Teaching and Learning Responsibilities

Teaching and Learning Responsibilities (TLR) payments are a great tool to enhance and improve education within the school, and are necessary for rewarding significant responsibility of staff– ensuring a successful, thriving community for the pupils.  However, these must be processed and enforced alongside the correct guidelines, namely the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) 2025. This document is released annually by the Department for Education, detailing the guidance and standards on school teachers’ pay and conditions.

The new 2025 guidelines state that organisations  may  determine the value of any existing or new TLR1 and TLR2 payments, ‘based on the proportion of the TLR the teacher is undertaking – i.e. the proportion of the full-time equivalent responsibility.’ Therefore, where a part-time teacher is taking on the responsibilities associated with a  TLR1 or TLR2, there is no longer a mandate to utilise the pro-rata principle when determining the value of the TLR1 or TLR2 payment. Equally, a part-time TLR may be awarded to a full-time teacher where the responsibilities are being shared with another teacher.   . Although this is in the guidelines that come into force on September 1st 2025, the proportion of responsibilities based calculation  won’t become a legal requirement until 1st September 2026, however it is recommended as best practice to implement this sooner, over the course of the 2025-26 academic year in order to be prepared for the legal changes.

This change essentially means that part time employees are being paid for the work they are carrying out – if a part time employee is undertaking a full TLR role, then they are paid accordingly. Previously, employers were obliged to reduce a TLR payment for part time staff based on their contracted hours. Now, if there is to be a reduction of a TLR for a part time employee, the amount by which it is reduced should be based on the proportion of the TLP duties that are undertaken, as opposed to the hours that the employee is contracted to work. 

This new guidance makes the pay regarding TLR’s remarkably fairer and will hopefully inspire more teachers to take on extra responsibility as they are now to be paid equitably As Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson explained, it will ‘improve equality of opportunity for part-time workers, better enabling them to move into leadership roles’. However, schools should also be mindful of the impact this change will have on full-time teachers undertaking only a proportion of the responsibilities associated with the full TLR. This may mean that some full-time teachers will only receive a proportion of the full TLR1 or TLR2 payment if they are only undertaking a proportion of the responsibilities associated with the full TLR. It is therefore really important that schools look to agree the level of allowance payment and responsibilities with the individual teacher.  

A further change regarding TLRs is the annual increase to the pay awarded, making it more expensive for education providers to sustain TLRs. See the table below for details, however, please note that an individual cannot hold a TLR1 and a TLR2 concurrently, yet they may be in receipt of  either a TLR1 or TLR2 and hold a concurrent  TLR3.

 As such, the move away from the strict pro-rata principle for these payments will need to be carefully considered from a costs perspective, with a detailed analysis being undertaken of how these changes may impact your organisation.

In summary, these changes aim to make additional responsibility in schools fairer for part time staff and ultimately ensure teachers are paid for the actual duties they carry out.