Withdrawing from TPS?

[savagebaggagemaster]

Has anyone else's school decided it's doing this? The government's decision to increase employer pension contributions to the Teacher Pension Scheme by 43% has put a lot of schools in a very difficult situation whereby they can't afford to pay their employer contribution. Has your school decided to opt out? State maintained schools have been given a reprieve of a year to sort this out, but independent schools haven't been. This will also affect academies. Has anyone else been affected by this?

Anyone?

No we just employ loads of Australians who don’t take the pension.....

I know this is happening in a lot of independent schools. If you are in a union I suggest you request they attend consultation.

Does your contract state TPS? In which case it would be a change of contract so they would need to consult.

I thought it was going up from 16%ish to 23%. Have the government upped it again?

Involve your union immediately. This is not right. If you don’t have a schoolrep, contact the union hotline via the website.

I work for a union and we have had lots of enquiries. Ultimately they can do this (technically they have to seek permission from Secretary of State).

Our school has mentioned the additional financial pressures of the pension increases, but never said they wouldn't pay. Tbf, they'd lose a lot of staff if they did decide to opt out.

Foooooooooookin hell...

Up shit creak without a paddle springs to mind..

Goodynuff yep I think your comment sums it up well. Unions aren't recognised in my school according to my contract. Still, they're getting involved and there will be a 'consultation'. Feeling sad that I've spent over 20 years paying into the scheme and now it looks like we will be opting out no matter what we think.

Is leaving an option? If so, do that!

Leaving is not an option.

I work for an independent school who have also announced they are looking into withdrawing from the Teachers Pension Fund. I'll be mightily pissed off if they do.

Fayrazzled I knew that there must be others out there. It's a really worrying situation and is one that all schools will have to face.

If a school withdraws from the TPS, benefits already paid will be frozen.

A school can only be in on pension system, so they can’t leave older folks on TPS and younger ones on a new scheme.

There are not other pension providers jumping out of the woodwork as an alternative to TPS.

Membership of TPS will likely be written into contracts, so a move away will mean that independent schools will have to give a term’s notice, which means they will need to know what is going on by Easter for a September start.

The increase will mean at least a 5% increase in fees.

There is nothing coming out of DFE to clarify the situation and unions are rather silent. The ISBA is working hard to make sense of the situation but getting nowhere fast.

The only realistic action we can take is write to our MPs, who have nothing else on their minds at this time.

Schools are actually doing this?! That's absolutely shocking! I just started a new job. I better blooming check I'm enrolled!

The increase is unaffordable for many independent schools. Going up from 16% to 23% is a 43% increase in their cost to schools. Final salary pension schemes are no longer affordable in the private sector in pretty much all other sectors, so maybe not surprising they are no longer affordable in private schools?

Yes, schools are doing this, especially the smaller independent schools at the moment; some prep schools are closing as they can't afford to pay their contributions. I truly think it's only a matter of time before the academies follow. Where are they going to find the money to pay for the rise? Many of them are struggling financially as it is. It's just the government trying to get out of paying into public pensions. The population is living longer and the money just isn't there.

Ilovemarmite the TPS scheme is now an average salary scheme and has been since 2015, so anyone coming into the profession now won't benefit from a final salary scheme anyway. Another reason for graduates to shun the idea of going into teaching.

Sorry I know it's Friday night and I shouldn't be ranting but it's been a rather depressing week and morale is at rock bottom.

Sorry I meant to say career average. But that is still unaffordable in the private sector which is why everyone has been switched to defined contribution schemes.

The NEU will be sending a bulletin on this to all independent school members.

Blimey. I'm in the TPS and this is the first I've heard of it! Am worried now.

Don't mean to worry anyone but it's worth looking into

I was recently told that, of all of the people in the TPS, one third are retired so drawing their pension rather than contributing (and they will be the ones based on final salary rather than average salary), one third are not drawing but no longer contributing as they have left teaching but not reached retirement age... which only leaves the remaining one third to actually contribute to the scheme.