SEN Teaching Assistant Payslip Explained 2026/27: Pay, Tax & Pension

NJC Green Book pay for SEN Teaching Assistants

SEN Teaching Assistants in maintained schools are employed on NJC Green Book terms and conditions, the same national framework used for all local-government and school support staff. The NJC sets a pay spine of Spinal Column Points from SCP 3 upwards; the specific grade for a SEN TA depends on the school's or local authority's own grading structure. Most SEN TA posts sit between SCP 5 and SCP 15, broadly equivalent to £25,583 to £30,024 FTE per year in 2025/26. A post in a special school or a dedicated resourced provision often sits higher on the spine than a mainstream-school equivalent, reflecting the additional complexity of the work.

Some schools do not differentiate a SEN TA grade from a standard TA grade but pay a SEN supplement or special needs allowance on top of the basic SCP. This allowance is not the teachers' SEN allowance - that is specific to qualified teachers under the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document and does not apply to support staff. For NJC staff the supplement is a locally agreed amount, which means its value varies between schools and is not nationally prescribed. If your contract mentions a SEN or complex needs supplement, check that it is being paid and that it was included in any pay-award uplift.

The April 2025 NJC award of 3.2 percent applied to all spine points from 1 April 2025. For 2026/27 the NJC pay position remains subject to negotiation; do not treat any figure circulated during consultation as a settled rate until both sides have confirmed agreement. Back-pay for the 2025 award should have appeared as a lump sum on a payslip in late summer or autumn 2025; if it never arrived, compare your current basic pay against the published SCP value and raise a query in writing.

The term-time-only calculation for SEN TA posts is particularly fragile. Many posts are part-time as well as term-time only - for example 20 hours a week during 38 term weeks - so the annual salary involves three separate inputs: the full-time SCP value, the part-time fraction, and the term-time fraction. An error in any one of those three produces a wrong monthly amount. Ask payroll for the written breakdown of how they arrived at your monthly figure so you can verify each step.

What a sen teaching assistant payslip looks like

A SEN TA payslip in a maintained school shows: basic pay (the term-time-and-part-time-pro-rated monthly amount), any SEN supplement or complex-needs allowance as a separate line, LGPS pension deduction, PAYE tax, National Insurance, and any union or salary-sacrifice deductions. The basic pay line should be the same every month of the year if you are on a standard 12-month equalised arrangement.

The year-to-date column is your friend. Add up the year-to-date gross at the end of the tax year and compare it to your expected annual pay for that post. If it is systematically lower than expected you may have been on the wrong SCP, the wrong term-time fraction, or the wrong part-time fraction since April.

If your post is fixed term and your contract is renewed annually, check that the renewal paperwork correctly states your SCP and grade. Posts are sometimes renewed at the old grade after an award has moved the scale, meaning the annual salary is nominally correct but should have been higher. The renewal letter is your evidence if you need to challenge payroll later.

Occasionally a maintained school processes SEN TA pay alongside agency or supply staff rather than through the standard NJC payroll run. If you receive your payslip from an agency despite working in a school, your terms are agency terms, not NJC terms, and the LGPS does not apply. This is a significant difference; clarify with the school's business manager whether you are directly employed or engaged through an agency.

SEN 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)	£24,400	£20,180	£1,682
Median	£25,600	£20,984	£1,749
Upper (75th percentile)	£28,200	£22,726	£1,894

