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). Who the employer is depends 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 - the 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