Case study – Lesson for schools: don’t set consultation deadline before appointing advisers

The school’s governors were seeking to control the risk posed by rising contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) and needed to consider an affordable alternative so they could help the school plan for the future with greater confidence.​

What’s already a challenging process was made more so because the school had proposed changes in a very tight timescale ahead of appointing professional advisers to carry out the necessary consultation.​​

In addition, some unfortunate framing of the school’s desired consultation outcome in its early staff communications further complicated matters, leaving teachers disgruntled.​

They turned to our team after reading our regular blog posts on how we’ve guided dozens of schools through this exercise.

Our consultants were able to emphasise the planning and preparation necessary for the school to run a consultation that would achieve their aims be decisive but also be inclusive. Even against an overly stretching deadline, the team were able to consult with teachers individually to bring to life what it would mean for them personally.​

While a consultation must comply with legislative requirements, at its heart, we believe it’s about engaging with the people who will be affected in an accessible, knowledgeable and open manner. We’ve talked to thousands oft teachers going through this and strongly believe it’s the critical factor of a successful consultation. Whatever the outcome, the exercise has to demonstrate everyone involved is being listened to.

The school transitioned to a hybrid arrangement with existing staff given the option of remaining in the TPS but covering the school’s extra contribution costs or moving to a defined contribution pension with Aviva’s Pension Trust for Independent schools (APTIS), with school contributions of 26 per cent. This cost has been mitigated by introducing salary sacrifice, which is now offered to newly recruited teachers. ​

And although the unrealistic deadline had been decided ahead of our team’s involvement, our impact on the process and the aftermath of the conclusion was a strong reminder that engaging with pension and legal professionals as early as possible is a vital decision to make.