WTC and term time job

filigree_2 · 22 November 2004 at 3:14PM

I'm not asking about irregular or fluctuating hours. I'm thinking of those jobs (classroom assistant, dinner lady) that have fixed regular hours, but you don't work in the school holidays.

I used to work in a school for 25 hours/week, 38 weeks/year and didn't work at all in the holidays. This averages out to 18 hours/week, which is over the 16 hours required for WTC. I was paid the same amount each month regardless of hours worked because my annual salary was split into 12 monthly payments.

Is it possible to claim WTC on your average weekly hours, or do you have to find holiday work in this situation?

This sort of job appeals because I would not have to worry about holiday childcare. It would be really useful if I could do this and claim WTC.

irs101 · 22 November 2004 at 6:57PM

Hi Filigree

Good news - better than you hoped!

There is a specific rule for term time workers. The reference is "The Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002" paragraph 7 (see https://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2002/20022005.htm).

It says that if you work in a school and have a recognisable cycle of employment (i.e. the school year) you disregard periods that are school holidays in calculating how many hours you work. This means you would apply saying that you work 25 hours a week for the whole year.

In fact, whether you say you work 18 or 25 hours will make no difference to the size of your award. You would be eligible for an additional element if you worked more than 30 hours.

I say all the above on the assumption that you are single - while the above applies to couples, the details would be slightly different.

irs

filigree_2 · 23 November 2004 at 3:34AM

Thanks irs - that is useful to know. Maybe I can even get a term time job at 30 hours a week

hilstep2000 · 29 November 2004 at 5:07PM

I am a teaching assistant doing 30 hours a week, and my WTC is based on those hours eventhough I get school holidays off. Hope this helps!

filigree_2 · 30 November 2004 at 3:46AM

Thanks all

I remember my old contract, it said something like "you are contracted to work 52 weeks but we pay you a prorata wage because you only show up for 38 of them" or something like that. I thought it was gobbledegook at the time, now I understand!

I suppose fulltimers don't get their WTC cut if they are on annual leave, so school workers are just treated as if they have 14 week holidays

Useful and reassuring to know, thanks for the info.

irs101 · 30 November 2004 at 12:12PM

In practice, that's what it means for you.

But as I said above, term-time workers are a special case. Contractually you are not working and are unpaid during school holidays. It's just that they choose to spread your pay evenly across the year. If you really were classed as on paid annual leave during school holidays, you would probably be getting less than the Minimum Wage, which would be illegal.

So, to be clear for others, it is only people in term-time jobs who are allowed to take lots of unpaid leave and still claim WTC during those periods

Someone in a "normal" job working the same pattern as you would not get WTC during their unpaid leave.

Spendless · 13 February 2005 at 5:59PM

Bump for jellyhead

jellyhead · 20 February 2005 at 4:27PM

thanks spendless :-)

so there's a difference between people working in a school and people (like me) who work in term time and take unpaid leave in the school holidays. that's awful, school jobs are hard to get, so are jobs where you can take 14 weeks off each year but if you catch an employer when they're desperate it's possible lol! my job was supposed to be school hours only but i was supposed to work the same hours in holidays (with 4 weeks annual leave), i said in the interview i couldn't do the holidays and they were desperate so they took me on my own terms.

when i started work there was a couple of people on tax credits there and i'm sure they said they had school holidays off, and as long as their hours averaged over the year to 16 a week they still got their tax credits. were they doing something wrong? was the employer telling porkies on their behalves?

i don't see the problem though, if you work for 16x48 hours per year why can't they work out your tax credits according to how much you earn over the year and leave the juggling of money for the months you're not working to you? i find it incredible that if my husband was to suddenly die or run off that i'd have to look for a different job in order to claim tax credits - not everyone can find childcare for school holidays, it's not available in some areas and i've never seen childcare for kids with special needs :-(

Spendless · 20 February 2005 at 4:33PM

My friend who is a single mum was also lucky to fall on an employer that desperately needed staff.

She worked full-time there but said she couldn't do 5 days a week in school hols, she would do 2 equalling 16 hours because of her tax credits. Her employer agreed but next week her department may close and she'll be back job hunting, so she'll have to see if anyone is prepared to let her work less in school hols.

WTC and term time job

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