Cash-strapped schools could be forced to increase the contributions they make to teachers’ pensions.
The news came in a government announcement of its four-yearly review of public sector pension schemes.
In a statement to Parliament, Treasury minister Liz Truss said a government analysis suggested that “public sector workers will get improved pension benefits for employment over the period April 2019 to March 2023”.
However, she added that “early indications are that the amount employers pay towards the schemes will need to increase”.
She said this was “because of proposed changes to the discount rate, which is used to assess the current cost of future payments from the schemes, to reflect the Office for Budget Responsibility’s long-term growth forecasts”.
Information published on the website of Teachers’ Pensions, which administers that Teachers’ Pensions Scheme on behalf of the DfE said: “At this time, we’re unable to provide information on what the employer contribution rate will be, but the department will be providing additional funding to maintained schools and academies in 2019-20 in view of the unforeseen costs.”
The government has not said whether schools will receive extra money to cover increases in future years, and Ms Truss’s statement said that “further discussions will be taken forward as part of the Spending Review”.