Teacher allowances in Wales: TLR and ALN payments

Classroom teachers in Wales can be paid a teaching and learning responsibility payment (TLR) of between £739 and £18,132 a year, or an additional learning needs (ALN) allowance of between £2,938 and £5,791, on top of their salary from 1 September 2026. TLRs are optional for the school and come in three levels. The ALN allowance is compulsory for a defined list of posts.

TLR values in 2026/27

The ranges rose by 3.5% on the 2025 figures after the pay award confirmed on 14 October 2026.

Payment	Minimum	Maximum	Notes
TLR1	£10,717	£18,132	Needs line management of a significant number of people, or equivalent responsibility
TLR2	£3,716	£9,071	Cannot be held alongside a TLR1
TLR3	£739	£3,664	Fixed term, for time-limited projects

A school decides the value within the range through its pay policy. A TLR3 should usually last no more than two years, unless extenuating circumstances apply, and is paid monthly while it lasts. A teacher with a TLR1 or TLR2 can hold a TLR3 as well. TLR3s are not safeguarded when they end.

When a TLR can be awarded

The school has to be satisfied that the duties include a significant responsibility that all classroom teachers do not share. The responsibility must be focused on teaching and learning, and it must need a teacher’s professional skills and judgement. It must also affect the progress of pupils outside the teacher’s own classes. Beyond that, the post has to involve either leading a subject, curriculum area or pupil development, or pastoral and wellbeing work including safeguarding, and it has to involve developing the practice of other staff. Those last two tests do not have to be met for a TLR3.

Unqualified teachers cannot receive a TLR. The England version has different levels, as set out in the TLR payments guide.

The ALN allowance

It does a similar job to the SEN allowance in England, which the SEN allowance guide covers. A school must award it to a classroom teacher:

• in any ALN post that needs a mandatory ALN qualification and involves teaching pupils with ALN
• in a special school
• who teaches in a designated special class or unit
• in a setting such as a pupil referral unit that works like a special class, where the post involves a substantial element of working directly with children with ALN and a greater involvement than is normal for other teachers there

The school sets a fixed value inside the £2,938 to £5,791 range. It must consider whether the post requires qualifications, the teacher’s own qualifications or expertise, and the demands of the post, and its pay policy must say how ALN responsibilities are rewarded.

What an allowance adds to a salary

A hypothetical teacher on C5, which is £48,226 from 1 September 2026, who holds a TLR2 valued by the school at £5,000 would be paid £53,226 before deductions. The allowance is a separate sum, set by the school’s pay policy, and it is not part of the scale point. If the teacher leaves the responsibility the payment ends unless it is safeguarded, which the document handles in separate rules. The salary is covered in teacher pay in Wales.

Allowances for unqualified teachers

An unqualified teacher cannot have a TLR, but the school may pay an allowance it considers appropriate if the teacher has taken on a sustained additional responsibility focused on teaching and learning, or has qualifications or experience that add value to the role. The document sets no range, so the amount is for the school.

Acting allowances

A teacher who carries out head, deputy or assistant head duties without being appointed to the post can receive an acting allowance. The governing body must decide within four weeks of the duties starting. If it pays one, the allowance makes up the difference to the salary the body considers appropriate, and total pay cannot fall below the minimum of the relevant range. Headteacher and deputy pay in Wales describes those ranges.

Part-time teachers receive allowances on a different basis from full-timers, and TLR3 is paid in full. The part-time teacher pay guide for Wales has the detail, and the teacher pay scale shows the salaries these payments sit on.