Teacher Pay Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms you'll meet on your payslip and pay statement, from STPCD and TLR to the Teachers' Pension and directed time.

STPCDSchool Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document: The statutory document, published annually by the Department for Education, that sets out teacher pay ranges and conditions. Maintained schools must follow it; academies may use it as a benchmark.
STRBSchool Teachers' Review Body: The independent body that recommends teacher pay awards to the government each year. Its report drives the annual pay uplift (a 3.5% award applies from September 2026).
Main Pay Range (MPR)M1–M6: The six-point pay range for qualified classroom teachers, including those completing Early Career Teacher induction. Progression depends on your school’s appraisal process.
Upper Pay Range (UPR)UPS1–UPS3: A higher three-point range for experienced teachers who demonstrate sustained, substantial performance. You apply once at or near M6; progression needs a minimum of two years at each point.
Leading Practitioner: An experienced teacher who stays in the classroom but models excellent practice across the school, paid on a dedicated range above the Upper Pay Range.
Leadership Pay SpineL1–L43: The pay spine for head teachers, deputy and assistant heads. The governing body sets the specific range based on the school’s group size and complexity.
TLRTeaching and Learning Responsibility payment: A pensionable payment for sustained additional responsibility. TLR1 (£10,531–£17,819) is for whole-school roles, TLR2 (£3,651–£8,913) for departmental roles, and TLR3 (£727–£3,600) for time-limited projects.
SEN AllowanceSpecial Educational Needs allowance: A pensionable allowance (£2,885–£5,690) for teachers working with pupils with special educational needs in roles requiring specialist skills or qualifications.
London Weighting: Higher pay for teaching in and around London. Inner London attracts the largest uplift, then Outer London, then the Fringe area of the Home Counties.
Fringe: A pay area covering parts of the Home Counties (e.g. Hertfordshire, Essex, Surrey, Berkshire) that attracts a small supplement above the Rest of England rate.
QTSQualified Teacher Status: The accreditation required to teach in most state-maintained schools in England. Teachers without it are paid on the separate Unqualified Teacher range.
ECT / NQTEarly Career Teacher / Newly Qualified Teacher: A teacher in the first two years of their career, completing statutory induction. “ECT” has replaced the older term “NQT”. Both typically start at M1.
Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS): The defined-benefit pension for teachers. Retirement income is based on career-average earnings, not investment performance, making it one of the most valuable public-sector schemes.
CARECareer Average Revalued Earnings: The basis of the TPS: you build 1/57th of your pensionable pay as pension each year, revalued annually at CPI + 1.6% so it keeps pace with inflation.
Employer Contribution: The 28.68% of your salary your school or trust pays into the Teachers’ Pension Scheme on top of your pay. It is never deducted from your salary.
Pensionable Pay: The part of your earnings used to calculate pension contributions and benefits — your salary plus pensionable allowances such as TLR and SEN, but excluding items like overtime.
Normal Pension Age (NPA): The age at which you can take your Teachers’ Pension without reduction. In the career-average scheme it is linked to your State Pension age.
Directed Time1,265 hours: The maximum number of hours a full-time teacher can be directed to work across 195 days a year. Time spent planning and marking is additional and not counted within it.
PPA TimePlanning, Preparation and Assessment: Guaranteed non-contact time — at least 10% of your timetabled teaching time — for planning, preparation and assessment.
Performance Threshold: The assessment against the Teachers’ Standards you must pass to move from the Main Pay Range onto the Upper Pay Range.
Fiscal Drag: When frozen tax thresholds pull more of a pay rise into tax as salaries grow, reducing the real value of an increase and pushing some teachers into the Higher Rate band.
Personal Allowance£12,570: The amount you can earn before paying income tax. It tapers away above £100,000, reaching zero at £125,140 — relevant mainly for senior leaders.
Student Loan PlansPlan 1, 2, 4, 5, Postgraduate: Repayment is 9% of income above your plan’s threshold (6% for Postgraduate loans). Your plan depends on where and when you studied — most teachers who started university in England after 2012 are on Plan 2.
Academy Pay: Academies and free schools are not legally bound by the STPCD and may set their own pay scales, though many mirror the national framework. Always check your contract.