School crossing patrol jobs

A school crossing patrol helps children and parents cross a road near a school, using a hand-held stop sign that drivers are legally required to obey. The job is two short shifts a day, one before school and one at home time, on school days only. The council responsible for roads in the area employs patrols, usually on the bottom grades of the NJC pay spine, and trains them on the job.

The shifts

A patrol site is staffed for a set window before the school day starts and again when it finishes. Each shift is short, typically under an hour, and the times are set around that school’s bell. Some patrols cover a lunchtime crossing for a nursery as well. You work only in term time, so the contract is term-time only, and you are paid for the hours on your contract even on days when the school closes unexpectedly, unless your contract says otherwise.

The split shift is the main thing to think about. The gap in the middle of the day suits retired people, parents of school-age children and people with another part-time job, and fewer people who need full-time hours. Our guide to starting a public sector job later in life covers pension and tax points for people who already draw a pension.

The legal power to stop traffic

Section 28 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 lets an authorised school crossing patrol stop vehicles by showing the prescribed sign. Once the sign is shown, a driver must stop before reaching the crossing place and stay stopped while it is displayed. Failing to stop is an offence.

That legal backing does not protect you from bad driving. Patrols deal with drivers who speed up to get past, drivers who argue, and the occasional near miss. Councils ask patrols to note number plates and report incidents, and some pass reports to the police.

Training and checks

You do not need qualifications. The council trains you before you start, normally with some classroom time and supervised sessions at a real crossing. It covers where to stand, when to step out, how to hold the sign so drivers see it in good time, and how to bring a group across safely. A supervisor then visits from time to time to check your technique.

Expect some or all of these before your first shift:

1. an application form and a short interview
2. an eyesight and health questionnaire, sometimes an occupational health assessment
3. a DBS check at the level the council sets for the role
4. right to work checks
5. training, then a supervised start

The council supplies the uniform: a high-visibility coat, a hat and the sign itself.

What it pays

Crossing patrols sit on council grades built from the NJC spine. From 1 April 2026 the lowest point on the spine is SCP 3 at £25,614 a year for a 37 hour week, about £13.28 an hour, after a 3.3% award. Many councils place crossing patrols at or near the bottom of their grades, though the exact point varies. Check the advert, and the NJC pay spine guide for the full list.

With short hours and term-time only work, the annual figure is small. As a hypothetical, say your contract is 10 hours a week at SCP 3 and your council uses the NJC advisory term-time model with 39 working weeks. The full-time equivalent for 10 hours is £25,614 × 10 ÷ 37, about £6,923. The NJC worked example gives 86.778% for 39 weeks, so the yearly pay is about £6,007, or roughly £500 a month. The term-time-only pay guide explains where that percentage comes from, and councils can use a different method.

At that level, if this is your only job, there is usually no income tax or National Insurance to pay, because the pay falls under the £12,570 Personal Allowance and Primary Threshold. If you have a pension or another job, the tax code for this job may be BR, which taxes all of it at 20%. Our guide to take-home pay for part-time workers works through examples, and the take-home pay calculator does the sum for your own figures.

Pension and leave

Council employees can join the Local Government Pension Scheme. On pay up to £18,400 the 2026/27 member rate is 5.5%, or 2.75% in the 50/50 section. Earnings this low are below the £10,000 auto-enrolment trigger, so ask the council whether you are enrolled automatically or need to opt in.

Holiday is built into the term-time pay calculation. You take it during the school holidays, when there are no patrols to staff.

Finding a vacancy

County councils, unitary councils, metropolitan boroughs and London boroughs run patrols through their road safety or highways team. Vacancies are advertised by site, so you apply for a specific crossing, and they are often hard to fill. Some councils have reduced the service or asked schools to share the cost, so not every school has a patrol. If there is no vacancy near you, ask the road safety team about relief patrols, who cover sickness and holidays at different sites.