Warning: Are you a teacher who needs cash in an emergency? Payday loans are an expensive form of credit and should be your last resort. For help with debt, go to Moneyhelper.org.

Loans for Teachers in the UK

More qualified teachers are applying for payday loans to fund emergency expenses that their teacher salaries don’t cover. Find out about teacher pay and conditions and when teachers need payday loans.
Representative example: Borrow £700 for 6 months. 1st monthly repayment of £168.45, 4 monthly repayments of £224.60, last monthly repayment of £112.20. Total repayment £1,179.05. Interest rate p.a. (fixed) 185.39%. Representative APR 611.74%. Our loans are available for 3 to 9 months depending on the loan amount - rates between 295.58% APR and a maximum APR of 1294%.
Warning: Late repayments can cause you serious money problems. For help, go to moneyhelper.org.uk.

Do you need £300 – £1,500 to pay for an unexpected bill that your teacher’s wage doesn’t cover? If so, you’ve come to the right place! The Cashfloat Team provides payday loans for teachers when they need an extra cash injection to help them get through to the next payday. Apply now and get the money in your bank account within one hour* if you’re approved!

3,541 Teachers
applied for
Payday Loans
from Cashfloat in 2020.

Whether you’re a head teacher, a classroom teacher or a teacher’s assistant, if you need to borrow money for an emergency expense or to help pay your rent, Cashfloat can get you the money you need quick. Apply here, and you’ll get an instant decision.

Bad credit scores welcome
Flexible monthly repayments
Online application, accessible 24/7
Apply now

Teacher payday solutions

Being in the teaching profession has many perks, like the extended holiday allowance and the job security. There’s also the overall satisfaction teachers get from contributing to the development of children and young adults. Another perk is the paycheck teachers get at the end of every month.

For some teachers, however, the monthly paycheck isn’t always enough to cover all the expenses. Sometimes, when people have a sudden emergency that needs extra funding, they get stuck. As a leading direct lender in the UK, we look at teacher salaries and why some teachers need quick loans online.

Becoming a teacher

There are various ways to join the teaching profession. However, all teacher training courses include 24 weeks of practical classroom experience in two or more schools. There is also academic study, experienced professional mentoring, tutoring in classroom management and ongoing assessment of teaching skills.

All teachers in state schools in the UK have to do Initial Teacher Training (ITT) or Initial Teacher Education Training (ITET). Completing these training programmes leads to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in England and Wales and the Teaching Qualification (TQ) in Scotland. There are various routes into teaching which ITT and ITET form part of. One of the most popular is the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). With a PGCE, a teacher will first complete a degree and then do the PGCE course to become a qualified teacher.

An alternative route into teaching is the School Direct scheme. In this scheme, teachers are recruited and trained in partnership with universities, colleges or school centred initial teacher training programmes. The training lasts a year and is either salaried or unsalaried. On unsalaried courses, the student pays their tuition fees but may get funding through a bursary, student loan or scholarship. Alternatively, it can be salaried with the trainee teacher being paid an unqualified teacher’s salary and not paying any tuition fees.

There are various other ways into teaching as well, such as postgraduate teaching apprenticeships and undergraduate teaching degrees. The simplified ways of entering the profession often makes teaching attractive to people who want a change in career at an older age.

As a profession, teaching continues to be dominated by women, especially at primary school level. Approximately 76% of teachers are female. Often, women consider teaching to be a job that goes well with raising children. This is partly because the convenient working hours and long holidays mean working mothers don’t have to worry as much about childcare expenses.




Payday loans for teachers

Cashfloat – a dynamic payday loans direct lender in the UK – has noticed that teachers are making a large number of applications for payday loans.

The question is: Why? Although it’s generally thought that teachers aren’t badly underpaid, an increasing number of teachers are applying for payday loans.

