16 to 19 teachers' pension scheme employer contribution grant: conditions of grant for local authorities and academies 2024 to 2025
Updated 22 May 2024
Applies to England
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1. Introduction
In October 2023, the Department for Education published the outcome of the valuation of the teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) based on 2020 data.
The outcome confirmed a need to increase the employer contribution rate by 5 percentage points, to 28.6%, from 1 April 2024. This is to ensure that the scheme continues to meet present and future obligations.
HM Treasury committed to provide additional funding to cover the increase for employers centrally funded by the department for the 2024 to 2025 financial year. Funding for future years will be determined at the next spending review.
The department has secured £1.25 billion to support eligible settings with the increased teachers’ pension scheme employer contribution rate in financial year 2024 to 2025, including £61.2 million for 16 to 19 education.
2. What is the 16 to 19 teachers’ pension scheme employer contribution grant (TPSECG)
The 16 to 19 TPSECG provides 16 to 19 related funding for institutions in the school sector to support the increases in the employer contributions to the teachers’ pension scheme that came into effect since 1 September 2019, including the increase from 1 April 2024.
Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) pays the grant on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education.
The terms and conditions in this guidance apply to the 16 to 19 TPSECG for the financial year beginning 1 April 2024.
3. Eligibility
This grant provides financial assistance to maintained schools and academies with sixth forms.
We have provided separate guidance for how we will allocate the funding in the 2024 to 2025 financial year for:
- mainstream schools (for the 5 to 16 year old age range)
- high needs settings, including:
- maintained special schools
- special academies and free schools
- hospital schools
- non-maintained special schools
- independent special schools
- alternative provision (AP) made by pupil referral units
- AP academies and free schools
- local authorities with centrally employed teachers.
For early years settings, funding is already included in published core rates for 2024 to 2025.
Eligible institution types in the further education sector are funded through the further education providers TPSECG.
4. Funding
We do not include 16 to 19 TPSECG funding for institutions providing 16 to 19 education in the schools sector in 16 to 19 funding allocations. Instead, local authority maintained mainstream schools and mainstream academies will receive allocations under the 16 to 19 TPSECG, covering the 2024 to 2025 financial year (April 2024 to March 2025).
We will publish school-level allocations of the mainstream schools’ portion of the 16 to 19 TPSECG for the 2024 to 2025 financial year in May 2024 for April 2024 to August 2024. Further allocations to cover September 2024 to March 2025 will be published in October 2024.
We will pay funding directly to mainstream academies.
Local authorities and academies will receive their payments for 2024 to 2025 in 2 instalments. We will make payments in:
- June 2024 for local authorities and July 2024 for academies to cover April 2024 to August 2024
- October 2024 for local authorities and November 2024 for academies to cover September 2024 to March 2025
5. Funding rates
Rates for this grant have been increased to reflect the increase in the employer contribution rate by 5 percentage points, to 28.6%, from 1 April 2024.
We use a per-student rate differentiated to take into account higher teacher wages in London.
We calculate allocations using student numbers:
- from the 2023 to 2024 academic year funding allocations, for April 2024 to August 2024
- using the 2024 to 2025 academic year funding allocations, for September 2024 to March 2025
We then convert the students into full-time equivalent (FTE) figures based on the number of planned hours and funding bands that apply in the given academic year.
Tables 1 and 2 show the 16 to 19 TPSECG rates.
Table 1: April 2024 to August 2024 16 to 19 TPSECG funding rates
| Region | New rate |
|---|---|
| Inner London | £161.25 |
| Outer London | £149.18 |
| London Fringe | £139.65 |
| Rest of England | £135.55 |
Table 2: September 2024 to March 2025 16 to 19 TPSECG funding rates
| Region | New rate |
|---|---|
| Inner London | £225.75 |
| Outer London | £208.85 |
| London Fringe | £195.50 |
| Rest of England | £189.77 |
6. Allocation and payment to institutions not covered by funding formulae
Local authorities must pay to each maintained school with 16 to 19 provision the amounts shown in the ‘mainstream schools’ tab for each school in the allocations table. These will be:
- maintained secondary schools for their 16 to 19 provision only
- all-through maintained schools for their 16 to 19 provision only
- 16 to 19 maintained schools
Local authorities must pay each school irrespective of any deficit relating to the expenditure of the school’s budget share.
TPSECG is not part of schools’ budget shares and is not part of the individual schools budget. It is not to be counted for the purpose of calculating the minimum funding guarantee.
ESFA will pay the 16 to 19 TPSECG direct to academies.
7. Permitted use of TPSECG funds
Local authorities must ensure that the relevant maintained schools only spend the 16 to 19 TPSECG funds for either of the following reasons:
- for the purposes of the school
- for the benefit of students registered at other maintained schools
The 16 to 19 education provider receiving the grant does not have to spend 16 to 19 TPSECG funds in the financial year beginning 1 April 2024. Some or all 16 to 19 TPSECG funds may be carried forward to future financial years.
8. Certification
Each local authority will be required to certify to ESFA that they have complied with these terms and conditions.
ESFA will set out the arrangements for certification by 1 May 2025.
9. Variation
The basis for allocation of this grant may be varied by the Secretary of State from those set out above.
10. Overpayments
Any overpayment of TPSECG by ESFA to a local authority or academy shall be repaid by the recipient on terms and conditions as determined by ESFA or the Secretary of State for Education.
11. Further information
Books and other documents and records relating to the recipient’s accounts shall be open to inspection by the Secretary of State and by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The Comptroller and Auditor General may, under Section 6 of the National Audit Act 1983, carry out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the recipient has used its resources in discharging its grant-aided activities.
Schools, academies and local authorities shall provide information as may be required by the Secretary of State to determine whether it has complied with these conditions.