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

The NJC Green Book pay spine - not the teachers' framework

Teaching assistants are paid under the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC) Green Book pay spine - not the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) that governs qualified teachers. This distinction matters practically: the Green Book pay spine uses Spinal Column Points (SCPs) numbered 3 to 43 as of April 2026 (SCP 2 was permanently deleted from 1 April 2026). Each SCP corresponds to a specific annual salary. Your employer sets which SCP your role sits on based on local grading decisions - there is no national rule that dictates a teaching assistant must be on SCP 5 rather than SCP 7, for example; that is determined by the school or local authority grading structure.

For 2025/26, the NJC pay award was 3.2 percent, effective from 1 April 2025. For 2026/27, a 3.3 percent offer has been made and is awaiting formal resolution - unions have rejected the offer and balloting for industrial action is under way as of May 2026, so the final settlement may differ and is expected to be backdated to 1 April 2026 once agreed. The figures in this guide use the 2025/26 confirmed rates as the most recent settled values; apply 3.3 percent to those figures as the current best estimate for 2026/27, but verify against your actual payslip and your employer's published pay scale once a settlement is confirmed. PayslipIQ cannot guarantee the outcome of live negotiations.

Based on 2025/26 confirmed rates, indicative SCP values (full-time, full-year equivalent) include: SCP 3 approximately £24,000; SCP 5 approximately £25,583; SCP 7 approximately £26,403; SCP 10 approximately £27,694; SCP 12 approximately £28,605. With a 3.3 percent uplift for 2026/27, SCP 5 becomes approximately £26,427 and SCP 10 approximately £28,607 - treat these as estimates pending formal settlement. Your payslip should state your SCP, and your employer should publish a pay scale showing the confirmed annual salary for that point.

Academy schools are not legally required to follow the NJC pay framework - they can set their own pay scales. Many academies do follow NJC as a reference, but some do not. If you work for an academy and your payslip does not reference SCPs, your pay is governed by your employment contract rather than the Green Book. The term-time-only pro-rata principles described below still apply regardless of whether the school is a maintained school or an academy, because they follow from the way your contract is structured rather than from the national pay agreement.

What a teaching assistant payslip looks like

Your payslip will show a monthly salary figure. Because most schools pay in 12 equal instalments throughout the year, that figure is the same in August as it is in January - even though you are not working during school holidays. That consistency is deliberate: the annual salary has already been reduced to reflect your actual weeks of work (see below), and it is then divided into 12 equal payments so you have a predictable income year-round.

The payments block typically shows your contracted basic pay as a single line. If you work extra hours beyond your contracted session - for example, supporting a specific event or covering a lunch duty that sits outside your normal contract - those additional payments should appear as separate lines. Some schools pay a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) allowance or a Special Educational Needs (SEN) supplement as a named additional line.

The deductions block will show PAYE income tax, Class 1 National Insurance, and your Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) contribution. If you are in a salary sacrifice arrangement - the most common being a cycle-to-work scheme - that appears as a separate deduction that reduces gross pay before tax and NI are calculated.

The year-to-date column records cumulative earnings and deductions since 6 April. Because your monthly pay is the same all year, this column grows evenly - it should show roughly n months times your monthly gross pay, where n is the number of months since April. If the cumulative figure looks wrong, or if tax is disproportionate to cumulative gross, an error somewhere in the year is likely.

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)	£21,500	£18,237	£1,520
Median	£23,800	£19,778	£1,648
Upper (75th percentile)	£26,500	£21,587	£1,799

