Are pay scales still offered?

[Imsosorryalan75]

I know it's up to schools now which pay point they offer but wondered if they do actually offer less than you are. I'm m6 at the moment but I've heard of some schools only offering m3/4. Is this something to be discussed at interview stage?

Schools usually say in the advert if the job is MPS or whether they'd pay UPS. If only MPS then you can apply, even if you're currently UPS, as long as you're prepared to take the drop. I've done that, and then been interviewed and said that I'd only take M6 during the interview process. One place offered me M3 and I said no. Then they reconsidered and offered M6. I wanted the job, it suited my circumstances and I was prepared to take the drop, but knew my limit and said so, and stuck to it.

If you're in a shortage secondary subject then I'd stick to your UPS salary. I'm in Primary in an area with a glut of MPS jobs, and very very few UPS jobs without huge workload conditions attached, so I did what was needed. They can offer you anything they like, regardless of your experience and current/ former pay, so you need to decide before interview what you'd be prepared to accept, then discuss this with them.

Some around here will say MPS but MPS also seems to include UPS. They just use it to mean that it's not on the leadership spine.

E.g. some HOD posts are now leadership spine rather than MPS plus TLR because schools can get more out of the post holder on leadership spine.

Some schools around here still use pay points on the scales too. The ones that don't seem to be the academies with a revolving door of NQTs and teach first staff. Any school that values having staff with more than 3 years under their belt is willing to pay for it.

I’ve seen loads advertised as MPS only. Some even as just M2-M4!

I've just got a new job to start January and they are paying me to scale, but I teach a very shortage subject. Schools tend to only get 1 or 2 applicants when they advertise for my subject, and that's if they're lucky. Many schools advertise and get no applicants.

All of my limited scale examples have been primary so it’ll be interesting to see if it ends up with primary classroom teachers being less well paid than secondary teachers.

Definitely discuss before accepting any job offer.
Either at interview if you're feeling confident or when they call with the offer.
Don't assume if they've advertised MPS they won't pay UPS.