Teachers Pensions Grant September 2019 to March 2020

In our April 2019 e-bulletin, we provided details on the additional funding which will be available to support the increase in employer contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme to 23.48%.

The DfE have now published further guidance on this grant, which can be accessed on the Government website. This guidance confirms eligibility, the basis for determining the rates, the 2019-20 funding rates per pupil and arrangements for new and growing schools. Further details on the Pension Supplementary Fund have also been published.

The grant allocations and process for accessing the supplementary fund differs for Mainstream Schools; and Special Schools and Pupil Referral Units.

Mainstream Schools

The data used to calculate each school’s grant allocation is taken from the following sources:

• 2 to 4 year olds - headcount from the January 2019 census
• 5 to 16 year olds - headcount from the October 2018 census
• 16 to 19 year olds - number of pupils used to calculate the 2019-2020 academic year funding allocations.

Please see the Teachers’ Pension Grant Calculator (XLSM, 52.4 KB) to access details of your school’s allocation for the period September 2019 to March 2020. These allocations will be paid in the November Advance.

The supplementary fund is available to those schools where the grant allocation falls short of the actual pension costs increase by more than 0.05% of the school’s overall budget for the period. The actual pension costs will be based on the November 2019 pay bill and should include special units and resourced provision. Mainstream schools will be able to apply directly to the ESFA supplementary fund using an online application form. The application window will run between 2 December 2019 to 17 January 2020. Schools should expect to receive payments in March 2020.

The online application form is not yet available. The Teachers’ Pension Grant Calculator (XLSM, 52.4 KB) also includes a tool to help schools calculate the estimated value of any further funding from the supplementary fund. This is based on the guidance issued by the ESFA. Please note, this template is not the ESFA application form and schools will have to apply directly to secure additional funding as detailed above.

Special Schools and Pupil Referral Units

Special Schools and Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) grant allocation will be based on the actual pension costs increase based on the November 2019 pay bill. Special Schools and PRUs will need to send confirmation of their total teachers’ pension employer contribution costs to the Kent’s Schools Finance Team following the completion of their November payroll.

Special Schools and PRUs will receive their allocation for the period September 2019 to March 2020 in two parts:

• Initial payment will be made in the November Advance
  • schools and PRUs will receive a provisional allocation, based on the national rate and 2019-20 Commissioned numbers, this is intended to cover the period September to December 2019.
• Final payment will be made in January Advance
  • once schools and PRUs have returned their November payroll data. A final allocation for the period September 2019 to March 2020 will be calculated based on the total additional cost of the teacher’s pension (using November 2019 payroll data), less the payment made in November, less a threshold of 0.5% of the school budget.

Details of individual Special schools and PRU’s initial allocations are included in the Teachers’ Pension Grant Template (XLSM, 52.4 KB) on Kelsi, along with a calculator to estimate the final payment.

Please note, funding for future years has not yet been confirmed, however to aid with future planning a calculator will be added to Kelsi shortly to estimate the grant funding for 2021-22 and 2022-23. This will be included within the Budget page.

Contact Details

Karen Stone, Finance Manager (Schools, High Needs, Early Years)
Telephone: 03000 41 67 33
Email: Karen.Stone02@kent.gov.uk