Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2024 to Question 19580 on Music: Education, what assessment her Department has made of the ability of non-local authority Music Hubs to pay for employer contribution rates after August 2024.

In light of the increase in employer contributions to the Teacher’s Pension Scheme (TPS) from April 2024, the department will take steps to determine the level of employer liability across all the newly appointed Music Hub Lead Organisations from September 2024. This has not been possible until recently, as applicants were informed of the outcome of the Music Hubs Investment Programme on 8 April 2024. The department will then work with Arts Council England in giving due consideration to the additional pension pressures due to the increase in employer contribution to the TPS. The outcome of this assessment will be published in the coming months.

The department has already secured £1.25 billion to support eligible settings with the increased TPS employer contribution rate in the 2024/25 financial year. This will mean additional funding of £9.3 million to local authorities for centrally employed teachers, including those employed in local authority based music hubs. The department has now published the details of the additional funding for mainstream schools, high needs and local authorities with centrally employed teachers.

The department has also committed to providing funding to cover the increase in employer contribution rates for non-local authority hubs for the current academic year to August 2024 and Arts Council England has communicated allocations to the relevant hub lead organisations.