Pro Rata Salary FAQs
How do you calculate a pro rata salary?
Divide your hours by the full-time hours and multiply by the full-time salary. For example, working 22.5 hours where full-time is 37.5 hours on a £30,000 full-time salary: 22.5 ÷ 37.5 = 0.6 FTE, so the pro rata salary is £18,000. Tax and National Insurance are then calculated on the pro rata amount exactly as for any other salary.
What does FTE mean?
FTE stands for full-time equivalent. It expresses your hours as a fraction of a full-time role: 0.5 FTE is half time, 0.8 FTE is four days out of five. Job adverts often quote the full-time equivalent salary, so a "£30,000 FTE" role advertised at 0.6 FTE actually pays £18,000 a year. Always check which figure an advert means before accepting.
How does pro rata holiday entitlement work?
Statutory holiday is 5.6 weeks per year for all workers, including part-timers. A part-time worker gets 5.6 weeks of their own working pattern: someone working 3 days a week gets 5.6 × 3 = 16.8 days. In hours, multiply your weekly hours by 5.6. Bank holidays can be counted within this entitlement, which matters for part-timers who never work Mondays.
Is a term-time only salary calculated pro rata?
Yes. Term-time only staff such as teaching assistants are usually paid for the weeks they work plus their statutory holiday weeks, divided across the full year. A typical formula pays around 44.6 weeks out of 52.14 (39 working weeks plus 5.6 weeks of holiday), roughly 85% of the equivalent full-year salary, spread over 12 equal monthly payments so income stays steady through the school holidays.
Do part-time workers pay less tax proportionally?
Usually yes. The £12,570 Personal Allowance and the NI threshold stay the same however few hours you work, so a bigger share of a part-time salary is completely tax-free. Dropping from full-time £30,000 to 0.6 FTE £18,000 cuts your gross by 40%, but your take-home falls by less than that · working part-time is more tax-efficient per pound earned.
For informational purposes only · Not financial advice · 2026/27 rates: Personal Allowance £12,570, basic 20%, higher 40%, additional 45%, employee NI 8%/2% · Statutory holiday 5.6 weeks · Assumes standard 1257L tax code and no student loan or pension deductions