Pay and additions on a sen teaching assistant payslip

Basic pay (term-time-only and part-time pro-rated)The FTE annual salary for your NJC SCP, adjusted for both the term-time fraction and your contracted weekly hours. The combined fraction is (term weeks plus accrued holiday divided by 52) multiplied by (contracted weekly hours divided by 37). If you work 25 hours a week across 38 term weeks with accrued holiday of about 4.1 weeks, the combined fraction is roughly (42.1 divided by 52) times (25 divided by 37), which is approximately 0.546. Applied to a FTE salary of £26,403 (SCP 7 in 2025/26), that gives an annual actual pay of about £14,418 and a monthly amount of about £1,202.
SEN or complex-needs supplementNo nationally prescribed minimum exists for this payment - it is a locally agreed addition, and its value varies widely between schools, from a few hundred pounds per year to over a thousand. That matters because a flat-cash supplement can be left out of pay-award calculations by mistake. Check your contract for the exact figure, then check the payslip line every April to confirm the supplement was uplifted alongside the basic SCP.
Overtime and additional hoursIf a pupil's support plan is extended or you cover an absent colleague, the extra hours should appear separately on the payslip. The rate is derived from your annual salary divided by standard annual contractual hours, as set out in your NJC contract. If extra hours have been worked informally for weeks without appearing on the payslip, raise it in writing with the SENCO and HR; verbal acknowledgement is not payment.
Sick payNJC occupational sick pay scales from one month full plus one month half in year one, up to six months full plus six months half after five years. For a part-time term-time worker the sick-pay deduction can look disproportionately large because the half-pay calculation is applied to the contracted days actually missed in the period, not spread evenly across the year.
Continuity payment or TUPE protection (where applicable)A TUPE transfer from one school to another should preserve your terms, but payroll does not always record the original start date correctly in the new system. The result can be a lower sick-pay entitlement or an incorrect increment date. Your original continuous-service date is your evidence; keep the original contract letter and send it to HR at the new school on day one rather than waiting for a problem to surface.

LGPS for SEN TAs - what changes if your contract is fixed term

SEN TAs directly employed by maintained schools are enrolled in the Local Government Pension Scheme regardless of whether their contract is permanent or fixed term. Even if your contract runs for only one academic year, you are entitled to LGPS membership from day one. The scheme is a CARE (Career Average Revalued Earnings) defined-benefit pension, meaning every year of membership, however short, adds a real pension entitlement. If you leave or are not renewed and later return to LGPS employment, the deferred pension is preserved and eventually payable at state pension age.

Employee contribution rates for 2026/27 run from 5.5 percent on pensionable pay up to £18,400, through 5.8 percent from £18,401 to £29,000, and 6.5 percent from £29,001 to £47,300. For a part-time term-time SEN TA on around £14,000 to £18,000 of actual annual pensionable pay, the rate will normally be 5.5 percent. If your pensionable pay for LGPS purposes is calculated using the FTE salary rather than the actual salary, your pension builds faster but your contribution deduction also looks larger relative to your take-home. Check with your administering authority which basis is used in your school's payroll.

One specific risk for fixed-term SEN TA posts: if the school fails to re-enrol you at the start of a new fixed-term contract, you may miss weeks or months of pension accrual. After a break in employment you need to actively confirm re-enrolment with payroll at the start of each new contract period. The LGPS does not allow retrospective opt-in for missed periods in most circumstances, so catching this quickly matters.

Deductions on a sen teaching assistant payslip

PAYE income tax. Calculated against your tax code, almost always 1257L for a first and only job. SEN TAs working part time with relatively low actual earnings often find they have unused personal allowance - meaning they pay less tax than they expected, or none at all in the lightest months. If your gross is below the monthly personal allowance equivalent (about £1,048 per month in 2026/27), tax should be nil. If tax is being deducted from a very low gross, your code may be wrong.
National Insurance. Class 1 employee NI applies only once monthly earnings exceed the primary threshold (around £1,048 per month in 2026/27). Part-time term-time SEN TAs often earn below that threshold, meaning no NI is payable. No NI contribution also means no NI credit toward the state pension for that month. If your post pays below the lower earnings limit (around £533 per month) you do not even receive the notional credit. This matters for state pension qualification; check the government's state pension forecast tool if this concerns you.
LGPS pension. A percentage of your pensionable pay at the applicable contribution band. For most part-time SEN TAs this will be 5.5 percent of actual monthly pay. The LGPS uses a net-pay arrangement, meaning the pension deduction is taken before income tax is calculated, so LGPS contributions reduce your taxable pay automatically. Check each April that the percentage on your payslip reflects the current year's bands.
Union subscription. UNISON, NEU, GMB and NASUWT represent SEN TAs. A union subscription deducted at source appears on the payslip by the union's name. Membership is especially valuable for SEN TA posts given the fixed-term contract risks; union reps can advise on EHCP-linked dismissal processes, redundancy rights and TUPE issues.
Voluntary deductions. Cycle-to-work and other salary-sacrifice schemes reduce gross pay before tax and NI. For a SEN TA close to or below the NI primary threshold, a salary-sacrifice scheme might push gross below the threshold, meaning even less NI is paid - but also a smaller NI credit toward the state pension. Get the full picture before signing up to any salary-sacrifice arrangement.

