Early-career payments for teachers

When to apply and payments

You need to apply at different times depending on:

• the subject you teach
• which academic year your initial teacher training (ITT) course started (postgraduate) or finished (undergraduate)

Each application window will be open for 5 months from September in the year stated.

You may also be entitled to an uplift payment.

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Early career payment amounts depend on when your ITT course started (postgraduate) or finished (undergraduate)

Subject	ITT course start or finish	Academic years to apply	Amount
Maths	2018 to 2019	2021 and 2023	£5,000
Maths	2019 to 2020	2022 and 2024	£5,000
Maths	2020 to 2021	2022, 2023 and 2024	£2,000
Physics	2020 to 2021	2022, 2023 and 2024	£2,000
Chemistry	2020 to 2021	2022, 2023 and 2024	£2,000
Languages	2020 to 2021	2022, 2023 and 2024	£2,000

The academic year runs from 1 September to 31 August.

Eligibility criteria

You must meet the training, employment and performance criteria to be able to claim any additional payments.

Once the claim window opens in autumn 2022, you can answer questions to find out what additional payments you are eligible to claim. You will only be able to claim either an early-career payment or levelling up premium payment per academic year, even if you are eligible to claim for both payments.

Learn more about what additional payments are available.

Training

You will be eligible if you started a postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) course or completed an undergraduate ITT course in the following subjects and academic years:

• mathematics in the 2018 to 2019, 2019 to 2020 or 2020 to 2021 academic year
• physics, chemistry and languages in the 2020 to 2021 academic year

Postgraduate ITT includes:

• university-led and school-led courses like the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
• School Direct ITT
• School Centred ITT (SCITT)
• Teach First
• Postgraduate teaching apprenticeship

Undergraduate ITT includes:

• Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree with qualified teacher status (QTS)
• Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree with QTS

If you were awarded QTS through assessment only or overseas recognition in academic years 2018 to 2019, 2019 to 2020, or 2020 to 2021, you will also be eligible.

Employment

You must have QTS or qualified teacher learning and skills (QTLS).

If you have QTLS you must be a member of the Society for Education and Training (SET) to apply.

You must be employed as a teacher in a state-funded secondary school in England when you apply for the payment. State-funded secondary schools include:

• local authority-maintained secondary schools (including middle-deemed secondary schools)
• academies, free schools or multi-academy trusts
• special schools (local authority-maintained or non-maintained)

You must:

• have started your induction before applying for your first early-career payment
• have completed your induction before applying for subsequent early-career payments (or completed at least one year of your induction for those that completed their ITT in the 2020 to 2021 academic year)
• have spent at least 50% of your contracted hours allocated to teaching one or more of the eligible subjects at the time of the application

Supply, private school and sixth-form college teachers

If you are a supply teacher, you must be employed directly by the school to be eligible. You must have been working for at least one term before applying. You cannot come from a private agency.

If you teach in a private school or sixth-form college, you are not eligible.

Part-time teachers

If you are a part-time teacher, you are eligible for the same early-career payment amounts as full-time teachers.

You still need to meet the same eligibility criteria in full.

Breaks in teaching

You are allowed to have some breaks in your normal employment which include:

• sickness, maternity, paternity, parental or adoption leave
• annual leave
• time between unfair dismissal and an employee being reinstated
• military service, for example with a reserve force
• temporary lay-offs

Performance

You must not currently be subject to any:

• formal performance measures as a result of continuous poor teaching standards
• disciplinary action

Local authorities with uplift payments

You will need to teach in an uplift area at the time you apply to be eligible for an uplift payment.

All payments of £5,000 increase to £7,500 in an uplift payment area.

All payments of £2,000 increase to £3,000 in an uplift payment area.

The local authorities are:

• Barnsley
• Blackpool
• Bracknell Forest
• Bradford
• Coventry
• Derby
• Doncaster
• Dudley
• East Riding of Yorkshire
• Halton
• Isle of Wight
• Kingston Upon Hull, City of
• Kirklees
• Knowsley
• Leicester
• Liverpool
• Luton
• Middlesbrough
• Milton Keynes
• North Lincolnshire
• Northumberland
• Nottingham
• Oldham
• Peterborough
• Portsmouth
• Reading
• Rochdale
• Salford
• Sandwell
• Sefton
• Sheffield
• St. Helens
• Stoke-on-Trent
• Swindon
• Tameside
• Telford and Wrekin
• Walsall
• Warrington
• Wolverhampton

Payments and deductions

Number of payments

You can only claim one additional payment in each academic year, even if you are eligible for more than one type of additional payment.

For example, if you are eligible for both the levelling up premium and early career payments you can only claim one of these additional payments in the same academic year.

However, if you are eligible to claim back your student loan repayments, you will be able to claim this as well as a levelling up premium payment or early-career payment.

Paying income tax and National Insurance

The early-career payment is considered taxable income.

The Department for Education will pay National Insurance and income tax up to the basic rate (currently earnings of £12,571 to £50,270 are taxed at a rate of 20%) for the payment on your behalf.

If you become or already are a higher rate taxpayer, any additional National Insurance or income tax contributions for this payment over the higher rate (currently earnings of £50,271 to £150,000, are taxed at a rate of 40%) will remain your responsibility. The Department for Education is not liable to reimburse tax at the higher rate.

Review the tax bands on income tax rates and personal allowances.

The payment is not part of your salary from your employer. You, your employer, or the government will not make a contribution to your pension as part of this payment.

Consider any other benefits or tax credits that could be affected if you claim this payment.

Student loan deductions

If you have a student loan then a deduction will go towards repaying your student loan. This is taken off your payment automatically.

Contact

If you have any questions about the early-career payments, email earlycareerteacherpayments@digital.education.gov.uk.