How teacher pro rata pay works
Teacher salaries are quoted as full-time, full-year figures: the amount the post would pay someone working the full contracted week for the whole year. Two separate adjustments turn that headline figure into the pay of a part-time or term-time teacher. The first is the familiar hours fraction — a teacher working 3 days of a 5-day week, or 0.6 of the full-time hours, receives 0.6 of the salary. The second applies to term-time only contracts: the teacher is paid for the weeks they work plus their holiday entitlement, divided by the weeks in a year.
Teaching posts are also commonly advertised by FTE — “0.6 FTE” in the advert is the same 0.6 fraction. If an advert gives an FTE but not the hours, our FTE calculator converts it back into hours per week.
Two different “full-time weeks” appear in school contracts, and mixing them up is the most common source of wrong figures. Teachers are directed for 1,265 hours across 195 days a year — about 32.5 hours a week in term time — but a teacher's contract is normally expressed as a fraction of the post (an FTE), not as an hourly week, and the salary fraction follows the FTE. Support staff — teaching assistants, administrators, technicians, catering and site staff — usually have an ordinary hourly contract, most often with a 37-hour full-time week, worked term-time only. That is why the term-time calculator below asks for weeks per year as a proper input of its own: for support staff, the weeks adjustment is usually the bigger of the two.
Term-time only contracts and the 52-week spread
A standard school year is about 39 weeks. A term-time teacher is not paid for 39 weeks only: their contract adds the statutory holiday entitlement of 5.6 weeks, giving 44.6 paid weeks. The paid-weeks factor is therefore (39 + 5.6) ÷ 52 = 0.8577. Annual pay is the full-year salary, multiplied by the hours fraction if there is one, multiplied by 0.8577.
That annual amount is then usually spread evenly over 12 months — divided by 12 and paid in equal monthly instalments, including August. This is a payment schedule, not extra pay: the same annual total arrives in twelve equal parts instead of stopping outside term time.
Why some payslips divide by 52.14: a calendar year is 52 weeks plus one day (two in a leap year) — 52.14 weeks on average. Employers who build pay from daily or weekly rates often divide the annual salary by 52.14 rather than 52, which makes each week's pay slightly smaller. Neither divisor is “wrong”; they are different conventions, and which one applies is set by your contract or your employer's pay policy. The calculators here divide by 52, the convention behind most term-time salary quotes, and the difference between the two is small — about 0.27% — but it is the first place to look if your figure and payroll's differ by a few pounds.
Methods vary between employers. Some schools, councils and academy trusts divide by 52.14 weeks (the average length of a year) rather than 52, which produces a slightly smaller figure. Some use a different number of term weeks, or a holiday entitlement above the 5.6-week statutory minimum. Conditions for teachers in maintained schools in England and Wales are covered by the Burgundy Book, but the detailed pay calculation for part-time and term-time staff is often set by local or trust policy. If your figure and your employer's differ, ask payroll which divisor and which week count they used — that is where the difference will be.
Worked example: £30,000 post, term-time only
Take a post with a full-time, full-year salary of £30,000, worked full time but term-time only over 39 weeks. The paid weeks are 39 + 5.6 = 44.6, so the factor is 44.6 ÷ 52 = 0.8577. Annual pay is £30,000 × 0.8577 = £25,730.77 a year. Spread over 12 months, that is £25,730.77 ÷ 12 = £2,144.23 a month, paid every month including the summer holiday. The second calculator above is pre-filled with exactly these figures.
If the same post were also worked at 0.6 of full-time hours, both adjustments apply: £30,000 × 0.6 × 0.8577 = £15,438.46 a year, or £1,286.54 a month. Run the hours through the first calculator, then apply the term-time factor — or enter the reduced salary into the term-time calculator — to check a combined figure.
Worked example 2 — support staff, term-time only
A school administrator post pays £24,000 full time at 37 hours a week, all year round. The post is filled at 20 hours a week, term-time only over 39 weeks. Hours fraction: 20 ÷ 37 = 0.5405. Paid-weeks factor: 44.6 ÷ 52 = 0.8577. Annual pay is £24,000 × 0.5405 × 0.8577 = £11,126.82 a year, spread as £927.24 a month. Enter the full-time salary and 20 of 37 hours in the term-time calculator, with 39 weeks, to reproduce it.
