Determining and reviewing headteacher pay

Make sure you know how to set pay ranges for headteachers, including in special schools, and be clear on when you can change their pay ranges. Find guidance on when you can give additional payments, and how you should pay those in an acting role.

Last reviewed on 25 October 2022
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School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 3701
Contents
  1. Understand the leadership pay range
  2. Setting pay for new appointments: 3-stage process
  3. Reviewing pay ranges for existing roles
  4. Additional payments
  5. Paying those in an acting role

The rules for determining headteacher pay are set out in the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD). We summarise these rules below.

The STPCD applies to headteachers:

  • In maintained schools
  • Whose employment transferred to an academy at the point of conversion and whose terms have not since been renegotiated

If your school is an academy, you may choose to follow the STPCD when setting pay and conditions for new headteachers, but you don't have to.

Schools that don't follow the STPCD should consult their contracts and pay policies for details of how headteacher pay should be determined.

Understand the leadership pay range

Headteachers must be paid on the leadership pay range. In 2022, this is between £44,305 and £124,274 per year depending on location (though the pay range for headteachers starts at £50,122 – see details on pages 11 and 12 of the STPCD). 

The 'headteacher group' –

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