How the NJC Green Book pay spine works for HLTAs
Higher Level Teaching Assistants in maintained schools are employed on the National Joint Council for Local Government Services conditions, usually called the Green Book. The Green Book does not prescribe specific job titles or exact pay points for HLTAs; instead it provides a national pay spine of Spinal Column Points (SCPs) running from SCP 3 upwards, and schools or local authorities map their own grading structures on to those points. Most local authorities grade an HLTA post somewhere in the SCP 12 to SCP 23 range, which in 2025/26 means roughly £28,600 to £34,400 per year for a full-time equivalent. The exact point depends on your employer's grading structure and any local job evaluation exercise.
From 1 April 2025 the NJC agreed a 3.2 percent pay increase on all spine points, backdated to that date. For 2026/27 the NJC pay position is subject to ongoing negotiation; no settled figure should be taken as final until confirmed by both sides. Check with your payroll team or union whether any 2026/27 increase has been applied to your payslip. SCP 2 was deleted from the spine with effect from 1 April 2026, pushing the floor up, but HLTA grades sit well above that floor.
To find your exact pay point, look at the grade description in your contract, then ask your HR or payroll team which SCP maps to that grade. Once you know your SCP, the annual FTE salary for your contract year is a published figure. The 2025/26 values include, for reference: SCP 15 at £30,024, SCP 18 at £31,537, SCP 20 at £32,597 and SCP 23 at £34,434 - always cross-check against your local authority's own pay scale document for the current year, as these figures are subject to change with each pay award. Your payslip's basic pay line should be the annual FTE salary for your SCP divided by 12, then multiplied by the term-time-only fraction - but most employers divide the annual term-time pay by 12 and show that fixed monthly sum.
Some schools pay an HLTA allowance on top of the basic grade rather than placing the role on a higher SCP. Where this applies the payslip will show a base-pay line at one SCP and a separate named allowance line. That arrangement is worth checking each year: if the SCP is uplifted in a pay award but the allowance is left unchanged, the total can slip behind what a pure higher-SCP approach would produce.
What a higher level teaching assistant payslip looks like
A maintained-school HLTA payslip has three main blocks: payments, deductions, and year-to-date totals. In the payments block the first line is basic pay, which for a term-time-only worker will be the annual term-time FTE salary divided by twelve - a constant figure month after month. If your employer pays any HLTA allowance it should appear on the next line. Below that you may see additional hours or overtime if you worked beyond contracted hours in the period.
The deductions block will show PAYE income tax, Class 1 National Insurance, your LGPS pension contribution, and any voluntary deductions such as union subscriptions or a cycle-to-work scheme. The pension deduction is the line most likely to look confusing: LGPS contributions are calculated as a percentage of your pensionable pay, and different pay bands attract different rates, so the pound amount changes if you cross a band threshold.
The year-to-date column on the right of the payslip is particularly useful for term-time workers because the monthly gross always looks the same. Adding up the year-to-date gross, dividing by the months elapsed and comparing it to what you expected is the quickest way to catch a pay-award omission or a miscalculated term-time fraction.
If you have recently moved from a standard TA grade to HLTA status, check that the grade change date on your payslip matches your letter of confirmation. Payroll sometimes applies a new grade from the start of the next financial quarter rather than from the agreed effective date, which can result in weeks of back-pay owed to you.
Higher Level Teaching Assistant pay bands (UK 2026/27)
Gross figures reflect typical national pay-scale and ONS ASHE 2024 levels. Net figures are a simplified estimate using 2026/27 PAYE bands and a 5% pension assumption. Your real pension rate and tax code may differ - see the pension section below.
| Band | Gross / year | Net / year | Net / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower (25th percentile) | £26,400 | £21,520 | £1,793 |
| Median | £28,600 | £22,994 | £1,916 |
| Upper (75th percentile) | £32,100 | £25,339 | £2,112 |
Pay and additions on a higher level teaching assistant payslip
- Basic pay (term-time-only)Your annual FTE salary for your SCP, pro-rated for term-time working, then divided by 12. The pro-rata fraction is calculated as (weeks worked plus accrued statutory holiday) divided by 52. For a typical 38.6-week term-time role the fraction is around 0.857, so the term-time FTE salary is roughly 85.7 percent of the annual full-time rate. Confirm both the SCP and the term-time fraction with your payroll team.
