Early career payments for teachers
Eligible chemistry, languages, mathematics and physics teachers can apply for early career payments until March 2025.
Applies to England
Apply to claim a payment
Apply to claim an early career payment. You need to apply before 31 March 2025.
When to apply and payments
You need to apply at different times depending on:
- the subject you teach
- in which academic year your initial teacher training (ITT) course started (postgraduate) or finished (undergraduate)
You can apply from 14 October to 31 March for the 2024 to 2025 academic year.
You may also be entitled to an uplift payment.
Early career payment amounts depend on when your ITT course started (postgraduate) or finished (undergraduate)
| Subject | ITT course start or finish | Academic years in which to apply | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 2019 to 2020 | 2024 | £5,000 |
| Mathematics | 2020 to 2021 | 2024 | £2,000 |
| Physics | 2020 to 2021 | 2024 | £2,000 |
| Chemistry | 2020 to 2021 | 2024 | £2,000 |
| Languages | 2020 to 2021 | 2024 | £2,000 |
The academic year runs from 1 September to 31 August.
You will not be able to make a claim for a specific year once the application window for that year has closed.
Eligibility criteria
You must meet the eligibility criteria to be able to claim any additional payments.
From 14 October 2024 to 31 March 2025, you will be able to answer some questions to find out what additional payments you are eligible to claim.
You can only claim either an early career payment or targeted retention incentive payment in one academic year, even if you are eligible to claim for both payments.
Learn more about what additional payments are available.
Qualifications
You will be eligible if you started a postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) course or completed an undergraduate ITT course in the following subjects and academic years:
- mathematics in the 2019 to 2020 or the 2020 to 2021 academic year
- physics, chemistry and languages in the 2020 to 2021 academic year
Postgraduate ITT includes:
- university-led and school-led courses, such as the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
- School Direct ITT
- School Centred ITT (SCITT)
- Teach First
- Postgraduate teaching apprenticeship
Undergraduate ITT includes:
- Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree with qualified teacher status (QTS)
- Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree with QTS
If you were awarded QTS through assessment only or overseas recognition in the 2019 to 2020 or the 2020 to 2021 academic years, you will also be eligible.
A list of is available.
QTS and QTLS
You must have either:
- QTS
- qualified teacher learning and skills (QTLS) status and membership of the Society for Education and Training (SET)
Employment
You must be employed as a teacher in a state-funded secondary school (or middle-deemed secondary school) in England when you apply for the payment. These include:
- local authority-maintained schools
- academies, free schools or multi-academy trusts
- local-authority-maintained or non-maintained special schools
You must have:
- started your induction before applying for your first early career payment
- completed your induction before applying for subsequent early career payments (or completed at least one year of your induction if you completed your ITT in the 2020 to 2021 academic year)
- spent at least 50% of your contracted hours allocated to teaching one or more of the eligible subjects at the time of the application
Supply, independent school and sixth-form college teachers
If you are a supply teacher, you must:
- be employed directly by the school to be eligible
- have been working for at least one term before applying
If you are employed by a private supply-teaching agency or teach in an independent school or sixth-form college, you are not eligible.
Part-time teachers
If you are a part-time teacher, you are eligible for the same early career payment amounts as a full-time teacher.
You still need to meet all of the eligibility criteria.
Breaks in teaching
You are allowed to have some breaks in your normal employment such as:
- sickness
- maternity, paternity, parental or adoption leave
You should apply for payments as usual during these breaks, before the claim window closes each year
Performance
You must not currently be subject to any:
- formal performance measures as a result of continuous poor teaching standards
- disciplinary action
Local authorities with uplift payments
You will need to be teaching in an uplift area at the time you apply to be eligible for an uplift payment.
All payments of £5,000 increase to £7,500 in an uplift payment area.
All payments of £2,000 increase to £3,000 in an uplift payment area.
The local authorities are:
- Barnsley
- Blackpool
- Bracknell Forest
- Bradford
- Coventry
- Derby
- Doncaster
- Dudley
- East Riding of Yorkshire
- Halton
- Isle of Wight
- Kingston Upon Hull, City of
- Kirklees
- Knowsley
- Leicester
- Liverpool
- Luton
- Middlesbrough
- Milton Keynes
- North Lincolnshire
- Northumberland
- Nottingham
- Oldham
- Peterborough
- Portsmouth
- Reading
- Rochdale
- Salford
- Sandwell
- Sefton
- Sheffield
- St Helens
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Swindon
- Tameside
- Telford and Wrekin
- Walsall
- Warrington
- Wolverhampton
Payments and deductions
Number of payments
The Department for Education (DfE) makes the payment in one lump sum.
If you are eligible for both the targeted retention incentive and early career payments, you can only claim one of these additional payments in the same academic year.
However, if you are eligible to claim back your student loan repayments, you will be able to claim this as well as a targeted retention incentive payment or early career payment.
Taxable income and National Insurance
DfE will pay Income Tax up to the basic rate and National Insurance for the payment on your behalf. The basic rate of tax is currently based on an annual income of £12,571 to £50,270, taxed at a rate of 20%.
You will need to pay any Income Tax over the higher rate through PAYE if you become or already are a higher rate taxpayer. The higher rate is currently an income of £50,271 to £125,140, taxed at a rate of 40%.
You can review the tax bands on Income Tax rates and personal allowances.
The payment is not part of your salary from your employer. You, your employer or the government will not contribute to your pension as part of this payment.
You should consider any other benefits or tax credits that could be affected if you claim this benefit, such as the High Income Child Benefit Charge or Marriage Allowance.
Your payment, along with the Income Tax and National Insurance contributions paid on your behalf, will all count towards your income.
Student loan deductions
If you have a student loan, a deduction will go towards repaying it. This is taken off your payment automatically.
Contact
For any queries about early career payments, email earlycareerteacherpayments@digital.education.gov.uk.
Updates to this page
Published 5 October 2019Last updated 14 October 2024 + show all updates
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Applications for the 2024 to 2025 academic year are now open. We have updated the page to reflect this.
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Updated to clarify that eligible teachers can claim for the 2024 to 2025 academic year from 14 October 2024.
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Changed the references to 'levelling up payment' to 'targeted retention payments'. Also changed the application date from September to October for the academic year 2024 to 2025.
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Removed the 'Apply now' section as the claims window for the 2023 to 2024 academic year has now closed. Also updated the 'breaks in teaching' section.
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Amended the wording in the Taxable income and National insurance section for clarity.
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The window to apply for early career payments is now open and eligible teachers can apply.
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Added the dates on which applications open in 2023 and close in 2024, and a link to eligible initial teacher training codes.
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'Register your interest' forms have been added for the academic year 2023 to 2024.
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Updated to show that applications closed on 31 March.
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Eligible teachers can now apply for payments until March, rather than January.
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Page updated as eligible teachers can now claim early career payments.
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Added information about the levelling up premium payments for teachers.
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Updated to reflect latest changes and that the early career payments scheme for 2021 to 2022 has closed.
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Added a link to apply for an early-career payment as the claims window is now open.
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Page updated to clarify that you must be employed as a teacher in a state-funded secondary school in England to apply.
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Updated eligibility criteria and payment details.
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First published.