A common issue for schools arises where a teacher is employed on a permanent unqualified teacher contract but subsequently obtains Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). The question is whether the school can continue to employ that individual on the unqualified teachers’ scale until a suitable vacancy arises, or whether their pay and status must change immediately.
The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) addresses this situation directly. Paragraph 18 (“An unqualified teacher who becomes qualified”) provides that, upon obtaining QTS under the relevant regulations, an unqualified teacher must be transferred to a salary within the main pay range for teachers.
Where the teacher continues to be employed at the same school in which they worked prior to obtaining QTS, their salary must be set at a level no lower than the combined value of their previous unqualified teacher salary and any applicable allowances. This requires the school to re-determine the individual’s pay as a qualified teacher.
The provision therefore does not allow a school to continue employing the individual indefinitely as an unqualified teacher simply because there is no vacancy for a qualified teacher role or because the school has not budgeted for an increase in salary. The obligation to move the teacher onto the qualified teachers’ pay range arises when QTS is obtained.
In addition, where QTS is awarded retrospectively, paragraph 18 provides that the teacher may be entitled to a lump sum payment representing the difference between the remuneration they received as an unqualified teacher and the amount they would have received had they been paid on the qualified teachers’ scale from the date QTS was effectively obtained. Accordingly, once QTS is obtained, the STPCD requires the school to re-determine the teacher’s salary within the main pay range for qualified teachers, rather than continuing their employment on the unqualified teachers’ scale.