Pay and additions on a teaching assistant payslip

Basic pay (term-time-only pro-rated annual salary)The monthly figure is always less than the NJC SCP annual rate divided by 12. It is the SCP annual rate multiplied by the term-time-only fraction (term weeks plus holiday weeks, divided by 52), then divided by 12. The worked example below shows the calculation step by step. Verify the fraction used in your calculation by asking your school business manager for the three inputs: term weeks, holiday entitlement in weeks, and the full-time equivalent SCP salary.
HLTA allowanceIf your school pays a named HLTA supplement, it should appear as a separate line - not folded into basic pay. Higher Level Teaching Assistants are typically placed on higher SCPs (often SCP 16 to 19 in many local authority structures) and may additionally receive a cash supplement. Check both that the SCP reflects the HLTA grade and that any contractual supplement is present. An absorbed supplement is easily missed if the basic pay line is not queried against the contract.
SEN or inclusion supplementSchool-specific rather than nationally mandated. Teaching assistants in 1:1 roles with a pupil on an Education, Health and Care plan, or those based in special schools, sometimes receive a named SEN payment on top of the basic SCP pay. If you were recruited specifically for complex-needs support and your contract mentioned a supplement, confirm it is on the payslip; SEN supplements are sometimes omitted if the relevant HR action was not completed at appointment.
Additional hours beyond contractAttending a parents' evening not in your original contract, covering an INSET day outside your agreed sessions, or taking on lunchtime duties beyond your contracted hours - all of these should be paid separately. The hourly rate for NJC purposes is the full-time equivalent annual SCP salary divided by 52.14 (weeks in a year) and then by the contracted weekly hours. Ask your school business manager to confirm the rate if you are unsure.
Supply or absence cover payActing-up arrangements apply when a TA covers a colleague at a higher responsibility level. The additional pay should appear as a separate line rather than being absorbed into basic pay without a record. If it is absorbed, there is no audit trail and it tends to stop without notice when the covered colleague returns.

The Local Government Pension Scheme - not the Teachers' Pension

Teaching assistants belong to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), not the Teachers' Pension Scheme. This is a fundamental distinction: the TPS is for qualified teachers; the LGPS is for school support staff including TAs, administrators, caretakers and midday supervisors. The LGPS is a career-average defined-benefit scheme - you build up a pension based on each year's actual pensionable pay multiplied by an accrual fraction (currently 1/49th of pensionable pay per year).

LGPS employee contribution rates for 2026/27 are tiered by actual pensionable pay. The confirmed bands from 1 April 2026 are: 5.5 percent on pay up to £18,400; 5.8 percent from £18,401 to £29,000; 6.5 percent from £29,001 to £47,300; 6.8 percent from £47,301 to £59,800; and higher tiers above that. A teaching assistant on a term-time-only salary of around £17,000 to £22,000 will typically pay 5.5 percent or 5.8 percent. Your employer assesses the tier at the start of each scheme year based on your actual pensionable pay. Because your pensionable pay is the pro-rated term-time-only salary, not the full SCP annual value, the tier is assessed on the lower figure - which generally keeps TAs in the lowest one or two tiers.

The LGPS also has a 50/50 section, which allows members to pay half the standard contribution rate and build up half the normal pension accrual. This can be useful if you need to reduce deductions in the short term, but it reduces your pension build-up proportionately. You can switch between the main section and the 50/50 section by contacting your pension fund. Contributions to the LGPS reduce your taxable pay, providing basic-rate tax relief automatically. Contact your local LGPS administering fund (usually your local council's pension team) or lgpsmember.org for scheme-specific queries.

Deductions on a teaching assistant payslip

PAYE income tax. Many teaching assistants on lower SCPs or part-time term-time-only contracts earn below or close to the personal allowance of £12,570. If your annual taxable pay is below this figure, no income tax is due and none should be deducted. If tax is being deducted on a very low salary, check your tax code - it may be set incorrectly, applying a restricted code that reduces the allowance available to you.
National Insurance (Class 1). NI is only payable on earnings above the primary threshold (£12,570 per year / £242 per week in 2026/27). Many part-time or lower-SCP teaching assistants earn below or just above this threshold, so NI contributions are small or zero. Part-time or low-earners should note that earning below the Lower Earnings Limit (£6,396 per year in 2026/27) means no NI is recorded at all - which can affect entitlement to contributory benefits. This is a legitimate concern for very low-hours TA contracts.
LGPS contribution. Usually 5.5 percent (pensionable pay up to £18,400) or 5.8 percent (£18,401 to £29,000) for most teaching assistants. Deducted before tax, providing basic-rate relief. Your pension fund is administered by your local council - find your fund at lgpsmember.org.
Union subscription. UNISON and Unite represent large numbers of school support staff. The GMB also has membership in this area. Subscriptions deducted at source reduce take-home pay by a small amount monthly but provide workplace representation and legal cover. UNISON is on HMRC's approved professional subscriptions list.
Salary sacrifice. Cycle-to-work schemes, childcare vouchers (legacy arrangements only - the scheme closed to new entrants in October 2018) or additional pension contributions. These reduce gross pay before tax and NI. Any sacrifice arrangement should have been confirmed in writing and should not appear on a payslip without your prior agreement.

