Midday Supervisor (Lunchtime Supervisor) Payslip Explained

Midday supervisors in maintained schools and most academies are paid under the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC Green Book) agreement. The role normally sits at the bottom of the NJC scale - often at SCP 3 or SCP 4, equivalent to 24,796 or £25,185 per year on the 2025/26 rates. That sounds reasonable until you apply the term-time-only fraction and the contracted hours fraction, both of which reduce it sharply.

A typical midday supervisor contract covers lunchtime each school day, five days a week, for 39 term weeks (38 teaching weeks plus one INSET week). Total working weeks including statutory holiday entitlement (pro-rated) come to around 43.2 weeks. The pro-rata calculation is: annual SCP rate multiplied by (43.2 divided by 52) multiplied by (contracted hours divided by 37). For a 7.5-hour-a-week role (1.5 hours per day) at SCP 3, that produces an annual salary of roughly £4,100 to £4,300 depending on the exact figures used. Divide by 12 and the monthly payslip shows around £340 to £360 gross. A supervisor contracted for only 5 hours a week earns proportionally less - around £2,750 to £2,900 annually - while one on 10 hours a week earns roughly £5,500 to £5,700.

For 2026/27, the NJC pay award is subject to annual negotiation; check the most recent NJC circular for the confirmed settlement before treating any percentage as settled. Whatever the eventual increase, the fractions mean the real annual earnings for a midday supervisor on typical contracted hours remain comfortably below both the National Insurance primary threshold and the income tax personal allowance of £12,570. Even a supervisor on 10 hours a week at the lowest SCP earns only around £5,500 to £5,700 a year - well inside both thresholds. Always calculate your own position using the actual hours and SCP on your contract.

Some schools offer additional paid hours for supervisors who arrive early, cover for absent colleagues or take on specific pupil welfare responsibilities. Each additional contracted or regular voluntary hour changes the pro-rata calculation and may eventually push earnings above the NI lower earnings limit (around £6,396 annualised for 2026/27), which matters because crossing the lower earnings limit brings you within the NI system even if you still pay no contributions - it counts for your state pension record.

Your payslip will show a gross pay line calculated from your hourly rate times your contracted hours for that pay period. Where the school pays in 12 equal monthly instalments - which is the standard approach for term-time-only staff - the figure is the same every month regardless of whether it is a full or short term. Some smaller schools pay based on actual days in term, which produces variable monthly pay; if yours does this, check the calculation in July and August.

Below gross pay, the deductions block will most likely be empty or show only your pension if you have opted in. No income tax appears below the personal allowance. No National Insurance contributions appear between the lower earnings limit and the primary threshold - you are technically "in" the NI system for state pension purposes, but pay zero contributions. Many supervisors see this clean deductions block as suspicious; it is in fact correct at low earnings levels.

If you have a second job, the picture changes. Your personal allowance can only be applied to one employment at a time - HMRC splits it across your employments or assigns it wholly to the main one. If your midday supervisor role is treated as a second employment, it will be taxed on a BR or D0 code, meaning every pound is taxed from the first pound earned. Check your tax code on each payslip if you have multiple jobs, and contact HMRC to agree how to allocate your allowance.

The year-to-date column shows cumulative gross, tax and NI from 6 April. For a midday supervisor, the gross column will simply accumulate each month and the tax column should remain at zero if you have no other income. If tax starts appearing mid-year without an obvious reason - such as a second job starting or a coding change - investigate quickly, as overpaid tax can take time to recover.

The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is available to midday supervisors in maintained schools and most academies, but at this earnings level it is optional rather than automatic in practice. Auto-enrolment into a workplace pension is triggered at £10,000 of annual earnings; a supervisor on standard contracted hours earns well below that and will not be auto-enrolled. You will not receive an employer contribution or accrue LGPS pension rights unless you actively opt in.

Opting in is usually financially worthwhile even at low earnings, because the employer contributes around 20 percent or more of your pensionable pay on top of your own contribution - which at the 5.5 percent rate for the lowest pay band amounts to a few pounds a month but comes with very substantial employer matching. The LGPS is a defined-benefit career-average scheme, so your accrual is proportional to what you earn and when you retire. A full working lifetime of midday supervisor earnings will build a modest pension, but combined with state pension it can be meaningful.

The 50/50 option in LGPS lets you pay half the normal contribution rate and build half the normal pension, which some supervisors find useful when budgets are tight. You can switch between the main and 50/50 sections at any point. If you decide to join, notify your employer in writing and check that the LGPS contribution line appears on your next payslip. If you are already enrolled and want to stop contributions, opting out does not remove the accrued pension you have already built.