What is the starting salary for a teacher in England in 2024?

Outside London, new teachers in England start on the Main Pay Range, which following the 2023 pay award sits in the low-to-mid £30,000s. The exact figure varies slightly by region, and London weighting pushes it higher for teachers in the capital. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate pay arrangements.

Do teachers get automatic pay rises each year?

No - and this surprises a lot of people. Progression on the Main Pay Range depends on a performance appraisal. Your school has to approve the move. In most cases teachers do progress, but it's not guaranteed in the way that, say, an increment on the NHS pay spine is.

What is a TLR payment and who gets one?

TLR stands for Teaching and Learning Responsibility. It's an additional payment on top of your main salary for taking on significant responsibilities - running a department, leading a year group, coordinating SEND provision. There are two main bands (TLR1 and TLR2), with TLR1 worth more. Not every teacher has one, and the amounts are set within national ranges but decided at school level.

How does teacher pay in Scotland differ from England?

Scotland has its own pay structure negotiated through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), separate from the School Teachers' Review Body that covers England and Wales. Scottish teachers on the main grade have historically been paid on a single spine point once fully qualified, rather than a range - though the details have evolved over time. Northern Ireland also runs its own system.

Is teaching well paid compared to other graduate jobs?

It depends heavily on career stage. Early-career teachers have typically earned less than comparable graduate entrants in finance, law or tech - ONS ASHE data shows this clearly. But mid-career teachers, especially those with leadership responsibilities, close the gap. The Teachers' Pension Scheme (a defined benefit arrangement) also adds meaningful value that doesn't show up in the salary headline.

teacher salary · public sector pay · UK careers · education

What Teachers Actually Earn in the UK (It's Complicated)

Rung·2 July 2026·4 min read

Teacher pay in the UK is one of the few salary systems where your employer legally cannot just make a number up. It runs on nationally set pay spines, reviewed annually by the School Teachers' Review Body, and published for anyone to read. Which makes it both more transparent and, somehow, more confusing than almost any other profession.

Here's the thing most people outside teaching don't realise: there isn't one teacher salary. There are several overlapping scales, a geographic weighting system, and a performance-related progression mechanism that was supposed to reward great teachers but mostly created paperwork.

The pay spine, briefly explained

In England and Wales, classroom teachers start on the Main Pay Range. In September 2023, the government accepted a pay award that pushed starting salaries meaningfully higher - the first time in years that early-career teacher pay got serious attention. Outside London, the floor for a new teacher sits in the low-to-mid £30,000s. Inside London, the Inner London weighting takes it higher. Scotland and Northern Ireland run entirely separate systems under their own devolved arrangements, so if you're comparing across the UK, you're already comparing apples and pears.

Once you're on the Main Pay Range, progression isn't automatic. Schools decide whether you move up each year based on performance appraisal. In theory, this lets brilliant teachers progress faster. In practice, it means two teachers with the same experience, at the same school, teaching the same subject, can be on different points - and neither might know the other's salary.

The Leadership Range is where it gets interesting

Move into the Upper Pay Range - which requires an application and approval, not just time served - and then potentially into the Leadership Group pay range if you take on a headship or deputy role, and the numbers shift considerably. Headteachers at large secondary schools can sit well into six figures. That's not a secret, but it's rarely part of the public conversation about teacher pay, which tends to focus almost exclusively on the classroom teacher experience.

SENDCO roles, subject leads, heads of year, assistant heads - all of these attract Teaching and Learning Responsibility payments (TLRs), which sit on top of the main salary. A TLR2 can add several thousand pounds a year. A TLR1 more still. So the answer to "what does a teacher earn" depends enormously on what kind of teacher, in what kind of school, doing what.

Why the "underpaid teachers" debate is more nuanced than it looks

Teachers are, by most measures, graduate professionals in a demanding public service role. Comparing their pay to other graduate professions is a fair exercise - and when you do it properly, using ONS ASHE data rather than anecdotes, the picture is mixed. Early-career teachers have historically lagged behind comparable graduate entrants in law, finance, and tech. Mid-career and senior teachers, particularly those with leadership responsibilities, close that gap considerably.

The pension is also not nothing. The Teachers' Pension Scheme is a defined benefit arrangement - the kind that has largely vanished from the private sector. Put a realistic value on that and the total compensation picture looks different to the headline salary figure.

None of this means the recruitment and retention crisis isn't real - it clearly is, and the data on vacancies and early exits from the profession backs that up. But the salary story is more layered than "teachers are paid terribly" or "teachers are fine, stop moaning".

What this means if you're considering teaching

If you're a career-changer looking at teaching - and there are a lot of you, particularly post-pandemic - the pay spine is actually useful information. You can look up exactly where you'd likely start, model progression over five to ten years, and compare it honestly to where you are now. That's more than most professions offer.

If you're already in teaching and wondering whether you're on the right point of the scale, or whether your TLR reflects your actual responsibilities, Rung's Salary Analytics can show you your pay percentile against official ONS data for your role and region - which is a better starting point than asking a colleague awkwardly in the staffroom.

The pay spine tells you the rules. Whether you're being paid correctly within those rules is a different question.

Frequently asked questions

What is the starting salary for a teacher in England in 2024?: Outside London, new teachers in England start on the Main Pay Range, which following the 2023 pay award sits in the low-to-mid £30,000s. The exact figure varies slightly by region, and London weighting pushes it higher for teachers in the capital. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate pay arrangements.
Do teachers get automatic pay rises each year?: No - and this surprises a lot of people. Progression on the Main Pay Range depends on a performance appraisal. Your school has to approve the move. In most cases teachers do progress, but it's not guaranteed in the way that, say, an increment on the NHS pay spine is.
What is a TLR payment and who gets one?: TLR stands for Teaching and Learning Responsibility. It's an additional payment on top of your main salary for taking on significant responsibilities - running a department, leading a year group, coordinating SEND provision. There are two main bands (TLR1 and TLR2), with TLR1 worth more. Not every teacher has one, and the amounts are set within national ranges but decided at school level.
How does teacher pay in Scotland differ from England?: Scotland has its own pay structure negotiated through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), separate from the School Teachers' Review Body that covers England and Wales. Scottish teachers on the main grade have historically been paid on a single spine point once fully qualified, rather than a range - though the details have evolved over time. Northern Ireland also runs its own system.
Is teaching well paid compared to other graduate jobs?: It depends heavily on career stage. Early-career teachers have typically earned less than comparable graduate entrants in finance, law or tech - ONS ASHE data shows this clearly. But mid-career teachers, especially those with leadership responsibilities, close the gap. The Teachers' Pension Scheme (a defined benefit arrangement) also adds meaningful value that doesn't show up in the salary headline.