Common teaching assistant payslip errors

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

Term-time-only fraction calculated incorrectlyThis is the most common and most significant error for teaching assistants. The correct formula is: (term-time weeks + holiday weeks entitlement) / 52, then multiplied by the full-time equivalent NJC SCP salary, then divided by 12 for the monthly amount. If the school uses the wrong number of term weeks (39 weeks is typical but some authorities use 38 or 38.5) or applies the wrong holiday entitlement, the annual salary will be wrong in every monthly payslip. Ask your school business manager for the exact fraction used in your calculation and verify it against your contract.

Full SCP annual salary shown on the contract but pro-rated amount never explainedMany TA contracts state the full-time equivalent SCP annual salary without making clear that the actual paid salary is a fraction of this figure. Workers then compare their payslip against the SCP value and believe they are being underpaid when in fact the pro-ration is correct. Schools should provide a clear written breakdown of the calculation - if yours has not, ask for one from HR or the school business manager.

SCP not updated after a role change or regradingIf you take on additional responsibilities - becoming an HLTA, taking on a 1:1 SEN role or moving into a different grade - your SCP should change from the date the new role takes effect. Payroll software does not automatically regrade you; a HR or payroll action is required. If you have been carrying out HLTA or SEN duties without a corresponding change in pay, raise a formal query with the school business manager.

LGPS contribution tier not updated after pay changesWhen a pay award or regrading changes your pensionable pay, the LGPS tier should be reviewed. For most TAs the tier is assessed once a year in April, so a mid-year pay change may not be reflected until the following April. Some pension funds do update the tier mid-year if the change is large enough. Check that the contribution percentage on your payslip is consistent with your actual annual pensionable pay against the 2026/27 bands listed above.

Tax code error causing deductions on earnings below the personal allowanceA teaching assistant whose annual taxable pay is below £12,570 should pay no income tax. If your payslip shows a tax deduction on a very low salary, your tax code may be incorrect - perhaps a restricted code or a code that has not been updated after a change in circumstances. Check your code in your HMRC online account and ask payroll to correct it if needed.

Holiday pay not included in the term-time pro-rataThe term-time-only fraction must include holiday weeks entitlement, not just term weeks. A common shortcut error is to calculate pay on 39 / 52 (= 0.75 fraction) without adding the holiday weeks, which underpays the worker. The correct fraction with five weeks' holiday entitlement is (39 + 5) / 52 = 0.846. The extra 0.096 fraction on a £25,000 FTE salary is approximately £2,400 per year - a significant and recurring underpayment if the mistake is embedded in the contract.

Enrolled in a workplace pension instead of LGPSSome smaller academy trusts use an auto-enrolment workplace pension provider instead of the LGPS. If your payslip shows a commercial pension provider rather than LGPS, check whether the trust is an LGPS employer. Teaching assistants at maintained schools must be enrolled in LGPS; academies have more discretion but many choose to offer LGPS access. A workplace auto-enrolment pension at 5 percent minimum is substantially less valuable than LGPS for long-serving staff.

