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Golden hellos are one-off payments made through the salaries of eligible teachers. They are subject to both tax and national insurance contributions but are not pensionable or consolidated.
Golden hellos (in England)
If you complete a postgraduate ITT and take up an NQT position in a maintained school or non-maintained special school in England, you may be eligible to receive a one-off, taxable 'golden hello' payment at the start of your second year of teaching, after successfully completing your induction period.
If you are a primary school teacher, you would only be eligible if you were, under your contract of employment, teaching the shortage subject in which you trained to classes or groups other than your own class for at least half of your timetabled teaching time.
Training grants in Wales
In Wales, if you successfully complete your induction year after doing a postgraduate ITT course in one of the priority subjects, you may be eligible for a taxable teaching grant. The priority subjects are yet to be announced.
Like the golden hellos available in England, the teaching grant for mathematics and science teachers amounts to £5,000. However, if you teach English (including drama); information and communication technology; modern foreign languages; design and technology; or Welsh, you may be eligible to receive £4,000. These incentives refer to the academic year 2005/06.
On 23 September 2005, The Welsh Assembly Government announced the package of teaching incentives available to PGCE students in Wales from September 2006. The new incentives package takes account of the fact that tuition fee finances in Wales are different from those in England and the value of individual incentives differ accordingly, however, the overall level of support available (the combination of incentives and funding toward tuition fees) is the same in both countries.
Eligibility for golden hellos
To check your eligibility for a golden hello, see the Teaching Development Agency website.
Teachers from overseas
Teachers who gained Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) through the employment-based routes (Graduate Teacher Programme, Registered Teacher Programme and the Overseas-Trained Teacher Programme) are not eligible to receive the golden hello payment.
People entitled under European Community law to have teaching qualifications obtained elsewhere in the European Economic Area recognised as equivalent to QTS are entitled to receive new-style golden hellos on the same basis as English-trained teachers provided that they obtained their qualifications to teach maths or science on or after 1 May 2000; or to teach modern languages, technology, information technology, design and technology or English on or after 1 October 2000.
Supply teachers
Supply teachers are eligible for golden hellos on the same terms as permanent teachers, provided that their contract with a school or local authority (LA) is of at least one term’s duration. Supply teachers employed by private agencies are not eligible.
Claiming a golden hello payment
To claim a golden hello, you should use the form issued to you when you originally claimed your training incentive from your ITT provider. If the form cannot be found, it will be necessary for your training provider to be contacted for a further copy.
The form should be signed by your head of department, headteacher or deputy head confirming that you are working in a relevant post and have successfully completed the induction period of three school terms or equivalent. The form should then be forwarded to your LA.
Where you are employed in a foundation school or in an academy, the institution will need to arrange payment of the golden hello to you and the payment will need to be reclaimed from the LA.
Help and support
For further advice on this issue, ATL members can speak to their school rep, their branch secretary or their regional official. They can also call the London (020 7930 6441), Cardiff (029 2046 5000), Belfast (028 9078 2020) or Edinburgh (0131 272 2748) offices or email info@atl.org.uk
For out of hours enquiries, call the out of office hours helpline on 020 7782 1612 (Monday-Friday, 5-8pm during term time).
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