B

Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 15 June 2026

Debate

Teachers’ Pension Scheme: Automatic Enrolment

Contribution

My noble friend is right. I am aware of the financial challenges that universities, particularly post-1992 universities, face, exacerbated by the large increases in the employer contribution rates in the TPS. These have gone from 16.48% in 2019 to the current 28.6%. However, the Government Actuary’s Department has now written to His Majesty’s Treasury stating that the average employer contribution rate across the unfunded public service pension schemes, of which the TPS is one, is expected to fall significantly as a result of the increase in the SCAPE discount rate. Across all those schemes, contributions are expected to be over £12 billion lower in 2027-28 than in 2026-27. That will provide some relief to the post-1992 universities for a pension scheme that I know, from talking to some of its members and their representatives, is widely welcomed and supported in the system.

More from Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)

Other recent Hansard contributions by the same speaker.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.

Partner sites