confusion over change in hours

ashpan

ive worked in the same school for 15 years on 3 days a week, and also until recently ran a small consultancy. We have now moved to a new school a further 3 miles away and also have a new head teacher who tells me i have been under-working my hours for several years under the old head. A few months ago i decided to close the consultancy as i didnt need the extra £ and now find that im being told either a) increase the time i spend in work for the same money or b) remain on the same time and reduce my pay! Due to closing the consultancy i cant afford to reduce my pay.
the only paperwork i have is a document we get each year from the governors which states that i work 3 days per week or 17 hours and i also have a contract which states 23.5 hours over 3 days which i would never have worked historically as i had school aged children and it would have meant coming in at 8am and leaving at 4.15 pm !:eek:

getmore4less

What does it say about pay?

if you have been working 17 and getting paid for 23.5 that would be obvious from just about any way of calculating pay on prorata or hourly rates

JReacher1

If your contract says 23.5 hours over three days and you've only worked 17 hours then your new head is right. You have been under working your hours.

ashpan

to be honest ive been working according to what the service required - goodwill has played a large part in my role especially over the past 6 months during the move, my concern is that no-one has pointed this out before and i will struggle to transition from 17-23.5 hours due to other commitments - am i allowed some transition time by law? i was also thinking of taking my nhs pension and keeping to the same hours (im actually working 19.5 at the moment) but i think there may be tax implications ?

TELLIT01

If you have actually been working less than the officially contracted hours I can't see that there would be any transitional protection. The fact that you have received confirmation of your actual hours worked each year would probably protect you if they tried to claw back any of the 'over payment'.
If you take your NHS pension it will be classed as income so there will be a potential tax implication.

ashpan

If you take your NHS pension it will be classed as income so there will be a potential tax implication.

If i resign from the school and take my nhs pension will it still be classed as income and taxed accordingly above my personal tax allowance?

LittleVoice

ashpan wrote: »

If i resign from the school and take my nhs pension will it still be classed as income and taxed accordingly above my personal tax allowance?

Any pension (including NHS and state pension) is taxable. So, yes it will be subject to tax.

getmore4less

ashpan wrote: »

to be honest ive been working according to what the service required - goodwill has played a large part in my role especially over the past 6 months during the move, my concern is that no-one has pointed this out before and i will struggle to transition from 17-23.5 hours due to other commitments - am i allowed some transition time by law? i was also thinking of taking my nhs pension and keeping to the same hours (im actually working 19.5 at the moment) but i think there may be tax implications ?

No transition if your contracted and paid for the hours you should be doing but doing less.

If you have been doing less and still getting full contractual hours then the old head has given YOU a LOT of good will.


Have you worked out if you are really getting overpaid or did you know all along?

ohreally

ashpan wrote: »

If i resign from the school

Have you considered the consequences of clawback should you resign?

ashpan

does clawback relate to the overpayment or to pension?

the head has said that we can 'start again' from 4th january time/payment-wise

ashpan

apparently the business manager has known for years but has never said anything until the new head took up post - if i had known i would have done something about it before now rather than expose myself to possibly having to pay back shed loads of £££