Support staff: pay scales and progression

Pay scales for support staff such as teaching assistants (TAs) are determined locally, as are their career progression arrangements. Understand how to set your pay scales and progression frameworks, and how to determine pay for support staff on the SLT.

Last reviewed on 9 October 2023
School types: AllSchool phases: Nursery, Primary, Secondary, 16 PlusRef: 6830
Contents
  1. There’s no statutory pay scale or progression framework for support staff
  2. How to pay support staff with additional responsibilities
  3. Expectations for staff at different pay grades
  4. Provide clear criteria on progression

There’s no statutory pay scale or progression framework for support staff

It’s the employer’s responsibility to agree pay and progression with support staff such as teaching assistants (TAs) and higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs). Your employer will depend on your school type.

  • Community or voluntary-controlled (VC) school - the local authority (LA) is the legal employer, so pay and conditions for support staff are based on the LA's scale of pay grades
  • Foundation or voluntary-aided (VA) school - your governing board is responsible for determining the pay and conditions for support staff
  • Academy - your trust can set its own pay and conditions, but staff whose employment transferred to the academy at the point of conversion retain their existing pay and conditions (unless the trust renegotiated these after the transfer)

Schools where the LA is the employer must use the LA’s set pay scales and conditions for support staff. These are usually based on