Under the Teachers' Pensions Regulations 2014, all new Independent Schools, which have been registered under Section 161 of the Education Act 2002, may apply to participate in the Scheme as an ‘accepted’ school.

The date from which an establishment becomes an accepted school is either:-

• The first day of the month following the date of application
• The date the establishment is constituted by an amalgamation with another school.

We administer the Scheme on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE). The Secretary of State has ultimate responsibility for the Scheme, and Regulation B3(4A) of the Teachers’ Pensions Regulations requires that an independent school may only be accepted where there’s in force a guarantee, indemnity or bond in a form approved by the Secretary of State.

Therefore Independent schools are required to provide a bond for the lifetime of their contract, to enable acceptance into the Scheme.

It’s recommended this should be three months’ worth of both employer and employee contributions, but we’d also suggest it includes an additional 25% on top of this, to allow for any future rate increases. You must also provide the gross annual pensionable salary of all the contributing employees at your school to allow confirmation that the guarantee will cover three months’ of contributions.

Alongside the guarantee payment, you’ll need to complete the Indemnity form (PDF, 72 KB) (This link opens in a new window), which should be forwarded to your bank, who’ll complete their details and send directly to our establishment changes team. View our contact options for further details. Any forms completed by the establishment will be returned. Upon receipt of the appropriately signed and dated form, which must contain an expiry date, we’ll be able to proceed with your application for ‘accepted’ school status.

We’re only authorised to accept a guarantee from the bank. If you wish to use a different method, we’d be required to submit your proposal to the Department for Education. We’re not able to take any responsibility for any delay that this may cause in our ability to proceed with your acceptance into the Scheme, and your ability to pay contributions within the timescales described in the paying contributions section.

Each school has to lodge funds with the bank to create the bond and you’ll be charged a fee to do this. If for any reason you’re unable to pay contributions to us, we’d contact the bank and they’d release the outstanding contributions to us.

If you’re happy with the above criteria and you wish to proceed with your application to become an accepted school, get in touch with us on the email address under 'Establishment changes' on our contact us page and we'd be happy to welcome you to the Scheme. View our contact options for further details.