Extra payments for teachers beyond the pay range

A teacher’s pay in England is more than a point on the main or upper range. Under the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2026, schools can also pay acting allowances, payments for specific activities outside directed time, recruitment and retention incentives, and, from 1 September 2026, modest non-consolidated recognition awards. None of these is automatic. They depend on the school’s pay policy.

Acting allowance

If you are assigned and carry out the duties of a headteacher, deputy or assistant headteacher without being appointed acting, the school must decide within four weeks of the start whether to pay an acting allowance. If it decides against, it can reconsider later while you continue to do the duties. If it decides to pay, the allowance must top your remuneration up to the salary the school considers appropriate. Where a pay range has been set for the post, your total pay cannot fall below the minimum of that range while the allowance lasts. It can be paid from a date on or after the day the duties began, and while you receive it, the contractual provisions for that post apply as if you had been appointed permanently. The acting up guide covers the wider practice.

Payments for particular activities

Schools may pay classroom teachers for:

• CPD undertaken outside the school day
• initial teacher training activities that are an ordinary part of the school’s work
• out-of-school-hours learning agreed with the head
• additional responsibilities linked to raising standards in one or more other schools

The guidance says payments to classroom teachers should be only for activity outside the 1,265 hours of directed time (or the part-time proportion), and that taking part in CPD outside directed time is voluntary and cannot be directed. Payment levels should be set out in the pay policy. These are separate from TLR payments and the SEN allowance, which attach to a post.

Recruitment and retention incentives

A school may pay or provide financial help to attract new teachers or keep existing ones. Examples in the guidance include a salary advance for a rental deposit, a season ticket loan, a contribution to removal costs and a time-limited allowance. They must not be paid for carrying out specific responsibilities.

The school must review all such awards formally and make clear at the start how long they are expected to last and the date after which they may be withdrawn. The written notice should say whether the award is for recruitment or retention, what it is, how and when it is paid, any start date and duration, the review date and the basis for any uplifts.

Headteachers, deputies and assistant heads cannot be given these payments other than as reimbursement of reasonably incurred housing or relocation costs. Retention and recruitment considerations for those posts go into the leadership pay range instead. See the leadership pay range guide.

Recognition awards from September 2026

From 1 September 2026 schools may make modest non-consolidated awards to teachers and leaders to recognise exceptional contribution or achievement. Non-consolidated means the award is paid once and does not become part of salary. The document sets some limits:

• it is for genuine additional contribution, not part of the core teaching role or a required deliverable
• it must not replace pay progression or TLRs
• the school must publish clear criteria and the governing body must oversee it
• the school sets a modest limit for individual awards and an annual total for each teacher, and may use cash, vouchers or non-monetary rewards
• teachers should be told at least annually the total paid and the number of teachers who received an award
• the school sets the nomination arrangements, and the decision of the governing body or the head, if delegated, is final, with the policy saying whether an appeal is available

The guidance does not say how large an award can be, so the amount is left to each school.

What to check

• Read the pay policy for what is paid and on what criteria.
• Ask for written notice of any incentive, including its review date, since it can be withdrawn after that.
• If you are covering a leader’s duties, ask in the first four weeks whether an acting allowance will be paid, and get the decision in writing.
• Note that unpaid extras outside directed time are voluntary for classroom teachers.