Originally Posted by
tf412
I'm currently part way through the application process for Trainee ATCO, but I'm a bit confused about how salary progression would work. If I am successful, I will have to take a fairly significant pay cut for a few years it seems, so I'm trying to work out the ins and out and calculate if I can afford it. As far as I can tell it goes something like this:
College phase – £17,000 + £60/week accommodation + £1,000
On the job training – £19,423 to £23,307 (depending on location)
Post-validation – £37,014 to £41,253 (depending on location)
On third anniversary of joining – £52,878 to £58,933 plus shift pay of around £6,500
Now for my questions:
1) How long is the college phase? The NATS infographic suggests 1 year, but elsewhere I've read about 3 months basic + 3.5 months specialism + breaks (so around 7-8 months)?
2) Does everyone get the £60/week for accommodation or does it depend on you renting somewhere?
3) Who qualifies for the £1000 extra? (When you're on £17k, every little helps! But the NATS website suggests not everyone qualifies for this additional sum, without giving more details).
4) Is the 3rd anniversary of joining counted from Day 1 of the college phase?
5) If the answer to my question (4) is "yes", and college + on-the-job training can together take 2.5 to 3 years, then doesn't that mean you aren't on the £37-41k band for very long at all?
1. It depends. The tower course is around 6 months total if I remember rightly and the area course is now 9 months. This assumes you fail nothing and all your courses run consecutively. There's a chance you might have to wait for at the course ahead to finish something before you can move on to that stage which will only add to your time at the college,
4. Yes
5. It depends - if you end up somewhere quieter then you can be valid a lot quicker than 3 years and then as a result you're doing the same job as someone else at the unit with the same responsibilities as them for half the money. At Swanwick you're probably looking at nearly three years because it's a lot more complex and you need additional conversion training after the college to be able to use the kit. Count on 6 months at least after college before you get to any live training at Swanwick. After your three year anniversary the pay goes up nicely though.