Your teaching assistant payslip checklist

1.Ask your school business manager for the exact term-time-only fraction used to calculate your annual salary and verify it against your contract weeks and holiday entitlement
2.Confirm your SCP on the payslip and look up the corresponding full-time equivalent annual salary on your authority's or school's published pay scale
3.Multiply the FTE annual salary by your term-time fraction and divide by 12 - this should match your monthly payslip figure
4.Check the LGPS contribution rate on your payslip (5.5% up to £18,400 pensionable pay; 5.8% from £18,401 to £29,000 in 2026/27)
5.Confirm you are enrolled in LGPS and not a commercial auto-enrolment pension provider
6.Check your tax code - if your annual pay is below £12,570 you should not be paying income tax
7.Verify any HLTA allowance or SEN supplement that was agreed at appointment is present on the payslip
8.Keep a record of any additional hours worked beyond your contract and confirm they are being paid at the correct hourly rate
9.If the 2026/27 NJC pay award has been settled and backdated, check that a back-payment has appeared on a payslip after the settlement date

How term-time-only pay is calculated - a step-by-step example

The term-time-only calculation is the most important thing to understand as a teaching assistant. Here is a step-by-step example using illustrative figures. Take a full-time (37 hours per week) Level 2 TA on SCP 5. Using 2025/26 confirmed rates, the full-time equivalent annual salary for SCP 5 is approximately £25,583. The school year runs for 39 term-time weeks. The TA is entitled to 22 days of annual leave (a common starting entitlement for Green Book staff), which is 4.4 weeks. The term-time fraction is therefore (39 + 4.4) / 52 = 43.4 / 52 = 0.8346. The pro-rated annual salary is £25,583 x 0.8346 = approximately £21,351. Divided by 12, the monthly payslip figure is approximately £1,779 gross.

Apply the provisional 3.3 percent 2026/27 increase to the FTE salary: £25,583 x 1.033 = approximately £26,427. Using the same term-time fraction, the pro-rated annual salary becomes approximately £22,054, and the monthly figure is approximately £1,838. These are illustrative estimates pending formal settlement of the 2026/27 NJC award - verify against your employer's confirmed pay scale once a settlement is published. The key point is that the monthly figure (approximately £1,838) is substantially lower than the SCP annual rate / 12 (which would be £26,427 / 12 = £2,202) - a difference of approximately £364 per month. That gap is not an error; it is the term-time-only pro-ration in action.

From the monthly gross of approximately £1,838, the LGPS contribution is assessed against the actual annual pensionable pay of £22,054 - which falls in the 5.8 percent tier (£18,401 to £29,000 for 2026/27). The monthly LGPS deduction at 5.8 percent of £1,838 is approximately £107. Taxable pay after the LGPS deduction is approximately £1,731. With a monthly personal allowance of £1,048, taxable income is approximately £683 and PAYE tax at 20 percent is approximately £137. Class 1 NI on earnings above the primary threshold is modest at this income level, perhaps £60. Estimated take-home: around £1,534 per month. All figures are illustrative only - not a guarantee or a quote. Verify your own calculation with your payroll team.

Teaching Assistant payslip questions

Why is my teaching assistant monthly pay so much lower than the NJC salary I was quoted?

Because the NJC salary stated on a job advert or in a contract is usually the full-time equivalent annual salary for the spinal column point - it assumes 52 weeks of work. As a term-time-only TA, you only work during school terms (typically 39 weeks) plus your holiday entitlement. Your actual annual salary is the full-time equivalent rate multiplied by a fraction (usually between 0.80 and 0.87 depending on leave entitlement and term weeks). Divided by 12, the monthly figure will always be significantly lower than the raw SCP value / 12. Ask your school business manager for the exact fraction used in your calculation.

Why do I get paid in the summer holidays when I am not working?

Because your term-time-only annual salary is divided into 12 equal monthly payments. Your holiday pay is built into the annual calculation and spread evenly across the year - you are not being paid to not work in August; you are receiving the holiday entitlement component of your annual salary on a smooth monthly basis rather than as a lump sum. This is the standard approach for term-time-only contracts and it is beneficial because it means a consistent income throughout the year.

