Term time only salary calculator
A term time only contract advertises a full-year salary you will not be paid, because you are paid for the weeks you work plus the holiday those weeks earn, and nothing for the rest of the year. The pay still arrives in twelve equal instalments, which is what makes the figure hard to check against the advert. This works the whole thing out: the weeks you are paid for, the holiday that accrues on them, your hours against full-time hours, and what the result leaves after income tax and National Insurance. It is the calculation behind a term time salary, a term time only pay figure and a pro rata school salary, which are three names for the same arithmetic.
Calculator
Term time only salary calculator
Term weeks only. Most school terms run 38 or 39; do not add holiday here, it is worked out below.
2026/27 rates, checked 28 August 2026. Assumes the standard 1257L tax code, no pension and no student loan.
39 weeks worked plus 4.69 weeks holiday, at 32.5 of 37.5 hours
£21,786 a year
£19,205.74 take-home, £1,600.48 a month
How the term-time factor is built
Term-time pay is still paid in twelve equal monthly instalments, so the yearly figure is what matters. It is the full-year salary scaled twice: once for the weeks you are paid for, and once for your hours.
| Weeks worked | 39.00 |
| Holiday accrued on those weeks | +4.69 |
| Weeks you are paid for | 43.69 of 52.143 |
| Weeks fraction | 83.79% |
| Hours fraction | 86.67% |
| Term-time factor | 72.62% |
If your contract states its own number of paid weeks or its own factor, use that instead: the pay scales straight off it, so £30,000 at a factor of 72.62% is £21,786.
Term time against the same hours all year
Tax is not scaled with the weeks. Your personal allowance stays £12,570.00 whether you work 39 weeks or 52, so term-time pay is taxed more lightly per pound than the same hours worked all year.
| Full time, all year | Your hours, all year | Your hours, term time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | £30,000.00 | £26,000.00 | £21,786.31 |
| Income tax | −£3,486.00 | −£2,686.00 | −£1,843.26 |
| National Insurance | −£1,394.40 | −£1,074.40 | −£737.30 |
| Take-home | £25,119.60 | £22,239.60 | £19,205.74 |
| Monthly take-home | £2,093.30 | £1,853.30 | £1,600.48 |
| You keep | 83.7% | 85.5% | 88.2% |
The term-time row earns 73% of the full-time salary and keeps 76% of the full-time take-home. The gap between those two numbers is the allowance working harder on a smaller salary.
How to work out term time only pay
Two fractions, multiplied. The first is the weeks: the weeks you work, plus the holiday they entitle you to, over the 52.143 weeks in a year. A worker employed all year gets 5.6 weeks of paid holiday, and a term time worker earns that at the same rate over fewer weeks, so 39 weeks worked accrue 4.69 weeks of holiday and you are paid for 43.69 weeks altogether. The second fraction is your hours over full-time hours. On a £30,000 full-year scale at 32.5 of 37.5 hours, those two give a factor of 72.62% and a salary of £21,786, which is £1,600.48 a month after tax.
The number that catches people out is the holiday. It is tempting to divide 39 weeks by 52 and stop, which would give 75.00% rather than 83.79% before hours are counted: a difference of £2,638 a year on this example, in your favour. Many contracts state their own paid-weeks figure or a term time factor directly, and where they do, that number wins over any general formula.
Why term time pay is taxed more lightly than it looks
Nothing about the tax system is scaled to the weeks you work. The £12,570.00 personal allowance and the National Insurance thresholds are annual amounts that apply in full to a term time salary, so a smaller salary has a larger share of it sheltered. On the example above the term time salary is 73% of the full-year one but the take-home is 76% of the full-year take-home. That gap is worth knowing when you compare a term time job against a full-year one: the difference in pay is real, but it is smaller after tax than the headline fraction suggests.
What this calculator assumes
- The standard 1257L tax code, that this is your only job, and no pension or student loan. Add those on the main calculator.
- Holiday accrued at the statutory 5.6 weeks over a working year of 46.543 weeks. Some employers are more generous than the statutory minimum and some state a flat number of paid weeks; both change the factor, and the table shows it so you can compare against your contract.
- Pay spread evenly over twelve months, which is how term time contracts are normally paid. A contract that pays only in the months you work gives the same annual figure in larger instalments.
- No London weighting or allowance. If yours has one, it is added to the full-year salary before the factor is applied, and the London weighting guide explains how the published scales work.
2026/27 HMRC rates, checked 28 August 2026 by Hadi. Holiday entitlement under the Working Time Regulations 1998. Method and sources on the about page.
How to use the term time only salary calculator
- 1
Enter the full-time, full-year salary the job advertises, not a figure already reduced for term time.
- 2
Enter the weeks you work. Term weeks only: the holiday those weeks earn is added for you.
- 3
Enter full-time hours and your own hours, since most term time roles are part time as well.
- 4
Read the term time factor in the table and check it against the one your contract states, because a contract's own figure overrides any formula.
When should you use the term time only salary calculator?
Use it when a job advertises a full-year salary but the contract is term time only, and you need the figure that will actually be paid.
A school job advert quotes a full-year salary
Term time only pay is a fraction of it, and the advert rarely says which fraction.
Checking a teaching assistant or support staff offer
Weeks worked, holiday accrued and hours all scale the salary, and all three are easy to get wrong.
Comparing a term time job against a full-year one
The pay gap is real but smaller after tax, because the personal allowance is not scaled to the weeks you work.
Your monthly pay does not match your contract
Term time pay is normally spread over twelve months, so no single month equals the weeks worked in it.
Where to go next
- Pro rata and part time calculatorTo scale a salary for hours alone, when the job runs all year.Open
- Salary comparison calculatorTo set a term time offer against a full-year one side by side.Open
- Hourly wage calculatorTo start from an hourly rate instead of a full-year salary.Open
All 51 calculators share one tested engine, so a figure from the term time only salary calculator agrees with every other page here. See the full calculator index or the pay and tax guides.