- HLTA allowance (where applicable)The allowance trap is a common one: some schools pay HLTA status as a flat cash amount on top of a lower TA grade rather than moving the postholder to a higher SCP. Once set, that flat amount can sit unchanged through several pay awards while the basic SCP rises around it. Each year, confirm whether the allowance has been uplifted alongside the SCP; if your contract lists both a grade and an allowance, both should be in the pay-award calculation.
- Additional hours or overtimeIf you work beyond your contracted weekly hours during term time - for example covering extra lessons or attending parents' evenings outside normal working hours - those hours should appear as a separate line calculated at your hourly rate, or at time-and-a-half if your contract provides for overtime. The NJC does not prescribe a single overtime rate for support staff, so check the rate stated in your own contract.
- Supply or bank workWorking additional sessions in another school through a supply agency or a local-authority bank is treated as a second employment. It will either arrive on a separate payslip or carry a BR tax code because your personal allowance is already used by your main post. A BR code here is normally correct rather than an error; if your combined income for the year is below the higher-rate threshold, HMRC reconciles any overpaid tax after 5 April.
- Sick payNJC occupational sick pay starts at one month full pay and one month half pay in year one, rising to six months full and six months half after five years service. During half-pay the payslip drops noticeably. For a term-time worker the deduction is calculated against the contracted days actually missed in the period, not spread evenly, so a fortnight absent in a busy term can reduce a single payslip by more than you expect.
- London weightingInner London, outer London and the fringe zones each carry a different NJC London weighting supplement, and the zone is determined by your school's postcode, not where you live. This supplement is pensionable and affects your LGPS contribution band. If you move to a school in a different zone mid-year, the supplement should change on the same payslip as your new assignment - check it does not lag by a month.
LGPS membership for HLTAs and how the contribution tiers work
HLTAs in maintained schools are automatically enrolled in the Local Government Pension Scheme unless they actively opt out. The LGPS is a defined-benefit Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme, meaning you build a pension based on your actual pay each year rather than your final salary. This is a genuinely valuable benefit: the employer contribution rates in the LGPS are substantially higher than in most private-sector auto-enrolment schemes, and the pension is backed by the scheme's pooled fund.
Employee contributions are tiered by pensionable pay. For 2026/27 the confirmed bands are: up to £18,400 you pay 5.5 percent; from £18,401 to £29,000 you pay 5.8 percent; from £29,001 to £47,300 you pay 6.5 percent. A typical HLTA on around £24,000 to £32,000 of term-time FTE pensionable pay will sit in the 5.8 percent or 6.5 percent band. Pensionable pay for LGPS purposes includes your basic pay and most contractual allowances but excludes certain ad-hoc payments; check your pension statement from your administering authority to confirm what is included.
The LGPS also offers a 50/50 section, where you pay half your normal contribution rate and build up half the normal pension. This can help if cash flow is tight, but you are giving up half the annual pension accrual for any period you are in that section. Some HLTA staff opt into 50/50 when they are term-time only and find the full deduction tight alongside childcare or commuting costs, but it is worth getting pension projections from your fund administrator before switching. PayslipIQ gives educational information only; contact your LGPS administering authority or an independent financial adviser for pension advice.
Deductions on a higher level teaching assistant payslip
- PAYE income tax. Calculated against your tax code, normally 1257L for a single job. Because you are paid in 12 equal monthly instalments rather than in proportion to actual months worked, the tax calculation is spread evenly across the year. This usually means a light tax burden in the summer even though you technically earned that month's pay during term time. Use the year-to-date tax column to check your overall position rather than reading each month in isolation.
- National Insurance. Class 1 employee NI at 8 percent on earnings between the primary threshold (around £1,048 a month in 2026/27) and the upper earnings limit (around £4,189 a month), then 2 percent above. For most HLTAs the monthly gross after the term-time pro-ration will sit comfortably within the 8 percent band. Unlike tax, NI is not cumulative, so each month is calculated afresh.