Am I in the teachers' pension or a different pension?

You are in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), not the Teachers' Pension Scheme. The TPS is for qualified teachers. The LGPS is a defined-benefit career-average scheme administered by your local council (or, for some academies, a different LGPS administering authority). Both are good-quality public-sector schemes, but they are separate. Your payslip should identify LGPS as your pension scheme - if it shows a commercial provider, check with your employer that you have been enrolled correctly.

My SCP has not changed in three years. Should it?

NJC Green Book contracts do not have automatic annual increment progression in the same way that some other public-sector schemes do. Most TA roles sit at a fixed SCP for the grade, not a range of SCPs with annual increments. What should change each year is the cash value of that SCP, in line with the annual NJC pay award. If the cash value has not changed in three years (meaning you have received no pay award at all), that would be unusual and worth raising with the school business manager and your union if you are a member.

I think my term-time-only fraction is wrong. How do I check it?

Ask the school business manager for the three numbers used in your calculation: the number of term-time weeks in your contract; your annual leave entitlement in weeks; and the full-time equivalent annual SCP salary. Check that (term weeks + holiday weeks) / 52 x FTE salary / 12 equals your monthly gross pay. Common errors include using 39 / 52 without adding holiday weeks (which underpays you), or using the wrong number of term weeks for your school. If the calculation does not match, ask for a written correction and any back-payment for the period the error was in place.

What is the LGPS employee contribution rate for a teaching assistant?

For 2026/27, the LGPS contribution rate tiers are: 5.5 percent on actual pensionable pay up to £18,400; 5.8 percent from £18,401 to £29,000; 6.5 percent from £29,001 to £47,300 - with higher tiers above that. Most teaching assistants will sit in the 5.5 or 5.8 percent band because their actual pensionable pay (the term-time-only pro-rated salary) is below £29,000. Contributions are taken before income tax, so you receive basic-rate tax relief automatically. These rates are confirmed at lgpsmember.org.

What happens to my pay and pension if I go part-time as well as term-time-only?

You get a double pro-ration. First, the FTE annual SCP salary is multiplied by your hours fraction (your weekly hours divided by 37 or 37.5 depending on the full-time definition in your contract). Then it is multiplied by the term-time-only fraction. The result is divided by 12 for the monthly figure. Your LGPS pensionable pay and contribution tier are assessed on this doubly pro-rated figure, which will typically keep you in the 5.5 percent or lower LGPS tier. Your pension accrual is 1/49th of this actual pensionable pay each year, so a part-time term-time-only TA builds up pension more slowly than a full-time colleague on the same SCP.

The 2026/27 NJC pay award has not been agreed yet. Should I be getting backdated pay?

As of May 2026, the NJC pay award for 2026/27 is still being negotiated - unions have rejected the 3.3 percent employer offer and are balloting for industrial action. Once a settlement is reached, it will be backdated to 1 April 2026. You should expect a lump-sum back-payment on a payslip once the award is confirmed and implemented, plus your monthly pay to increase from the settlement date. Keep an eye on communications from your school, your union and the NJC, and check your payslips in the months following any announcement.

The bottom line

Ask your school business manager for three numbers: term-time weeks in your contract, your annual leave entitlement in weeks, and your full-time equivalent SCP annual salary. Divide (term weeks + holiday weeks) by 52, multiply by the FTE salary, divide by 12, and you have your correct monthly gross. If that figure does not match your payslip, you have found the problem. The holiday-weeks component is the one most often dropped from the calculation - using 39/52 instead of (39 + 4.4)/52 on a £26,000 FTE salary underpays you by around £2,200 a year, every year, until someone corrects it.

PayslipIQ provides educational estimates only and is not affiliated with HMRC, the LGPS, any local authority or any employer. For specific pension queries, contact your LGPS administering fund. For tax queries, contact HMRC. For pay queries, raise them in writing with your school business manager and keep a copy.

Check my payslip free →

Related roles

Payslip checkers

Guides

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.