Paid in August? Maternity cover teacher.

[blackbettybramblejam]

I started a maternity cover job in February this year and in my contract it says that the school only have to give me 4 weeks notice when they don’t need me anymore.
Does that mean I only have to give them 4 weeks notice too?
If I resign giving my last day as 31st August, will I be paid in August for working up to the end of term?
Thanks for reading

I doubt it.

Supply teachers get a higher 'daily rate' of pay, because they don't get paid for holidays.
Obviously there are a lot of different contracts nowadays with academies and free schools and people being employed through agencies, but why would a school pay someone to cover their staff, when there are no children for them to teach ?

I’m not a supply teacher though, I’m a maternity cover teach who (for all they know) will be with them until next February 2022. I have been paid over the Easter holidays so I can’t imagine them not paying me in august unless they find out that I won’t be staying on.

I was given a fixed term contact until 31st August. Which was great. 12 weeks paid work and 8 weeks paid holiday, all at normal rate.

If you only give 4 weeks notice, with your resignation date as 31st August, you will be resigning during the summer holiday. This will completely stitch them up as far as recruiting for a September start goes. If you are not planning to work to the end of your contract, you should tell them to allow them to replace you.

As I understand it, the holidays are accrued during the term prior to them, so if you are working on the last day of the summer term, you should be paid during the summer holiday. Resigning four weeks before the last day of the summer term would be fairer to them, but should still be safe for you, I think.

Thank you, I’m inclined to give them as much notice as possible because I would hate to put anyone in a bad position and as much as I’ve hated the baptism of fire experience of working in an SLT heavy MAT, the individual people there have all been pleasant and helpful and I have valued the relationships I’ve made.
Saying that I know for a fact that they will have a spare teacher come September due to an unusually low reception intake so I don’t think I’ll be massively dropping them in it recruitment wise plus I’m only part-time.
Thank you for your replies 😬.
I won’t hand my notice in until I get the job offer in writing from the school I’ll be working for in September. (So far I’ve only had the job offer over the phone from the head teacher)

Do what works for you. I always feel a bit sorry for maternity cover teachers because the holidays aren’t in their favour.

supply teachers get a higher daily rate er they really don’t! The AGENCY might!

I’ve been paid for all the holidays so far. I’ll get the decision about august pay in writing when I hand my notice in. They might want me on side at this stage when there are reports to write and stability needed for the children.

Generally, schools only want to pay one teacher. If the teacher you're covering was returning in Sept, you can bet your last pound on him/her returning in July and claiming the holiday pay.

If your contract runs until 2022, it's a bit different. I'm not sure that the school would have to accept the last working day as 31st Aug if you gave your notice in before the beginning of August and the notice period is four weeks. Might be worth getting union advice because you should be paid for the summer if you've worked the term.

Thank you. I know that the lady who I’m covering for won’t be back before September. I also don’t want to tell the school 4 weeks before 31st August because it’s not fair on them trying to recruit in the holidays.
I have spoken to various people from my union and they’re all just saying that I need to have a conversation with the head teacher to establish what will happen. It’s strange that my contract says that they need to give me 4 weeks notice but doesn’t mention how long I have to give them.
Ahh I just hope everyone is reasonable. If I know that I’m not getting paid at the end of August I’ll need to pick up some nannying work or something to tide me over.
It’s horrid thinking I’ve worked full time all year and I won’t even get the much longed for summer holiday.

Definitely have the conversation BEFORE you hand in notice!