Common sen teaching assistant payslip errors

The mistakes that genuinely show up on this role's payslips, and how to spot them.

Post extended but contract not updated, producing wrong rateEHCP reviews sometimes extend a pupil's support package partway through a term. If your hours increase but payroll is not notified promptly, you continue to be paid the old contracted hours. Hours extensions are often verbal in the first instance; always confirm them in writing with the SENCO and then with HR, and check your next payslip to ensure the new contracted hours are reflected.

Fixed-term end date processed as a leaver mid-tax-yearWhen a fixed-term contract expires, payroll marks you as a leaver and issues a P45. If you are re-engaged for the next term, payroll must create a new employment record. The gap between contracts can mean you arrive on a new-joiner tax code rather than the cumulative code that would be correct for the continuous year. Check your first payslip back against your expected figures and flag any emergency code immediately.

SEN supplement omitted after a grade reviewSchools periodically review their grading structures, sometimes moving a SEN TA to a higher SCP to reflect the work rather than paying a supplement on top of a lower SCP. If the review moves the base SCP upward but the supplement is left on the payslip unchanged, you can end up with a higher total by accident - or conversely, if the review raises the SCP and removes the supplement without payroll communicating clearly, you could lose money. Get a written breakdown of any grade review before it takes effect.

Pension not re-enrolled at start of new fixed-term contractAfter a break between fixed-term contracts, even a short one over summer, the school's payroll system may not automatically re-enrol you in the LGPS. Some systems require a manual action from payroll when a new contract starts. Check your first payslip of each new contract to confirm the LGPS deduction is present. If it is absent, contact payroll immediately; late enrolment cannot usually be backdated.

Part-time and term-time fractions applied in the wrong orderThe correct sequence is: FTE annual salary, then term-time fraction, then part-time fraction. Some payroll systems apply part-time first and then a fixed term-time allowance table, which can produce a slightly different result. Ask payroll to confirm which order they use and show the arithmetic, then verify against what you calculated independently.

Redundancy pay calculated without recognising previous serviceIf an EHCP-linked post ends because a pupil has left or funding has been withdrawn, the school may process a redundancy. Statutory redundancy pay depends on length of service, age and weekly pay. For NJC employees the week's pay is not capped at the statutory cap; the actual contractual weekly pay applies up to the NJC scheme limit. If you have had back-to-back fixed-term contracts over several years, all that service counts. Make sure HR calculates from your original continuous-service start date.

Tax code not updated when hours change significantlyIf your hours increase mid-year, your annual income rises, potentially pushing you over the personal allowance or into a higher tax bracket. HMRC usually picks this up through RTI data from payroll, but not always quickly. If your tax code has not been updated and your new hours put you in a different position, you could be underpaying tax and face a demand after year end. Check your code in your HMRC online account whenever your contract hours change.

Your sen teaching assistant payslip checklist

1.Confirm your SCP and grade match your most recent contract, especially at the start of each new fixed-term contract
2.Check that any SEN supplement is on the payslip and has been uplifted with each pay award
3.Verify the term-time fraction and part-time fraction by asking payroll for the written calculation
4.Confirm the LGPS pension deduction is present from day one of each new contract period
5.Check your LGPS contribution percentage matches the 2026/27 band for your actual pensionable pay
6.Review your tax code after any change in contracted hours
7.Keep copies of all fixed-term contract letters and renewal confirmations
8.If an NJC back-pay lump sum arrives, confirm the amount is correct before the payment period closes
9.If your post ends because an EHCP is withdrawn, ask HR for a written breakdown of the redundancy calculation using your full continuous-service date

A worked example for a part-time SEN TA on SCP 7

Take a SEN TA on SCP 7, which in 2025/26 has a full-time-equivalent annual salary of £26,403. She works 25 hours a week across 38 term weeks, plus INSET days bringing term weeks to 39. Accrued statutory holiday is 5.6 times (39 divided by 52), approximately 4.2 weeks. The combined fraction is (43.2 divided by 52) times (25 divided by 37), giving 0.831 times 0.676, which is approximately 0.561. Annual actual pay is £26,403 times 0.561, roughly £14,812. Divided by 12, the monthly gross is about £1,234.

