How can honorariums support your staff?

As pay is set to rise for school teachers and leaders, how might honorariums help those who won’t receive a five per cent pay award?

Pay for teachers and leaders is set to rise by at least five per cent with many teachers on the main pay scale receiving more than this, but pay for school support staff is set to increase by a fixed £1,925 (for full-time staff and pro-rata for part-time). This flat rate increase means that school support staff earning the full-time equivalent of £35,800 will receive less than five per cent – which means that many SBLs will find themselves with a rise of about three per cent.

As inflation is currently running into double figures, this looks to be a particularly hard problems for those SBLs who are set to receive a lower pay rise, and the varying systems for determining pay across the education system means that this is unlikely to change any time soon. 

Honorarium 

The ASCL has provided guidance to schools pointing out that honorariums can be used to support those in business leadership positions, and other roles, earning above the fixed amount who will receive a pay award of less than five per cent. 

Many local authority, MAT and school pay policies contain provision to award an honorarium in situations where additional pay is justified but not permitted via a salary increase in the policy. The ASCL guidance explains, ‘An honorarium is a payment agreed by the headteacher in consultation with the CEO, for undertaking higher level duties or responsibilities. These may be a proportion of a higher-level post or may be a piece of work that falls outside an established post, such as a new project or initiative.’

To find or establish a provision, be aware that wording can vary across schools and policies. Honorariums can be called ‘allowances’, ‘payments’ or may be defined as ‘rewarding additional duties’. 

How to calculate honorarium payments 

To calculate an honorarium payment, a manager must evaluate the employee and the responsibilities that they have undertaken, or will be undertaking. This evaluation can differ by circumstance, such as:

Payments for undertaking a proportion of the duties of a higher graded post

If an employee has undertaken a proportion of a higher graded for a period of at least two weeks, an honorarium could be paid. The manager should evaluate what percentage of duties the employee is undertaking. 

To calculate the honorarium the manager should consider the difference between the existing basic salary, and minimum salary of the higher post, and multiply by the percentage of the work undertaken. 

Payments for additional work outside the scope of the employee’s normal duties 

If an employee has undertaken work outside the scope of their normal duties, such as a one-off project, a discretionary honorarium could be paid. The manager should evaluate the additional skills and responsibilities needed to undertake the project and attach an appropriate grade for the work concerned. Once the grade is determined, the number of hours it will take to complete the project should be assessed.

To calculate the honorarium the manager should consider the difference between the existing basic salary, and the minimum salary of the projected grade. If the project is being shared by multiple employees it can be divided according to workload or shared equally.  

However, if the employee is undertaking a discrete project, it may be inappropriate to attach a grade as there are no activities or tasks to assess. In this case, a manager should identify a monetary value for the project that will be paid alongside the normal grade to carry out the project. 

Additional support 

If your school is unable to provide routine honorariums for staff receiving a pay award of less than five per cent, the ASCL advises school business leaders to consider applying for schemes to help address the shortfall in their own pay; government guidance on how to do this can be found here. 

To assist you in this process, the ASCL has also provided a letter template where the request for an honorarium can be brought forward to the relevant schemes or school pay committees.