Teachers’ Pay and Pension Grants

Wednesday 23rd October 2019 Written Statements

[The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)]

Today I am confirming the updated allocations for the teachers’ pay grant and the first allocations for the teachers’ pension employer contributions grant for 2019-20.

The teachers’ pay grant was first announced in July 2018 by the Secretary of State for Education. It was introduced to provide additional funding to schools to support them with the costs of the 2018-19 teacher pay award, over and above the 1% rise schools would have expected and been planned for.

In July 2019, the Secretary of State accepted the school teachers’ review body’s recommendation of a 2.75% uplift to the minima and maxima of all teacher pay ranges in 2019. In recognition that this award was more than the 2% we assessed was affordable nationally in our evidence to the STRB, the Secretary of State confirmed an additional investment of £105 million into the teachers’ pay grant this year. This is on top of the £321 million of funding already committed in 2019-20.

As with 2018-19, the grant will be paid to all state-funded schools and academies, including maintained nursery schools. This will be on the basis of pupil numbers in mainstream schools, and place numbers in special schools and other specialist provision. All schools will be funded for at least 100 pupils or 40 places.

We are also fully funding the increase in pensions contributions that state-funded schools and colleges will have to make from September 2019. In April we announced the teachers’ pension employer contribution grant (TPECG), worth £848 million this year, which will provide this funding for all state-funded schools and academies, including maintained nursery schools. In September, the Secretary of State announced that, as part of the Government’s investment in schools, this funding—worth £1.5 billion each year—will continue for the next three years.

As with the teachers’ pay grant, this will also be paid on the basis of pupil and place numbers, with all schools funded for at least 100 pupils or 40 places.

The grant will be accompanied by a supplementary fund, which schools can apply for if their grant allocation falls short of their actual pension costs increase by more than 0.05% of their overall budget. This will make sure all schools are properly protected from rising pension costs. Mainstream schools will be able to apply to the fund from 2 December 2019, with payments due in March 2020. Specific guidance on completing the application form will be published later in the autumn. A similar scheme will apply to local authorities, in respect of the specialist provision in their areas.

Further details and guidance will be published on gov.uk.

[HCWS32]