- LGPS pension contribution. Your percentage of pensionable pay, deducted under the LGPS net-pay arrangement. Under net pay, the pension deduction is taken from your gross before income tax is calculated, so your tax is assessed on the reduced figure. This means LGPS contributions attract full tax relief automatically through payroll, without a separate claim to HMRC. If your contribution rate on the payslip does not match the band for your current pensionable pay, query it with payroll or your fund administrator.
- Union subscription. UNISON, the National Education Union, GMB and NASUWT all represent HLTA grades. If you have arranged for your subscription to be deducted through payroll it will appear as a named line. HMRC does not give automatic tax relief on trade union subscriptions for employees, though UNISON and NEU both operate their own tax-relief schemes - check with your union about how this works.
- Salary sacrifice schemes. Cycle-to-work or technology purchase schemes reduce your contractual gross before tax and NI are calculated. They are genuine gross pay reductions, not post-gross deductions, so they save you both tax and NI. However, because your pensionable pay for LGPS is usually your contractual pay before sacrifice, they generally do not reduce your pension accrual - though you should check the rules of your specific scheme.
Common higher level teaching assistant payslip errors
The mistakes that genuinely show up on this role's payslips, and how to spot them.
Your higher level teaching assistant payslip checklist
- 1.Confirm your SCP on the payslip matches the SCP in your current contract
- 2.Calculate the correct term-time fraction: (term weeks plus accrued holiday) divided by 52, and check your monthly pay matches that fraction of the FTE annual rate divided by 12
- 3.Check that the most recent NJC pay award has been applied and back-pay received
- 4.If your contract includes an HLTA allowance, verify it has been uplifted alongside basic pay in each pay award year
- 5.Compare your LGPS contribution percentage against the 2026/27 band that matches your pensionable pay
- 6.Confirm your tax code in your HMRC online account, especially if you joined the school in the past 12 months
- 7.Check the year-to-date gross on your payslip is broadly consistent with your term-time annual pay divided by the months elapsed
- 8.If you work part time as well as term time only, verify that both fractions have been applied correctly
- 9.Keep a copy of every payslip; if a pay award arrives as back-pay, confirm the lump sum is correct before spending it
- 10.Contact your LGPS administering authority once a year to confirm your pension record shows the correct pensionable pay and service
A worked example for an HLTA on SCP 18
Take a full-time-equivalent salary of £31,537 per year for an HLTA on SCP 18 in 2025/26. The school works 39 term weeks including INSET days. Statutory holiday accrues at 5.6 times (39 divided by 52), giving about 4.2 weeks. The term-time fraction is therefore (39 plus 4.2) divided by 52, which is 43.2 divided by 52, or approximately 0.831. The annual term-time salary is £31,537 times 0.831, which is roughly £26,207. Divided by 12, the monthly pay is approximately £2,184. This is what should appear every month, including August.
From that £2,184 gross the payslip deducts the LGPS pension contribution. At an annual pensionable pay of about £26,207 the contribution sits in the 5.8 percent band for 2026/27 (£18,401 to £29,000), so the monthly pension deduction is approximately £127. Because LGPS uses a net-pay arrangement, income tax is calculated on the post-pension figure of roughly £2,057 rather than the full gross. With a 1257L code, monthly tax is approximately £200 to £202. Employee NI is assessed on the full gross: approximately £91. Net take-home is roughly £1,763 to £1,766. These are illustrative figures only, rounded for clarity, and are not a guarantee.
The figures change as soon as you cross a band boundary. If a pay award lifts your annual pensionable pay above £29,000, the LGPS rate moves from 5.8 percent to 6.5 percent, adding around £18 to the monthly pension deduction. That shift is not an error; it is the tier mechanism working as designed. To check your own position line by line, use the free PayslipIQ checker and then confirm anything unexpected with your payroll team. PayslipIQ provides educational estimates only and is not a substitute for advice from your employer's payroll department or your LGPS fund administrator.
