Payslip- Is there anything (sensible) I can do to reduce deductions?

[Palomadoves]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone who understands finance could advise me based on my payslip... I feel like I lose a lot of pay compared to the online estimate of how much I should take home... I know a big part is Student Loan, but is there anything I can do to reduce what I lose? Thank you in advance for any advice!

@Palomadoves

I get £2446 I think, from.a salary of 46000, as many have accurately worked out (!) which means 500 extra deductions. I get that my Student Loan is 200 of that, but is the teachers' pension 300 more than a regular one? I'm so impressed by the knowledge here. Thank you

At work our auto enrolment pensions are 5% which would be about half what you’re paying.

‘Regular’ pensions are not comparable to teachers pensions. FWIW I pay about 8% in to mine and contributions will vary massively by person so it’s not much use for you. It’s a great scheme compared to most private sector pensions albeit not what it once was I believe

Employer contribution is 3% so you’d be mad to come out of it.

TPS contributions are high but high for the employer too so worth it.

I think you should be contributing 10.2% on the pension, so that looks a little high, and guessing on student loan repayment plan 1 generates the following.
Do you work PT? That could tip your FT salary into a higher contribution bracket. Not sure how that works.

Have you confirmed they are deducting pension from gross salary and not net?

Exactly Lulu, a lot of the people who complain about public sector pensions won't be paying hundreds of pounds a month for nearly 50 years into their own pensions.

I don't think that's why they complain, most would pay in hundreds of pounds a month if that got the same benefits. I moved to the public sector for the pension

This is all really interesting. I definitely won't come out of the pension scheme. I don't know if I can hack another 20 years in the classroom but will keep investing in it while I can.

I work full time for that salary. I don't know about if they're deducting from gross or net... it sounds from others' comments like the tax is right.

Childcare wise- mine are 11 and 13 so I don't get childcare tax deductible, although I do pay school fees. I'm imagining there isn't a similar scheme around that.

Thank you for all of the amazing research and knowledge people are sharing on here.

@BarbaraofSeville - teachers pensions are massively expensive for the taxpayer because teachers are actually only paying for a tiny proportion of the benefits they get with the rest covered by the taxpayer. Rightly or wrongly it’s an amazing perk to the job. I pay far more than that into a private pension and will get nothing like the benefits a teacher will get.

I wouldn't want to rock the boat but, if anything, the tax you're paying looks a little light. A standard 1257L tax code would result in taxes of £558.42 on that salary, not £474.60. www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php

I can only presume your tax code is a higher number than that so it would be worth checking it is correctly calculated, otherwise you could find yourself with a bigger tax bill down the line.

If you have a .gov.uk personal tax account you should be able to see your own coding notices. If you don't have one, it's worth signing up for one.

It is definitely the pension that has the biggest effect. I too had no idea that teachers pay quite so much of their earnings over as pension contributions.

Definitely check your student loan too. If you're able to you could possibly pay it off early if you're paying interest on it as that would save you money in the long run.

Phone student loans and ask them to check for any overpayments. I got a payout of 1500 ish.

TPS is comparable with the other public sector pension schemes i.e. NHS, local government. We pay a lot to be in those good schemes. Definitely worth it but it is a lot every month.

My Dh in the NHS and on £48k but doesn't have a student loan (Scottish Nursing students don't pay fees and get a bursary).

He has a take-home pay of just over £2700.

@Ozanj

Have you confirmed they are deducting pension from gross salary and not net?

Are teacher salaries paid by individual schools I'd have thought it would be the local authority or academy, could it even be possible that the computer system could make such a massive mistake for one employee?

I agree with other posters, the pension is a lot but worth it

[quote CayrolBaaaskin]@BarbaraofSeville - teachers pensions are massively expensive for the taxpayer because teachers are actually only paying for a tiny proportion of the benefits they get with the rest covered by the taxpayer. Rightly or wrongly it’s an amazing perk to the job. I pay far more than that into a private pension and will get nothing like the benefits a teacher will get.[/quote]
Defined benefit pension schemes are simply deferred pay. We agree to work for X pay now and Y pay when we retire. Of course the tax payer is paying for them because the employer is the state.

Urgh it’s depressing isn’t it when you see how much they take off you 😢.

Yes my dh is on a bit less than you buy only pays 4% to his pension
He could pay more but then we couldn't manage our bills , its all well and good people say whack your pension up but you can't do that of your financially struggling here and now

That said even if we did contribute as much as you his employer wouldn't top up what teachers get so its a good pension but costly

@Palomadoves not sure about currently tax free childcare scheme but the old childcare vouchers could be used for the wrap around aspects at one local private school. So holiday club and booked after school care (delayed pickup) could be used

@CheddarGorgeous - no they’re really not «deferred pay». Apart from anything else you don’t know how long they will be paid for and the cost is not necessarily related to the length of employment (rather to longevity of pensioner). But yes, if the employer is the public sector, it is the taxpayer who pays. You’re right about that at least

I inadvertently joined the LGPS when as a single parent I got a job in a school to fit around childcare (with no support from family, friends or kids' dad). I say inadvertent, because I didn't realise I had been enrolled or check my deductions at the time. 25 years later and nearing retirement in a few short years I thank my lucky stars I didn't notice the deductions and opt out to save money. It won't be a huge pension, but alongside my state pension it means I won't struggle day-to-day in retirement.

I earn 46k a year and take home roughly £2700 - that’s civil service pension and no Student loan (paid it all off)

@BarbaraofSeville

Exactly Lulu, a lot of the people who complain about public sector pensions won't be paying hundreds of pounds a month for nearly 50 years into their own pensions.

So very true!