could have been done by someone less qualified, and it's not permanent so there is no adjustment for your teaching experience.

@Leopardlola How long have you been in engineering? Is there opportunity to move up the scale? Seems rubbish.

£140 gross for 6.5hrs of work (I assume you had at keast a half hour break at lunch, you are certainly legally entitled to a break) would be equivalent to £818 gross for a full-time working week which would be £42k if it was a year-round post rather than term-time-only. It's £21.54 ph which is nearly double minimum wage. What maths are you applying to think it's only £5 above minimum wage @Youthiswastedontheyoung?

It doesn't seem that unreasonable given you have no managerial or long term planning responsibilities as a supply teacher.

Don't do supply teaching if you don't like the wages but £16 is good and they'll be other professionals on a lot less.
You seem to be forgetting you are literally only doing a school day with no extra responsibility. It's not like being a teacher on a permanent contract. If you want the flexibility you have to accept they'll be some drawbacks.

@MarketValveForks You do know teachers can only teach term-time, yes?!!!! So equivalent hour calculations are ridiculous.

What’s the day rate? Presumably that was known in advance.

Is your tax code correct?

You're not earning £5 an hour above minimum wage though, because your take home is your net pay, not gross.

You're earning much more than that.

@Youthiswastedontheyoung I'm having a bit of difficulty understanding your numbers and there seems to be some confusion between net and gross pay (e.g. your £16 an hour is presumably net but you're comparing it to minimum wage gross). I'd like to help because as someone who has done a permanent job and then done a second more flexible job on top I think I can see what has happened here but I cannot be certain without seeing your full circumstances.

My hunch is that the tax being taken is too high on your flexible job. Your main employer for whom you work 2.5 days a week will allocate your full personal allowance on that job. In theory on your second job you should then pay 20% income tax and then NI on all of it. However, what HMRC did to me is that they assumed my second flexible job was also permanent and estimated I would be doing it all year full time so they ended up estimating and taking 40% tax on some of it.

What I recommend you do is get access to your HMRC account and see what they are estimating your earnings to be on your flexible work. Or, as a short cut, just check the income tax figure (not including the NI figure) is only 20% of the income.

If you think £16/hr is too low, what do you think would be a reasonable hourly rate/day rate @Youthiswastedontheyoung ?

In law? Unless you're a paralegal/trainee in a Legal Aid firm, absolutely everyone earns a lot more than that in law.

No that's shocking OP.. and they want to recruit and retain teachers?!. Unfortunately, its the vital public services sector that get scr3wd financially, I would be interested to know if its the same in EU countries.

I have two masters degrees, international work experience, speak 5 languages and have 16 years in my field. And I've just worked out that I make £16 per hour (take home). I thought that wasn't bad 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think the general takeaway is that lots of us are very well educated, qualified and yet none of us are being paid enough!

What is it you do, @BananaPalm?

Band 5 nurses with 20 years experience take home after tax £13.81 an hour, before tax £18.71. If that helps compare?

Really? I don't know a single engineer on less than any teacher and I've worked in two engineering companies and handled the payroll. It sounds like you're getting taken advantage of. Agency day rate for MICE MEng-level engineers was over £250 in 2010 and it's only gone up since then.

@Youthiswastedontheyoung do something else then. And get a better accountant. My day rate is many times that.

@Daisy95 Sorry - what's a Band 5 nurse?