Teaching assistant pay help?!

[Yumbun26]

I've just accepted a job as a level 1 TA in a local school and I'm so happy as I'm finally on the right track!.. only thing is I cannot understand the pay and don't want to sound stupid asking them. It said A1-B1 scale £9730 - £10,938 on the application form but didn't say Pro Rata or not?! It's a term time job and 25 hours a week. I did email to ask and the reply was the position is term time and the pay reflects this..?? Still clueless !
Do I divide the amount by 12 and that's my monthly wage or do I need to do the pro Rata calculation??
Please help!

The full time pay would be more and it is reduced because it is term time as well. They will divide your salary by 12 and pay you monthly. This makes it easier to budget for you.

Ask HR: What is the full time salary for that grade if it was not term time only?

What is the calculation used for reducing it to term time only and what paid holiday do I get? (Term time only plus holiday is usually about 42 weeks).

What is the calculation for reducing it to 25 hours per week (from full time)?

What are the contracted number of weeks to be at work and how many are inset days?

You should see a reduction for term time only, for 25 hours a week, but an addition for paid holiday (pro rata).

I would try and clarify all the above before you start. Do get the calculations.

The way I understand the 'scale'
A1-B1 £9730 - £10,938. I'm guessing you would start at the lowest scale point (earning £9730 and then progress up the ladder to the highest scale point to be earning £10938) so when you eventually reach the top scale point you will not be able to earn any more in that position.

The pay will be split over 12 months. (I'm guessing the amount will be split over 12 months as the holidays etc have already been deducted)

If you are too embarrassed to ask the school, why don't you phone the council salaries department be ask for clarification, as your salary and payslips etc would come directly from them and not the school itself.

When I worked in a school my salary was 5/6 of what it would've been for a full time position. (Paid equally over 12 months)

So for example (fictitious figures used) a 'grade 6' may earn £5000 - £6000 (5000 at the bottom end of the grade, 6000 at the top end of the grade)

But I was a 'grade 6' working term time so I would earn £4166 - £5000.

I would expect a level 1 TA who is full time (36 hours a week), working 45 weeks a year (to allow for holidays etc) to be being paid more than the £9700 that is being quoted as the starting salary, so this must be a pro-rata rate for the job.
If you are working 25 hours a week then that suggests an equivalent full time salary of £13968. Assuming you are in a maintained school that that stills to be low for what would be the normal grading for a Level 1 TA, so I think that you do need to ask some more questions or ask them when you will be getting your contract, as that must spell out exactly what you are supposed to be paid.

Since writing earlier, I have discovered that A1/B1 are payment grades for school staff used by some local authorities. (My LA has its own pay scales). They appear to take the school holidays into account and assume a full time job to be 27.5 hours per week. Therefore the lower rate is because this job is 25 hours per week. Local authorities do not all use the same pay scales. The salary is about right from what I can see.

The holidays would be pro rata too - 45 weeks a year sounds high, admission. Usually the holidays are similar to admin staff pay grades so 4-5 weeks but reduced as the hours are reduced from full time.

Thanks everyone :) x

Check with your LA because there is no national TA pay system. In my LA TAs are currently paid for a 37hour week 52 weeks of the year however this is under review.

That looks like the actual salary, i.e. already pro rata'd.

I'm level 2 and earn a little more than that for 28 hours a week , term time + 5...But I think it varies greatly between Local Authorities, including what is expected of your duties, for each level.
I'm in East Yorkshire.

I also get paid (separately) for Breakfast club and another club, so I actually do 33 hours a week.