Often, the teachers that apply for payday loans are young teachers who are just entering the profession. This gives us an indication of what’s going on. Teachers at the start of their careers are on the lowest salaries and are more vulnerable to the effects of inflation and price rises that have happened recently. Newly qualified teacher salaries start at £28,000 and for unqualified teachers salaries can be as low as £19,340. Read about teacher salaries here.

With prices rising in the UK, more and more teachers are finding their salaries don’t always cover everything. There is a shortage of rental properties in the UK, and rental prices have risen sharply in recent years. Between May 2022 and May 2023, private rental prices rose by around 5% across the UK. This came on top of a 3% rise the year before. Utility prices have also soared and prices for everyday goods have risen as well.

With prices having risen, more and more teachers have found they’ve been caught out. When unexpected expenses crop up, say you need to replace your laptop or pay for a dentist, you might find the monthly salary doesn’t cover it. As a responsible lender, Cashfloat is happy to provide short term loans for teachers who need extra funds to pay for an emergency expense. It’s important to remember, however, that short term loans online are an expensive form of credit and should only be used in an emergency.

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57% of teachers who borrow payday loans are Female
52% of teachers who borrow payday loans are Single
Average age of teachers who borrow payday loans is 38 years old
Most common month for teachers to borrow a payday loan is: September
Top 3 places where teachers borrowed payday loans: London, Birmingham and Manchester
Teachers who borrow payday loans earn an average of £2,072 a month




FAQs about teachers’ pay

How much do teachers earn?

These are the government recommendations for the year 2022-2023 in England and Wales (excluding the London Area)


Unqualified teacher£19,340 to £30,172
Qualified teacher£28,000 to £38,810
Leading practitioner£44,523 to £67,685

It was announced in July 2023 that from September 2023 all teachers in England will receive a 6.5% pay rise. This came after teachers held strikes demanding more pay.

What maternity leave and pay do teachers get?

All teachers are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave irrespective of their length of service. This consists of 26 weeks of ordinary maternity leave and 26 weeks of additional maternity leave. They will receive Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) for up to 39 weeks, after which leave is unpaid. To receive SMP, you must have completed 26 weeks of continuous service by the end of the 15th week before the expected birth date. In the first six weeks, teachers will receive 90% of their average weekly earnings. For the next 33 weeks, they will receive £156.66 or 90% of their average weekly earnings (whichever is lower).

Teachers may also qualify for Occupational Maternity Pay (OMP). To qualify for OMP, your workplace must be covered by the Burgundy Book. You must also have been employed for one year and 11 weeks with a local authority by the expected week of childbirth. OMP is continued for 33 weeks. In the first four weeks it is 100% of your salary, in the 5th and 6th weeks this drops to 90% and then up until the 18th week it is half your wages.

How much is sick leave and pay for teachers?

For teachers on the Burgundy Book scheme, their entitlement to salary while sick increases according to their length of service. For teachers in their first year, entitlement is 25 working days on full pay with an additional 50 days on half-pay. With each year of service, this entitlement doubles until the 4th year where it remains as 100 days on full payment and 100 days on half-pay for future years.

A teacher requires a medical certificate if they are off sick for more than seven calendar days.

How much are teachers’ pensions?

As of April 2023, teachers’ pension contributions range from 7.4% of an annual salary for those on lower salaries to 11.7% for those at the top of the pay scale. You can calculate a teacher’s pension by multiplying their years of service by their average salary and then dividing this figure by 80. For early retirement, there is Actuarially Adjusted Benefit (AAB).

What is performance-related pay?

Since September 2014, the introduction of performance-related pay has meant any rise is discretionary after appraisals and assessment against standards set by schools. The idea is that good teachers will be paid more. There are doubts, however, about whether a teacher’s performance can be accurately appraised, measured and rewarded under the system.

The National Education Union says that performance related pay is ineffective and unfair. They also say that it increases workload and stress and undermines collaborative working. Read more here.

Warning: Late repayments can cause you serious money problems. For help, go to moneyhelper.org.uk.