Teaching assistant pay explained

A full-time teaching assistant on the NJC pay spine would earn from £25,614 a year at the bottom point (SCP 3) from 1 April 2026, with higher-graded roles such as higher level teaching assistant further up the spine. Few TAs actually earn the full-time figure. Most work term time only and fewer than 37 hours a week, so the salary that reaches the bank is a good deal lower than the one in the advert’s headline.

Full-time equivalent and actual salary

School support job adverts usually show two numbers. The full-time equivalent (FTE) salary is what the job would pay for 37 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. The actual salary is what you will be paid for your hours and weeks.

Say an advert lists “SCP 8, £27,709 FTE, actual salary £19,496”. The first figure gives the grade and the second is your pay, so budget and run take-home calculations on the actual figure. The FTE salary vs actual salary guide has more on reading these adverts.

Where TAs sit on the spine

Each council or academy trust decides its own grades through job evaluation and maps them onto spine points. There is no national TA grade. Entry-level TA posts generally sit near the bottom of the spine, posts with more responsibility for groups or specific needs sit higher, and HLTA posts higher again. The exact points vary from area to area, so the same job title can be paid differently ten miles apart.

A selection of spine points from 1 April 2026, at full-time equivalent:

Spine point	FTE annual	FTE hourly (approx.)
SCP 3	£25,614	£13.28
SCP 5	£26,427	£13.70
SCP 8	£27,709	£14.36
SCP 12	£29,542	£15.31
SCP 17	£32,046	£16.61
SCP 22	£34,811	£18.04

These come from the 2026/27 spine, which is the 2025 values plus the 3.3% award, rounded. The full list is in the NJC pay spine guide. Within a grade, you usually move up a point each year until you reach the top.

From FTE to what you are paid

Two adjustments take you from FTE to actual pay.

The first is for weeks. Under the NJC’s advisory term-time-only model, your paid weeks are the weeks you work plus a pro-rata share of annual leave, bank holidays and extra-statutory days. For a 39-week contract with a 36-day leave comparator, the NJC’s own example gives 86.778% of the full-time salary.

The second is for hours. Work fewer than 37 hours a week and the figure is multiplied by your hours over 37.

A hypothetical example: you are on SCP 8 (£27,709 FTE), working 30 hours a week for 39 weeks, with the 36-day comparator.

• £27,709 × 86.778% = £24,045.32
• £24,045.32 × 30 ÷ 37 = £19,496.20 a year
• paid in 12 equal instalments of about £1,624.68 a month before deductions

Your own employer may count weeks and leave differently, and the term-time-only pay guide explains why figures vary.

Deductions from a TA’s pay

On £19,496, income tax and National Insurance both start above £12,570, so 20% tax and 8% National Insurance apply to the slice above that. Most TAs are in the Local Government Pension Scheme. The rate depends on actual pay, not FTE. For 2026/27 it is 5.8% on pay from £18,401 to £29,000 in the main section, and 5.5% on pay up to £18,400. In the 50/50 section you pay half the rate and build up half the pension.

Student loans are deducted only above the threshold for your plan. On Plan 2 that is £29,385, so most part-time TAs repay nothing, and on Plan 5 it is £25,000. The take-home pay for a teaching assistant guide works through a full example, and the take-home pay calculator does it for your own figures.

Low pay may also qualify you for Universal Credit alongside your wages. Universal Credit looks at earnings month by month, so a term-time salary paid in 12 equal instalments is treated the same each month.

How TA pay rises

TA pay goes up through the annual NJC award and by moving up the spine. For 2026/27 the award was 3.3% from 1 April 2026, backdated, though it was paid late after union ballots over the summer. SCP 2 was deleted from the same date.

Changing grade is the other route. HLTA status, a level 3 role with responsibility for a specific need, or a cover supervisor post usually sits on a higher grade. The higher level teaching assistant profile covers that step.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 provides for a national School Support Staff Negotiating Body for England, but it still needs secondary legislation. Its first pay outcomes are expected in 2027/28 at the earliest, so TA pay in 2026/27 still follows the NJC. TA vacancies are listed on the teaching assistant jobs board.