Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2018 to Question 176323 on Teacher's Pensions, what proportion of the projected rise in employer contribution costs is due to the change to the Scape discount rate.

The Superannuation Contributions Adjusted for Past Experience (SCAPE) discount rate is only one of a number of factors that need to be taken into account when completing pension scheme valuations. Taken in isolation, the SCAPE rate change from CPI+2.8% to CPI+2.4% results in an increase of around 7 percentage points on the employer contribution rate. This is equivalent to the full projected rise in employer contribution costs across the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

The Department for Education intends to fund state-funded schools and further education providers, but will shortly be running a public consultation to seek views and understand better the impact of the proposed changes to inform action the Department will take.