At that gross level, the monthly pay is above the NI primary threshold of roughly £1,048, so employee NI applies to the portion above that threshold. The LGPS contribution at 5.5 percent on £14,812 pensionable pay produces an annual deduction of about £814, or around £68 per month. Under the LGPS net-pay arrangement, income tax is assessed on the post-pension figure (£1,234 minus £68 = £1,166). Tax at 1257L on £1,166: roughly £24. Employee NI on the full gross: approximately £15. Net take-home is roughly £1,127. These figures are illustrative only, not a guarantee.

Now add a SEN supplement of £750 per year (£62.50 per month). That raises the gross to about £1,297 and adjusts NI and tax slightly upward, with very little movement in the pension deduction since the supplement does not always push the rate to the next LGPS band. The point is to show that the supplement appears as a distinct payslip line and should be checked every time a pay award is processed.

SEN Teaching Assistant payslip questions

Can I be made redundant if the pupil I support leaves the school?

Yes. Where a SEN TA post is explicitly linked to a named pupil's EHCP funding, the post can be made redundant if the pupil moves school, transitions to a different provision, or if the local authority changes the funding. You are entitled to the full NJC contractual redundancy process, including consultation and notice, plus statutory redundancy pay if you have two or more years of continuous service. If you have been on back-to-back fixed-term contracts, all that service counts toward continuity.

Do I get paid during school holidays as a SEN TA?

If you are on a term-time-only contract paid in 12 equal instalments, you do receive a payslip every month including school holidays. What appears in your August payslip is not extra pay - it is your term-time salary spread across twelve equal payments. You are not paid for the holidays themselves; your annual salary has already been calculated as a fraction of a full-year salary, representing your term weeks plus the holiday entitlement you accrue on those weeks.

What happens to my LGPS pension if my fixed-term contract is not renewed?

Your pension pot is deferred in the LGPS fund and preserved until you either return to LGPS employment or reach your pension access age. The deferred pension is revalued every year in line with CPI, so it retains real value. When you return to LGPS employment, the new service links up with the old deferred pot unless you opted out of combining them. Contact your LGPS administering authority for the specific rules of your fund.

Is the SEN allowance on a teacher's payslip the same as the SEN supplement I get?

No. Teachers have access to a nationally defined SEN allowance under the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD). Support staff are employed under NJC terms, not STPCD, so the teachers' SEN allowance does not apply. Any SEN-related supplement you receive is a locally agreed payment specific to your school or local authority, with no nationally fixed amount.

My new contract after summer has a different SCP from my old one. Is that right?

Not necessarily. If you were on SCP 7 last year you should still be on at least SCP 7 this year, uplifted by any pay award. If a renewal letter shows a lower SCP or no SCP at all, or if the monthly pay is lower than last year, raise it with HR immediately. Check the NJC pay award letter applicable to your school and ask for a written explanation.

Does my LGPS pension accrue during school holidays?

Yes. Your LGPS pension accrues on your full contractual pensionable pay throughout the year. Because your annual salary is spread over 12 months, the pension deduction and accrual occur monthly even during the weeks you are not in school. The pension system treats you as a continuously employed worker earning a fixed monthly sum, which is exactly how the term-time pay arrangement works.

My school is converting to an academy. Will my pay and pension change?

Under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment), your terms and conditions including pay, NJC conditions and LGPS membership must be preserved at the point of transfer. However, academies are not automatically bound by future NJC pay awards after the transfer, depending on how the contract is written. The Academy Trust should confirm in writing which pay framework it intends to follow for support staff. Seek advice from your union before signing any new contract offered post-conversion.

The bottom line

The biggest single risk in a SEN TA post is the fixed-term renewal gap. Every time a contract ends and restarts, something can fail to carry across: the SCP, the SEN supplement, the pension enrolment, the continuous-service date. Each item is quick to verify and slow to recover if it slips through unnoticed. Start each new contract year with a written check rather than waiting for the payslip to look wrong.

Use the free PayslipIQ checker to work through the numbers, then raise any query with your school's HR department, your union or your LGPS administering authority. PayslipIQ provides educational information only and is not tax, legal or employment advice.

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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.