16 to 19 teachers' pension scheme employer contribution grant: conditions of grant for local authorities and academies 2025 to 2026
Updated 12 March 2025
Applies to England
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1. Introduction
In October 2023, the Department for Education (DfE) 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.
This grant provides additional funding to support the increase for employers centrally funded by DfE for financial year 2025 to 2026. Funding for future years will be determined at the next spending review.
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.
DfE 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 2025.
3. Eligibility
This grant provides financial assistance to maintained schools and academies with sixth forms.
We have rolled the teachers’ pension employer contribution grant (TPECG) for mainstream schools into core funding. You can read further guidance at national funding formula for schools and high needs: 2025 to 2026.
For high needs settings, it is now in the amalgamated core schools budget grant (CSBG) 2025 to 2026 for special schools and alternative provision.
For early years settings, we include funding in published core rates for 2025 to 2026.
We fund eligible institution types in the further education sector 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 financial year 2025 to 2026 (April 2025 to March 2026).
We will publish school-level allocations of the mainstream schools’ portion of the 16 to 19 TPSECG for financial year 2025 to 2026 in May 2025 for April 2025 to August 2025. We will publish further allocations to cover September 2025 to March 2026 in October 2025.
We will pay funding directly to mainstream academies.
Local authorities and academies will receive their payments for 2025 to 2026 in 2 instalments. We will make payments in:
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June 2025 for local authorities and July 2025 for academies to cover April 2025 to August 2025
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October 2025 for local authorities and November 2025 for academies to cover September 2025 to March 2026
5. Funding rates
We increased the rates for this grant 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:
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from academic year 2024 to 2025 funding allocations, for April 2025 to August 2025
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from academic year 2025 to 2026 funding allocations, for September 2025 to March 2026
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.
Table 1 shows the 16 to 19 TPSECG rates.
Table 1: April 2025 to March 2026 16 to 19 TPSECG funding rates
| Region | April to August rate | September to March rate |
|---|---|---|
| Inner London | £161.25 | £225.75 |
| Outer London | £149.18 | £208.85 |
| London Fringe | £139.65 | £195.50 |
| Rest of England | £135.55 | £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:
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maintained secondary schools for their 16 to 19 provision only
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all-through maintained schools for their 16 to 19 provision only
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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.
We 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:
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for the purposes of the school
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for the benefit of students registered at other maintained schools
The 16 to 19 education institution receiving the grant does not have to spend 16 to 19 TPSECG funds in the financial year beginning 1 April 2025. 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 DfE that they have complied with these terms and conditions.
We will set out the arrangements for certification by 1 May 2026.
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 DfE to a local authority or academy shall be repaid by the recipient on terms and conditions as determined by DfE 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.