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ITEM PF17
DRAFT
NB. Proposed changes
are shown in italics or crossed through.
OXFORDSHIRE
COUNTY COUNCIL
PREMATURE
RETIREMENT COMPENSATION SCHEME FOR TEACHERS
1. GENERAL NOTES
1.1 This
Scheme is designed to 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 Oxfordshire County 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.
1.5 Any
request for Premature Retirement which falls outside this Scheme will
be considered by the appropriate Committee of the Council, together
with a recommendation from the Director for Learning & Culture
as to whether or not it should be supported. The financial and other
implications of the request will be taken into account.
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 in accordance with the
Model Redundancy Procedure applicable at the time. At present, in
summary:
1.Operational
needs of the service for particular types of employees will be
considered first;
2.
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.
3.2 No
enhancement of service will normally be offered. Enhancement may be
appropriate where, for example, there is a financial saving to the
Directorate (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 where they have a substantial
medical or psychiatric condition and their retirement on health
grounds is supported by the Occupational Health Service.
3.4 Applications will also be considered from teachers aged 50+ if
they work in a school which has been in "special measures" for a period
approaching two years at the proposed retirement date and which seems
unlikely to recover before the two-year target date. In these cases,
enhancement of pension by up to 0.5 of a year may be offered. This
option will not be available to teachers currently subject to professional
capability procedures.
3.5 Applications will be considered from teachers aged 55+ working
in schools in special measures or serious weaknesses where there is
evidence that this would be in the interests of the school concerned.
Such cases will be put forward at the discretion of the Director for
Learning & Culture. This option will not be available to teachers
currently subject to professional capability procedures.
3.6 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 31 December 2001 and a further scheme will then be considered.
PREMATURE
RETIREMENT FOR TEACHERS – COSTS
- In law, the governing
body have the power to determine whether or not an individual
should be allowed to retire early i.e. leave our employment between
ages 50 and 59 and receive early payment of pension benefits. Oxfordshire
County Council are the compensating body in that they pay
any costs involved in the early retirement but they have the
power to refuse to pay any such costs if the case does not fit their
usual criteria for funding early retirement. If they do refuse, the
governing body can choose to pay the costs out of school funds if they
wish.
- The costs which
the Directorate incurs consist of a proportion of the pension
payable to the teacher for the rest of the teacher’s life plus a proportion
of the lump sum which all pensionable employees receive when they retire.
The younger the teacher is on retirement, the greater the proportion
payable by the Directorate. For example, if the teacher is 50
the Directorate pays 42% of the pension and 28.8% of the lump
sum.
"Efficient
Exercise of the Authority’s Function"
- Early retirements
in this category do not result in any pension enhancement (except where
the school has been in "special measures" for 2 years; see paragraph
3.4 of the PRC Scheme) but the costs set out in paragraph 2 above do
apply.
Redundancy
- In addition, if
a teacher is made redundant between ages 50 and 59, the Directorate
has to make a redundancy payment based on age and length of service.
- If the teacher
is made redundant between ages 57 and 59, the pension and lump sum will
also be enhanced and the Directorate pays the full cost of this
enhancement.
Ill
Health Retirement
- Retirements on
medical grounds are determined by Teachers’ Pensions. There is no lower
age limit and cases are decided entirely on grounds of ill health. No
costs are incurred by the Directorate if the retirement is granted
on these grounds.
- Under our PRC
Scheme, teachers of 50 and above who are refused ill health retirement
by Teachers’ Pensions can apply to the LEA for early retirement if our
Occupational Health doctors support the case (see para 3.3 of the
Scheme). These cases are then dealt with as "efficiency" retirements
(see paragraph 3 above).
Standards
Fund Support for Early Retirement for Headteachers
During
2001/2 some funding is available to subsidise the retirement of Headteachers
aged 55 and above who feel they are unable to carry out necessary changes
in their school. The full cost of the early retirement is calculated
by the DfEE as a lump sum rather than an annual contribution to the
teacher’s pension. The Standards Fund pays 53% of this cost and the
LEA must find 47% of it – as a lump sum at the point of retirement.
The amount of funding available for the year is unlikely to pay for
more than two such retirements.
Actuarially-Reduced
Pensions
- Teachers can opt
to retire at any point between ages 55 and 59 with immediate payment
of pension benefits, based on their pensionable service but reduced
in accordance with a scale determined by the government’s Actuary. The
reduction in pension is more than 25% for a teacher retiring at age
55 and the reduction applies for life. The lump sum is also reduced.
In these cases no costs are incurred by the Directorate or the
school.
October, 2003
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