Pay Scales and Incremental Progression

Pre-2011 salary scale:

Teachers with qualified teaching service in Ireland prior to 1^st January 2011 are on the pre-2011 salary scale.

Teachers with unqualified teaching service in Ireland prior to 1^st January 2011 whose first date of qualified teaching service was prior to 29^th April 2013 are also entitled to be on the pre-2011 salary scale.

Teachers with qualified teaching service in another EU country prior to 1^st January 2011 but whose first qualified service in Ireland was on or after 1^st January 2011 are entitled to be on the pre-2011 pay scale.  Qualified teaching service in another EU country must be treated as analogous to qualified teaching service in Ireland.  However, such teachers will automatically commence on the post-2011 scale when they take up their first teaching post in Ireland.  It is necessary to apply to the DEY to be rescaled onto the pre-2011 pay scale.  Such an application must be made within 6 months of taking up a teaching post in Ireland.  The relevant details can be found in DEY Circular 27/2016 (PDF).

Post-2011 salary scale:

All other teachers are on the post-2011 salary scale.

Teachers on the pre-2011 salary scale start either on point 2 (B.Ed. teaching qualification) or point 3 (postgraduate teaching qualification).  The scale goes up to point 25.

Teachers on the post-2011 salary scale start on point 1 of the scale.  The scale goes up to point 27 but points 4, 8 and 12 are skipped making it the same length as the pre-2011 scale.

Yes, all teachers receive an allowance for their undergraduate degree.  For teachers on the pre-2011 scale, this allowance is paid separately from basic pay.  The value of the allowance paid to each individual teacher will be contingent on whether they have an honours or a pass degree.  All teachers on the post-2011 scale receive an honours degree allowance.  This forms part of basic pay and therefore is not listed as a separate item on payslips.

Teachers on both scales move up one point* for each full year of teaching service they complete (*teachers on the post-2011 scale move up more than one point at certain times due to increment skips).  Every 365 calendar days in a fixed-term or permanent contract is one year of teaching service as is every 182 days of substitute work.  A teacher cannot move up the scale any earlier than 365 days on from the date they last moved up.   All qualified teaching service counts towards progression on the salary scale.  Where a teacher is not working continuously, there will be more than a year between their increments.

 

The following are some straightforward examples of incremental progression:

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Yes, your progression up the scale will pause while on career break unless you undertake substitute work.  All substitute work undertaken while on career break counts towards incremental progression.

No, a teacher who is job sharing, or a teacher who has a part-time fixed-term contract, moves up the scale at the same rate as a full-time permanent/fixed-term teacher.

No.  You continue to progress up the salary scale while on all these leave types.

While on full-pay or half-pay sick leave, you will continue to move up the salary scale at the same rate as if you were not on sick leave.  If you exhaust full and half-pay sick leave and are receiving the Temporary Rehabilitation Remuneration (TRR) rate of pay, or are on unpaid sick leave, progression up the scale will pause.

Once you have ten years’ service on the top point of the scale you are entitled to receive the Long Service Allowance, also known as the Allowance for Teachers with 35 years’ service.

You may find the following 2023 article from INTO’s Intouch magazine helpful. Please note, rates of certain statutory deductions have changed since 2023.

You can receive your payslip electronically by setting up a MessagingIE account.  You will need a verified MyGovID account to log into MessagingIE.  More information is available here.