Pro rata payment
Question
I've applied for a job and the advert said the post was for 16 hours a week and the pay would be £10,000-£12,000 "pro rata". What does pro rata mean? And what does that mean I'd get paid if I get the job?
Answer
The salary quoted will be for a person working full-time in that job. Pro rata is the latin for 'proportionally' or a 'proportion of'. The stated £10,000-£12,000 is the full-time salary and you would be paid the proportion that's equal to the 16 hours of work.
How much this part-time equivalent is will depend on how many hours the company considers full time. For example, if a full-time post is considered to be 37 hours a week the wage for a part-time worker working 16 hours per week for £10,000 per year will be:
16/37 x 10000 = 4324
So, in this case, the yearly salary would be approximately £4,324 and the monthly wage (4324/12) approximately £360. This is before tax. Similarly, if the normal full time hours are 40 hours per week and the salary is £11,000 the monthly wage, before tax, for 16 hours would be approximately £366.
As you can see, you will need to find out how many hours the company considers to be full time and what the actual salary full time salary would be.
As well as the pro rata salary, you would also only be entitled to pro rata paid holiday leave. Which, in statutory terms, means the absolute minimum would be eight days paid leave per year. But, please remember, your contract may give you better than the minimum.
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