Support Confirmed for the Teachers’ Pension Scheme
16th August 2024
A communication was sent out yesterday (Thursday 15th August) from the Department for Education via Arts Council England to Music Hub Lead Organisations (HLOs) which outlined the outcome of the consultation on employer contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. Following significant advocacy by Music Mark together with the Musicians’ Union and Independent Society of Musicians, it has been confirmed that ‘non-local authority HLOs and Delivery Partners’ who still have staff in TPS will receive support from the DfE to cover the two increases to employers’ contributions implemented since 2019. Therefore, funding will be given to cover the difference between c.16% and c.28% for these employers from September 2024 until the end of this financial year (31st March 2025).
Music Mark, together with the ISM and MU, have welcomed this news for those employers that have been able to retain the Teachers’ Pension Scheme for their staff. We do however remain concerned that this news provides a reprieve rather than a long-term solution to the rising costs of pension contributions – not only into the government’s Teachers’ Pension Scheme, but also other pension schemes used by those who employ our music teaching workforce.
Unfortunately, we are also aware that the delay by the DfE in making this decision has meant that it is too late for some employers who have already taken action to ensure the financial stability of their organisations. These organisations have already frozen their staff’s teachers’ pensions and developed new terms and conditions including an alternative pension scheme. Additionally, we know that some members are in the final stages of the consultation process and have some very quick decisions to make, at what is already a very challenging time.
Music Mark is talking with its advice partner, the legal firm Bates Wells, about the impact of the announcement both on those who have completed consultation periods and issued new contracts and those who are in the process and may choose to pause them to identify any next appropriate steps.
Whilst this is indeed a positive outcome for non-local authority HLOs and Delivery Partners who still have teachers in TPS, government funding for music education in England remains inadequate to achieve the increased expectations of the second National Plan for Music Education. The research we have commissioned from Demos will be ready to share with ministers in the autumn which we hope will help to highlight our ongoing call for a realistic investment in music education. In line with their own manifesto promises around education and the arts, we will continue to apply pressure for the Spending Review to include a marked increase in the Music Hub revenue grant so that children and young people genuinely enjoy the benefits of the government’s ambition for their music education.
