The Department for Education has published a consultation to seek your views on the Teachers’ Pension Scheme; specifically looking at the opportunities to change the rules for independent schools to allow for more flexibility in their participation in the Scheme.

Under current Scheme rules, if an independent school is a participating employer in the Scheme, all teaching employees must be contractually enrolled in the Scheme. Conversely, if the school ceases to be a participating employer, all teaching employees are no longer in pensionable employment and can no longer participate in the Scheme while in that employment.

The proposal could allow an Independent school to leave the scheme in a different way, whereby current participants remain as active members until they leave employment with that particular school (or join another fully participating school) but new employees at the school will be offered an alternative pension scheme not connected to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme

The proposal is being considered in order to support Independent schools in meeting the increase in employer contribution costs from 1 September 2019, in turn allowing more teachers to remain as active members of the Scheme.

Schools funded by the Government are unaffected, as it remains a statutory requirement for them to participate in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

The consultation seeks your views and any alternative proposals to achieve the aims outlined in the consultation document.

You can find out more information on the consultation and have the opportunity to give your views here (This link opens in a new window). The consultation closes on 3 November 2019.