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Academies

Any school that chooses to become an academy becomes an individual employer (known as a ‘scheduled’ employer) in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).  Schools in Bedfordshire which become academies will be LGPS employers in the Bedfordshire Pension Fund.

 

If your academy is part of a multi-academy trust (MAT) and the MAT is made up of schools from different geographical areas then the MAT may have LGPS arrangements with a number of different pension funds.

 

If you are a Bedfordshire school which is planning to become an academy then you should let Bedfordshire Pension Fund know as soon as possible.  We can then tell you what information we need to set the academy up as a new employer in the pension fund. 

 

The employer contribution rate that the academy will pay following the conversion date may be different to the employer contribution rate that applied when the school was part of the local authority. 

 

Bedfordshire Pension Fund will provide you with the information you need to make monthly payments of employee and employer pension contributions.

 

As an LGPS employer, the academy will need to give the pension fund information about their employees who are members of the scheme – for example, when employees join and leave the scheme – and also any data that the pension fund needs in order to keep accurate pension records for LGPS members.

 

The LGPS rules allow employers to apply certain LGPS regulations in a particular way – these are known as employer discretions.  Employers must have a written policy for some of these discretions.  When a school becomes an academy it will need to put a policy in place to set out its approach to the discretions.

 

If you need any information about the academy conversion process, providing LGPS data or about the employer discretions policy please contact the pension fund at pensions@bedford.gov.uk 

 

Outsourcing staff

If an academy is considering outsourcing services to a private company (for example, catering or cleaning services) then the academy should get in touch with Bedfordshire Pension Fund to discuss how this may affect the pensions of any non-teaching staff involved in the transfers.  Please read our short leaflet on the 'Fair Deal' guidance that applies to staff transfers.