What can you tell me about finances?
Obviously not the most light hearted of subjects, but very important when making your plans!
Pay
Supply rates
Long term Teachers are currently paying a minimum of
£125 per day - whenever you are
planning to teach through us, this will not have decreased but may have
increased.
Just over 10% of this payment is deemed to be advance holiday pay (i.e.
without holiday pay you would receive £102 per day) and therefore you are paid
only for the days actually spent on assignment. This currently equates to a
yearly salary of £22 425.
Long term Teachers pays on a weekly basis using timesheets. These need to be
completed and signed by the school at the end of your working week. Once we have
received these we process your pay and it will become available to you through
the ATM (Automatic Teller Machines or cashpoints) system on the following Friday (just in time for the
weekend!).
Paid to scale
If you have Qualified Teacher Status - that is, you qualified in the UK or
have since gained Department for Education recognition of your qualifications -
you will be 'on the scale'. If you are on supply and the school you are teaching
at agrees to pay you to scale, you will be paid a daily equivalent (so your
annual salary divided by the number of teaching days in the school year).
Schools in the north of England are more likely to pay to scale through agencies
while London schools tend to pay a flat rate though may be open to negotiation
through the agency.
Supply or contract?
As we make a match between schools and teachers looking for long term
arrangements, there can be scope for the school to appoint the teacher on a
contract. That is, the teacher signs a contract with the school and is then paid
a monthly salary rather than a daily rate. We are happy to facilitate this where
both the school and teacher prefer it. The contract may be temporary - one or
two terms - or it could be a one year or permanent appointment. Teachers with
QTS will be paid to scale in such a case and teachers without QTS need to
negotiate a pay rate with the school, with the help of the agency where
required.
Tax and National Insurance
Two deductions are made from your wages at source. These are
The Tax system has an in-depth scale of liability and is subject to
government change. Put basically, you are entitled to earn a certain amount of
salary before you are taxed and then the tax rate increases by percentage
dependent on the amount you earn.
Although you can currently earn over £4,745 per year before paying tax it is
assumed you will work for an entire tax year and your tax-free allowance is
given to you in weekly amounts (you will not pay tax on the first £91.25 you earn
in each week). It is only at the end of the tax year (5th April) or
when you leave the country (and will not return before the end of the tax year)
that your total earnings are reconciled and you can claim back overpaid tax
based on your entire yearly tax-free allowance.
Long term Teachers is bound by changeable government policy on tax
but as of Autumn 2004, our teachers' combined tax and NI contribution
is about 26% of their weekly salary.
National Insurance
National Insurance Contributions are in effect a form of taxation, paid
towards specific areas of Government expenditure (i.e. Social Security,
Healthcare, and Pensions). There is quite an in-depth scale of liability for NICs dependent on
salary, and your employer also makes a contribution on your behalf.
In order to ensure that your contributions are correctly recorded on your
National Insurance Account teachers from abroad will need to apply for a NI number (a time
consuming and complicated but essential process - we'll tell you how!).
Banking
Many overseas visitors find the British banking system excessively
bureaucratic
and time consuming. You will need a bank account in order to be paid while you are
working here and a reference from your bank at home will definitely help you to
open an account here.
The big four banks are Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and NatWest. All will
ask you for proof of your UK address. If several of you are living in flat or
house share, it would be worth sharing out the responsibility for utilities
(e.g. gas, electricity, phone). This way you will all have at least one bill in
your own name and therefore showing proof
of address.
