What is a pro-rata salary?

Have you seen a job advert stating a salary which is pro-rata? It can be a confusing term – even though it’s intended to make things simpler.

Job adverts usually state ‘pro rata salary’ when the role is part time or there’s an opportunity for part time working. The reason employers use this term is to make it easier to understand how much a role will pay. Stating a total salary is meaningless if the candidate doesn’t know how many hours they will work for that income.

The idea is to make it easier to compare different jobs or opportunities. Also, stating a full-time salary gives you a sense of the seniority of the role, how senior it is and whether the role is salaried at a competitive level as it lets you compare it with other similar roles which may not be advertised as part time.

Why do job ads use pro rata salary?

Pro-rata salaries are calculated according to what percentage of a full-time job your hours make up if you work part time [ie less than full-time hours]. For example, if you work two days a week and a full-time person in your position gets £18,000. You will get two fifths of that for a pro rata salary.

Some pro-rata salaries are fairly easy to work out: if you do three full days, you would just get three fifths of the full-time salary. However, if you work shorter days, you would need to work out your salary based on the percentage of full-time hours per week that you work.

Is pro rata the actual salary?

The amount stated, with ‘pro rata’ alongside  is how much you would be paid if you worked in the job full time.

Look online for a pro rata salary calculator to help you make sense of the final pay you would receive, or use the calculation guide below.

How can I work out what I would actually earn with a pro rata salary?

To work out how much you’d be paid on a pro rata basis, you need to divide the annual pro rate salary by the number of full time hours (usually 37.5 in a week). Then multiply this number by the hours you want to work.

Here’s an example where someone will work a 25 hour week:

£30,000 (annual salary) ÷ 37.5 (full time hours) = £800

£800 x 25 (pro rata hours) = £20,000

So with a full time salary of £30,000, the amount you would take home per year on a 25 hour week is £20,000.

Note: This method is a guide – it’s not always completely accurate. To know the specifics, it’s better to do the calculations based on the hourly rate rather than as a percentage of a full time salary.

What about holiday entitlement?

The same goes for holidays. A part-time worker will get a pro rata of a full-time worker’s holiday entitlement. The minimum holiday entitlement for full-time workers is 28 days. This may or may not include bank holidays, but bank holidays do not have to be given as additional to the 28 days.

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