Higher Level Teaching Assistant payslip questions
Why do I get paid the same amount every month if I only work term time?
Your term-time annual salary is divided by 12 and paid in equal monthly instalments. The months you are not in school are not unpaid - they are paid months in which you are receiving the portion of your annual salary that was accrued during term time. This is the standard NJC arrangement for term-time-only workers and means your income is predictable rather than stopping in August. The downside is that if the fraction is calculated incorrectly, the error runs silently across all 12 payments.
How is the term-time-only fraction calculated for an HLTA?
Take the number of term weeks you actually work (typically 38 to 39 including INSET days), then add the holiday entitlement you accrue on those weeks. The holiday accrual is 5.6 times the term weeks divided by 52. For 39 term weeks that is roughly 4.2 extra weeks. So the fraction is (39 plus 4.2) divided by 52, about 0.83. Multiply your FTE annual salary by 0.83 to get the term-time annual salary, then divide by 12 for the monthly amount. Ask payroll for their exact calculation; if the fraction does not match, you may be owed back-pay.
Am I entitled to the NJC pay award as an HLTA?
Yes. All staff employed on NJC Green Book terms and conditions, including HLTAs, are covered by national pay awards. The April 2025 award was 3.2 percent on all spine points. For 2026/27 the NJC pay round is subject to ongoing negotiation; check with your school's payroll team or HR whether any agreed increase has been applied to your payslip and whether back-pay is due.
What pension does an HLTA get?
HLTAs in maintained schools are members of the Local Government Pension Scheme, a defined-benefit CARE scheme. Your pension is based on actual pay each year, revalued annually by CPI. Employee contributions range from 5.5 percent to 12.5 percent of pensionable pay depending on which band you fall into. You also have the option of the 50/50 section, which halves your contributions but also halves your annual pension accrual.
Is my HLTA post at risk if the school has budget cuts?
Potentially yes. HLTA posts are support-staff roles and are subject to the normal redundancy rules for NJC employees. However, unlike some SEN TA posts, HLTA contracts are not usually tied to a single named pupil's funding, so they are generally more secure than 1:1 EHCP-linked posts. If your role is affected by restructuring, you are entitled to the full NJC contractual process including consultation, notice, and statutory redundancy pay if you meet the service threshold.
Why does my payslip show a lower pay figure than the published NJC scale?
Almost certainly because you are looking at the full-time-equivalent scale but your payslip shows term-time-only pay. The NJC scale lists annual FTE salaries; a term-time worker on SCP 18 at £31,537 FTE will receive only about £26,200 to £27,000 per year in actual pay, depending on the precise term-time fraction. To compare correctly, apply the term-time fraction to the FTE figure and then check whether the result matches your payslip.
Can I claim tax relief on my union subscription?
HMRC does not provide income tax relief on trade union subscriptions in the same way it does on professional registration fees. UNISON and the National Education Union have their own arrangements which may provide some financial benefit to members; contact your union branch directly to ask what applies to your membership. Keep a record of any relevant professional development costs as well, as some may be allowable under the flat-rate expenses rules.
The bottom line
The term-time fraction is the number that governs everything else on an HLTA payslip. Get it wrong and every month is wrong, silently. The formula is not complicated - term weeks plus accrued holiday, divided by 52 - but payroll sometimes short-cuts it. Ask for the written calculation once, store it, and cross-check it whenever your SCP or term weeks change. Everything else on the payslip follows from that baseline.
The free PayslipIQ checker can help you work through the figures in plain language. For anything that still looks off, the school's payroll team or your LGPS fund administrator is the right person to ask. PayslipIQ provides educational estimates only; it is not a substitute for advice from your employer, your pension fund, or HMRC.
Related roles
Payslip checkers
Salary estimates: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2024, full-time gross annual pay by SOC 2020 occupation. Figures rounded to nearest £100. PayslipIQ provides educational information and estimated calculations only. It does not provide tax, legal, financial, payroll, pension or employment advice, and is not affiliated with HMRC, the NHS or any employer. Always verify your pay, tax code, deductions and pension with your employer's payroll team, HMRC or your pension provider before acting.