Meeting documents

Pension Fund Committee
Friday, 22 February 2002

 

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ITEM PF14 - ANNEX 1

PENSION FUND COMMITTEE – 22 FEBRUARY, 2002

PREMATURE RETIREMENT COMPENSATION SCHEME FOR TEACHERS

 

1. GENERAL NOTES

1.1 This Scheme must be compliant with any provisions of The Teachers (Compensation for Redundancy and Premature Retirement) Regulations current at the time.

1.2 This is a Local Scheme for the use of Premature Retirement Compensation (PRC) by the Council in cases where the Council wishes to offer and a teacher wishes to take early retirement on the grounds of voluntary redundancy or in the interests of the efficient exercise of the Council’s function. No teacher will be required to accept early retirement under this Scheme against their wishes, except in cases of compulsory redundancy where the Council is unable to offer suitable alternative employment.

1.3 Any proposed use of PRC will be the subject of local consultation between Oxfordshire County Council and Recognised Teacher Organisations. The Council will abide by any requirements of relevant Acts and local and national agreements.

1.4 This Local Scheme applies to all full and part-time teachers over the age of 50 employed by the County Council in the provision of primary, secondary, special and community education. All pensionable service will be taken into account in calculating both the pension to be paid by Teachers’ Pensions and in calculating any enhancement to be awarded by the Council, provided that there has been no refund of contributions.

2. PREMATURE RETIREMENT ON GROUNDS OF REDUNDANCY

2.1 The Council will offer premature retirement by reason of redundancy where they are satisfied that the early retirement of a teacher aged 50 or over and with 2 years or more reckonable service would mean that an educational establishment’s teaching force would thereby be brought closer to its staffing requirements by an actual saving of a post. Enhancement of service will only be available for teachers aged 57 or over.

2.2 The Council will consider offering premature retirement to a teacher aged 50 or over with 2 years or more reckonable service, whose particular teaching specialism is no longer required, and who is redundant within the meaning of the relevant Acts. Enhancement of service will only be available for teachers aged 57 or over.

2.3 Any teacher aged 57 or over being granted PRC on redundancy grounds will be offered the full enhancement appropriate to their age and service, up to a maximum of 3 years enhancement.

2.4 Method of selecting employees

Applicants for premature retirement will be considered on the following basis:-

(i) Operational needs of the service for particular types of employees will be considered first;

(ii) The person with the longest Local Government Service who volunteers for redundancy will be selected. If further volunteers are required, then the volunteer with the next longest service will be selected, and so on.

 

3. PREMATURE RETIREMENT IN THE INTERESTS OF THE EFFICIENT EXERCISE OF THE COUNCIL’S FUNCTION

3.1 There may be circumstances in which it is in the interests of the Council’s efficient exercise of its functions to offer early retirement under the terms of the PRC regulations to teachers aged 57 or over. These include:-

(a) Teachers with problems of ill health not at present provided for in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, i.e. teachers under the age of 60 who are not eligible to retire under the ill health scheme;

(b) A change in the function of an educational establishment;

(c) Teachers whose application is granted by the Authority on compassionate, personal or professional grounds;

(d) Such other circumstances as may be agreed from time to time between the Council and the Teachers’ Associations.

    1. No enhancement of service will normally be offered. Enhancement may be appropriate where, for example, there is a financial saving to the Authority (e.g. a teacher on a protected salary) or there is a change in the function of an educational establishment.

3.3 Applications will also be considered from teachers aged 50+ for early retirement without enhancement where they have been refused ill-health retirement by Teachers’ Pensions but whose retirement on health grounds is recommended by the Occupational Health Service.

    1. Where it is clearly in the interests of the schools, applications will also be considered from teachers aged 50+ if they work in a school which has been in "special measures" for a period of two years or more at the proposed retirement date, where monitoring reports indicate that it is justified that this measure should be applied, and if the school seems unlikely to recover within a further reasonable period of time. In these cases, enhancement of pension by up to 0.5 of a year may be offered after all other measures have been considered first. This option will not be available to teachers currently subject to professional capability procedures.

    2. Applications will also be considered from teachers aged 55+ in cases where there is a national scheme available to subsidise the costs borne by the Council. Each case will be considered on its own merits and the costs to the Council will be taken into account in making a decision.

4. GENERAL INFORMATION

 

4.1 Teachers may apply, without commitment on either side, to the Council for details of the lump sum, pension and redundancy payments that they would receive if they elected to retire early.

4.2 The Council shall advise the teacher to consult his or her own trade union or professional organisation.

4.3 The normal requirements to give notice will be waived on either side for a teacher who retires early, in accordance with this Scheme.

4.4 Only after a written offer of PRC has been received and accepted by the teacher in writing is the decision to terminate an appointment final. The written offer will make it clear that it applies only if a redundancy situation still exists when the employee leaves.

4.5 Schools who wish to offer either additional enhancement (within the PRC regulations) or to grant premature retirement in cases which are not covered by the usual application of this Scheme will be charged the additional costs involved.

4.6 Any collective dispute between the parties to the Scheme or the use of PRC provision shall be dealt with in accordance with agreed procedures for collective disputes.

4.7 If any teacher is aggrieved by a decision of the Council not to offer premature retirement under this Scheme there shall be a right of appeal under the appropriate Teachers’ Grievance Procedure. There is no right of appeal against the detail of an offer which can, of course, be turned down.

4.8 This Scheme may be revised at any time only after consultation between the parties thereto. It has been agreed to take effect up to 30 April, 2002 and a further scheme will then be considered.

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