Can anyone help, have I been paid wrong? Not received expected wages..

[Meercat9]

Can anyone help please! I started an apprenticeship in a school as a TA on the 8th Sept as this was the day that the new term started. I did however attend an inset day on the 5th. I’m expecting an equal amount each of over 12 months, which is on my contract. However, I’ve been paid just over £200 less today which doesn’t make any sense. I presumed this was because we started back 8 days into September. But I was expecting the amount on my contract regardless as it’s a annualised salary and meant to be the same each month. Is this right? I also haven’t been paid for attending the INSET day on the 5th. Which is meant to be a paid training day.

Also, my start date is noted as the 1st Sept. Not the 8th.

Are you paid a week or two in arrears? Payroll cut off may be a week before pay date, so while you have worked 1-25 Sept (presuming 25 Sept is pay day) the 'payroll' month is actually 18 Aug - 18 Sept, so you haven't worked a full month in your first month. Made up dates obv but next month should be your full pay.

Are you sure you pay isn't pro rata? Schools might advertise your role as the pay being for full time 52 weeks of year, but because you get school holidays, the actual pay could be the annual salary minus the holiday weeks. If this is the case the school should have made that clear.

Cant believe they are offering an apprenticeship as a TA! The salary must be terrible considering TAs are paid peanuts anyway!

Is that £200 less on your payslip for gross salary, or £200 less on the net you received on your account?

If the later, then start by checking your payslip for any deductions (e.g. benefits, tax).

If you've already done that, the pay period should be noted somewhere on the payslip with the dates. It could be the pay period is different from what you were expecting as the previous poster said. If it's not on the payslip, you could ask HR/payroll department.

Personally I'd wait the second month to raise any complaint, as you're then guaranteed it's a full month.

Emergency tax?

Are you on a term time only contract?
Because if you are, it’s technically part time & I remember a relative had this, but they essentially smooth your wages so that you’re not without pay in August. I never did fully understand it, but it could be connected to that.
You should have a payslip, and you’ll be able to see from that what was paid and any deductions, including tax. Ask your employer to explain your pay to you.

What does your payslip state? It sounds like you might have been put on the emergency tax code.

It may be pro-rata'ed. For example, if it was advertised advertised £14,000 FTE then your actual term time salary will be more like £10,000, then divided into 12 payments.

How many weeks a year are you paid for? It will be in your contract - 43.6 in our LA includes 38 weeks (term time) plus holiday pay. In the role you are doing, I’d be surprised if you were paid 52 weeks. Which probably explains the difference.

If insets aren’t part of your contract, you may need to claim additional hours - this is what our support staff do. Speak to your SBM/HR for clarification.

What tax code has been used?

Likely to be a combination of the above. You'll only get paid what is effectively a pro rata of the full time estimates salary as you don't work 52 (minus standard holiday) weeks of the year, you work 52-13 or whatever. And the FTE tends to be full time hours, which you probably don't work at 0830 until 3 or whatever. I remember getting a shock my first year working as a TA many moons ago.

And you may well be a portion through the standard payroll month.

If your pay month starts on the 1st of the month and you started on the 8th then your first month pay will be less 8 days. You don't get a full month pay regardless of what date in the month you start.
Annualised salaries are actually worked out over 365 days rather than the number of actual days so you'll have had 8 days pay deducted.

thank everyone. The £200 ish more I was expecting is what is on my contract as net pay. I haven’t had any pay slip prior to being paid

I’m paid 52 weeks so I’m not without payments in the holidays

You should have got your full monthly pay for September. Contracts do usually put 1st Sept as that's the start of the school year.

It is a term time only role so I also wonder if you were expecting more due to not taking this into account. In my school we also only work 38 weeks, and not inset days. Check whether your contract includes these (you will be working 39 weeks if it does). Because of this we only ever attend the inset day that involves safeguarding and have to claim additional hours for that day.

You will be paid across the year but you won't actually be paid for days you aren't working.
The salary you earn during the weeks you work is split across 12 months, this is likely to be why it's less than you expect as I think you are expecting to be paid full time.

It’s very unlikely that what’s in your contract is net pay - they won’t know your tax position etc so won’t try and calculate pay after deductions. It’s likely therefore that this is due to deductions - tax, NI and pension contributions. Assuming this is a state school/academy you will have been automatically entered into the Local Government Pension Scheme and the contributions for that start at 5.5% of pay.

Your contract shouldn’t show net pay, it should show gross. Your employer will not know your tax code, which will determine your tax deductions, when they issue the contract. The code can also change throughout the year so your net pay is not something an employer can calculate in advance.

I don’t think I’m earning enough for the deductions. But I’m not sure. I haven’t been sent a pay slip

But I did ask before hand the monthly wage as I had to factor in paying for after school club. And I was told my net monthly wage. And this month it’s £200 ish less than was stated

For all school know, you could have another source of taxable income and your entire salary is taxable. They should not be quoting net pay in a contract.

You may also have been placed on an emergency tax code and pay tax on your whole salary this month. That will be rectified as soon as your employer is sent the correct tax code.

Nobody would be able to calculate that without your personal tax code.

You should have a pay slip. Have you checked your email junk folder if they’re sent electronically? If not, ask your boss how you’ll receive it.

no one is without payments in the holidays. School contracts generally have a full time equivalent and a pro rated amount for term time working. Paid over 12 monthly instalments. (Speaking about support staff here).

If your contract says you are paid for 52 weeks of the year then that’s different. I assume this is what your contract says? Which means you must work the holidays too ? Otherwise you’d have 13 weeks holiday a year.

Ask for payroll’s email and get them to clarify. Especially if you have already been told what you were likely to earn.

You haven't worked a full month though, so your first month pay will most likely be reduced to reflect the part month. This is normal for those on a salary - if I change jobs and start on the 15th then whilst my salary is 12 equal installments the first pay won't be. Likewise if I leave mid month I won't get a full wage.

Term time only is a red herring here I think; I do payroll for both full year and tto and this is the same for both