Getting paid
Getting paid & payment rates
When completing a timesheet you will need to provide details regarding the courses tutored and the hours worked. Bear in mind the marking and preparation allocations. For example for a one hour tutorial (for which preparation time is applicable) you should provide the details for the actual tutoring on one line and then use separate lines for the associated marking and preparation allowances. For activities that do not involve preparation or marking (ie Mathsbase) you should just return the actual times and number of hours.
Please include your staff reference number in any timesheets – included at the top of your contract. If you do not know what this is please include your student number.
Guidance on how to complete your timesheets can be found here -
If you are not sure whether you have completed a timesheet correctly or have any questions about how to describe an activity please contact the Graduate School Office.
Payments are made on the 28th of the month unless this falls on the weekend or Bank Holiday when payment is normally made on the last working day prior to the 28th. Payment is in arrears so a timesheet covering hours in September, submitted by 28th September will be paid on 28th October.
It is School policy to pay for all work done by tutors, even if the claim is late. However, late claims cause problems both to administration and tutors. For administration the School has to provide College and Finance Office with monthly income and expenditure projections and the tutor costs are profiled against the month after they are worked, therefore a lot of late claims cause anomalies, which causes more work for administration analysing and reporting on these.
If time sheets are submitted late, Salaries may be processing two timesheets for you at the same time. This means that you will get a larger payment for that pay month and that the likelihood that you will be charged national insurance payments and income tax will increase (potentially significantly). There may also be implications in terms of automatic enrolment in the USS Pensions Scheme. For further information please see the Section Your payslip, tax and pension matters.
Workload
In general terms the hours claimed over a semester should roughly correspond to your allocation of hours for the semester. There will be some variation due to ad hoc cover of tutorials in the event of absence/illness. If you are asked to undertake any additional work please make sure (via the relevant Course Organiser) that this has been notified to tutorsupport@maths.ed.ac.uk.
There will naturally also be some variation between courses, and indeed the time taken may reduce as you become more experienced/familiar with a course. If you believe that the normal ratio payment of two hours for each direct contact hour (or the applicable ratio if different for a specific course) is significantly out of sync for a course you shoulddiscuss this with your fellow tutors, then discuss with the Course Organiser. The Course Organiser should then either modify what they are asking of tutors on the course or seek permission from the Director of Teaching to pay for additional hours. In some circumstances the Director of Teaching may wish to change the ratio for a specific course.
If you believe the normal ratio of payment for your course is incorrect, please take the steps outlined in the following document:
Workshop Cover
If a tutor is unable to attend a tutorial they should try to arrange a substitute for it. It is essential that you request cover for your workshop via the cover request system, this logs and tracks cover for tutors, course administrators and course organisers. If you can help as a substitute tutor for any workshops you should also apply to cover using this system. Using the cover system will also help us understand your timesheet claims. If you have logged your workshop on the cover request system and nobody has applied to cover, on the day prior to your workshop taking please contact the course organiser and MTO@ed.ac.uk to make them aware.
If you are unable to undertake a tutorial due to illness you should still claim for the work but you should indicate on the timesheet that you were ill and give the name of the person who covered the work. If you are ill for more than a week please ensure that you provide a Fit Note from your GP. If we do not get a Fit Note you may not be eligible to receive sick pay. Occupational sick pay is based the time you have spent as an employee and further details are available in the Summary Conditions of Employment for Grade on Grades 6 through to 10. This is available via https://www.ed.ac.uk/human-resources/policies-guidance/conditions-service