Exam invigilator jobs

Exam invigilators supervise candidates sitting GCSEs, A levels, vocational exams and mocks. The work is casual and seasonal: schools call you in for the sessions they need, mostly in May and June, with smaller runs in November, January and during mock exams. Pay is hourly, usually at or a little above the bottom of the local government pay spine, and you will need an enhanced DBS check before you start.

What the job is

You set up the room, check candidates in, read out the start instructions, watch the room for the whole exam and collect the scripts in the right order. In between, you walk the rows quietly, deal with a candidate who feels ill or needs more paper, and record anything unusual: a late arrival, a fire alarm, a phone that went off. The rules come from the Joint Council for Qualifications and are strict about timings, seating and what candidates can have on their desks.

Some invigilators act as readers, scribes or prompters for candidates with access arrangements, or supervise a small room where students have extra time or rest breaks. A senior invigilator may run the main hall and brief the team.

It is not physically hard work, but you are on your feet and have to stay alert for long stretches with no phone, no reading and very little talking. Some people find that harder than they expect.

Contracts and when the work comes

Most invigilators are on casual, “as and when” or zero-hours contracts. The school offers sessions and you accept the ones you want. Exclusivity clauses in zero-hours contracts are unenforceable, so you can invigilate for more than one school or hold another job. See zero-hours contracts for the rest of your rights.

The work comes unevenly. A school may offer most of its hours in about six weeks of the summer series, then very little until mocks or the November resits. If you need a steady income, invigilating works best alongside something else. It suits retired people, parents during school hours, students on holiday and people who want a way into school work.

Pay

Invigilators employed directly by maintained schools and many academies are paid on the NJC pay spine for support staff. Since 1 April 2026 the bottom point is SCP 3, at £25,614 a year for 37 hours, which comes to about £13.28 an hour. Some employers use a point or two higher for senior invigilators. Agencies and some independent schools set their own rates.

Whatever the employer, pay cannot fall below the National Living Wage, which is £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026 for workers aged 21 and over. The National Living Wage guide gives the lower rates for younger workers.

Because the hours are irregular, holiday is built up as you work. For irregular-hours and part-year workers, holiday accrues at 12.07 per cent of hours worked, and employers can pay it as rolled-up holiday pay on top of each hour. Check whether your payslip shows it separately.

Training sessions and briefings should be paid. If they are not, ask the exams officer before you sign up.

Tax when invigilating is a second job

Many invigilators already have a pension or another job. If so, the school will usually put you on a BR tax code, which taxes all your invigilating pay at the basic rate of 20 per cent, because your personal allowance is being used elsewhere. If invigilating is your only income and you earn below the £12,570 personal allowance over the tax year, you should not end up paying income tax, but an emergency code in a busy month can take too much. HMRC refunds overpayments, sometimes automatically after the tax year ends. Tax when you have two jobs explains how codes are split, and emergency tax codes covers what happens when a new employer has no details for you.

National Insurance is worked out separately for each job, and you pay nothing on earnings below £242 a week in a given job. Outside the summer series, weekly invigilating pay is often below that, so many payslips show no National Insurance at all.

Checks before you start

Invigilators work with children, so schools treat them like other school staff. Expect:

• an application form rather than a CV
• two references
• proof of your right to work in the UK
• an enhanced DBS check with the children’s barred list

The enhanced DBS fee fell to £41.00 on 5 October 2026, and schools usually pay it. If you already have a certificate on the Update Service (£15 a year), a school can check it online, which helps if you invigilate in more than one place. DBS checks covers the levels and Scottish and Northern Irish equivalents.

Training and getting started

Schools must train invigilators before the exams and keep a record. Expect a session of an hour or two on the JCQ instructions, emergency procedures and how the school runs its rooms, repeated or refreshed each year.

To find work, look on Teaching Vacancies, council job sites and the websites of local schools and colleges in January to March, when exams officers recruit for the summer. Contacting the exams office directly with a short note of your availability also works. Schools value people who say yes to the early-morning and Friday afternoon sessions, and those invigilators tend to be offered more hours the following year.