Term-time salaries at a glance
Gross pay per year for term-time only contracts over 39 weeks (the 0.8577 paid-weeks factor), at the patterns schools use most. Take-home estimates for any of these figures are in the take-home sections under the calculators above.
| Full-time, full-year salary | 0.4 FTE | 0.5 FTE | 0.6 FTE | 0.8 FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £25,000.00 | £8,576.92 | £10,721.15 | £12,865.38 | £17,153.85 |
| £30,000.00 | £10,292.31 | £12,865.38 | £15,438.46 | £20,584.62 |
| £35,000.00 | £12,007.69 | £15,009.62 | £18,011.54 | £24,015.38 |
| £40,000.00 | £13,723.08 | £17,153.85 | £20,584.62 | £27,446.15 |
Teacher take-home pay and pension
The headline figures on this page are gross pay — the basis on which salaries are advertised and contracts written. Used as a take home pay calculator for teachers, the page goes one step further: under each calculator you will find a take-home estimate: the same figure with 2026/27 income tax and employee National Insurance deducted, compared side by side with the full-time version of the post. Part-time and term-time staff usually keep a larger share of their gross pay than full-time colleagues, because the £12,570 tax-free personal allowance covers more of a smaller salary.
Teachers' Pension: most teachers are in the Teachers' Pension Scheme, and the contribution comes off before take-home pay. The percentage depends on your salary band and changes over time, so these calculators do not assume a rate — enter your own percentage in the take-home section and it will be treated as salary sacrifice, the way most school payrolls apply it. Support staff are usually in the Local Government Pension Scheme or NEST, with the same choice: enter your percentage if you want it included.
For holiday entitlement outside term-time arrangements, see the pro rata holiday calculator. For the general method, see how to work out pro rata salary.
Rates and assumptions used — 2026/27
The take-home estimates on this page use the rates below. They are the standard rates for an employee paid a salary; your own tax code and circumstances may differ.
Income tax — England, Wales and Northern Ireland
| Band | Rate | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Personal allowance | 0% | The first £12,570 of income. The allowance falls by £1 for every £2 of income over £100,000, and reaches £0 at £125,140. |
| Basic rate | 20% | Taxable income up to £37,700 (income up to £50,270 with the full allowance). |
| Higher rate | 40% | Taxable income above £37,700, up to £125,140 of total income. |
| Additional rate | 45% | Total income over £125,140. |
Income tax — Scotland
Scottish taxpayers (your tax code starts with S) pay Scottish rates on employment income. The personal allowance and its taper are the same as the rest of the UK.
| Band | Rate | Income range |
|---|---|---|
| Starter rate | 19% | £12,571 – £16,537 |
| Basic rate | 20% | £16,538 – £29,526 |
| Intermediate rate | 21% | £29,527 – £43,662 |
| Higher rate | 42% | £43,663 – £75,000 |
| Advanced rate | 45% | £75,001 – £125,140 |
| Top rate | 48% | Over £125,140 |
National Insurance — employees (Class 1, UK-wide)
| Earnings | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to £12,570 a year | 0% |
| £12,570 to £50,270 a year | 8% |
| Over £50,270 a year | 2% |
Assumptions
- Pension: any pension percentage you enter is treated as salary sacrifice — taken from your pay before tax and National Insurance are worked out. If your scheme works differently (for example, relief at source), your figures will differ slightly.
- Not included: student loan repayments, tax codes other than the standard personal allowance, Marriage Allowance, Blind Person's Allowance, benefits in kind, and any savings or dividend income. The estimate covers employment income only.
- Figures are annualised from the yearly thresholds, as most salary calculators present them; payroll works month by month, so a single payslip can differ by a few pence.
Last checked: October 2026. Sources: HMRC and GOV.UK for UK rates and National Insurance; Scottish bands from the Scottish Government Budget 2026-27 (Scottish income tax is set by the Scottish Parliament and administered with Revenue Scotland). This is general information, not financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
Take the full-time, full-year salary for the post, apply your hours fraction if you also work part time, then apply the paid-weeks factor: (term weeks + 5.6 holiday weeks) ÷ 52. For a 39-week year that factor is 44.6 ÷ 52 = 0.8577. The annual figure is then usually divided by 12 and paid in equal monthly instalments.
Because most term-time contracts spread the annual amount evenly over 12 months. You are not paid for August as a working month; your pay for the weeks you do work, plus your holiday entitlement, has been averaged across the year so that your income does not stop in the holidays.
Yes — under each calculator there is a take-home estimate that applies 2026/27 income tax and employee National Insurance to the gross figure, with a full-time comparison alongside. Enter your Teachers' Pension percentage in that section if you want it included; pension rates vary, so the calculator does not assume one. Your actual take-home pay also depends on your tax code, which the estimate cannot know.
A year is 52 weeks plus one day (two in a leap year), which is 52.14 weeks on average. Some employers and local authorities use 52.14 as the divisor for daily and weekly rates, which gives a slightly smaller figure than dividing by 52. Both methods are in use; your contract or your employer's pay policy states which one applies to you.
Start with your pro rata gross pay from the calculators above, then take off income tax and employee National Insurance. The take-home estimate under each calculator does this for you, using the 2026/27 rates and the £12,570 personal allowance. If you pay into the Teachers' Pension Scheme, enter your contribution percentage in that section and it is deducted as well, before tax. Your exact figure also depends on your tax code, which the estimate cannot know.