If you’re looking to start a career in education, you’ll be pleased to hear that starting salary for early career teachers (formerly known as newly qualified teachers, or NQTs) is relatively generous. Teachers’ salaries work on pay scales, starting with the ECT salary and moving up to the management and head teacher positions.
Here’s everything you need to know about your earnings as an early career teacher:
How much is the Early Career Teacher salary?
In July 2020, the government confirmed a starting salary pay rise of 5.5% for the 2020/21 academic year. That means that the Early Career Teacher salary would be £25,714 in England (excluding inner London) and £32,157 in inner London. The ECT salary saw the biggest hike in the changes; more experienced teachers received a 2.75% increase.
The government has pledged to increase the NQT salary across the country to £30,000 by September 2022 as part of the early career framework, yet the timescale has not yet been confirmed.
How do teachers' pay scales work?
The teaching and NQT pay scales run on the ‘main range’ pay scale, from M1 – M6 with the NQT at M1. Following this is the U1-3 pay scale, which is the ‘upper range’ pay scale, and finally there is the ‘leadership range’ pay scale.
How do you move up the ranks?
As a rule of thumb, classroom teachers are normally awarded a pay rise when the pay ranges and allowances are updated, as long as they have met the performance levels for their role. Every September, teachers on the main pay scale tend to move up to the next point.
Schools have however gained a little more freedom recently to apply their own pay policies to enable them to attract and retain teaching staff.
Are there any other benefits on top of the early career teacher salary?
Working as a teacher comes with a range of different benefits and ways to top up your salary.
These are the schemes available:
General pension scheme
As a teacher, you are automatically a member of the teachers’ pension scheme. It is one of eight pensions guaranteed by the government, and typically offers teachers around £7,000 in employer contributions each year, linked to salary.
Teachers' loan reimbursem*nt
The government are keen to encourage increased numbers of science, computer science and languages teachers in certain kinds of schools in specific geographical areas, so if this is your subject area, it is worth finding out if you are eligible to claim back payments towards your student loan, further details can be found here.
Next, the different allowances and top ups available:
SEN Allowance
If you are working as a qualified teacher with Special Education Needs students, then you could be eligible for a SEN allowance. This ranges from £2,270 to £4,479 annually.
Teaching & Learning Responsibility Payments
TLRs are top up payments and uplifts that are given to teachers who take on extra areas of responsibility. This doesn’t mean covering for a sick colleague or filling in on a field trip. But Early Career Teachers who take on along termextra duty can potentially claim a TLR payment for the extra work performed.
Finally, one of the greatest benefits of life as a teacher is the generous holiday allowance, with extended breaks between terms. Many teachers do, however, spend some of their holiday time working to plan and prepare for the next term and academic year.
So, in a nutshell, the ECT salary is £25,714 in England (excluding inner London) and £32,157 in inner London, with various benefits and ways to build on this.
As leading educational recruitment specialists,Teaching Personnelcan give you all the information you need about the different schemes and allowances available for teachers.
Our consultants are here to help you navigate your way through all your options as anearlycareerteacher, like jobs in special schools or specific subjects. They can make sure you know about all the additional benefits and allowances available on top of yoursalaryas anECT.
If you've recently received your QTS and are looking for a placement to complete your ECT induction,join our ECT Pool and we will promote you to the best schools in your local area.
If you are already working in schools as a newly qualified teacher, register with Teaching Personnelforall the professional support and advice you will ever need.
