Teachers Pension Audit - external payroll

2008-2009 appears to have been the year when the Audit Commission are putting Local Authorities under pressure in respect of their Teachers Pension audit.

We have seen a small number of authorities have their Audit Reports qualified because they have been unable to demonstrate that Teachers Pension contributions have been calculated and paid by external school payroll providers.

While this is obviously a serious matter we have seen Local Authorities cracking down hard on schools and stating that if the external school payroll provider cannot produce an externally audited certificate then they will have to bring their payroll back within the remit of the Local Authority.

Furthermore it is normally up to the school to fund the cost of any external audit required.

The approach by Each Authority appears to be different and many have not yet raised the issue

This is another reason why schools should carefully consider the experience and expertise of the external payroll provider before making the switch.

At Dataplan Education we work closely with our external auditors and can provide many forms of assurance for Teachers Pension contributions be it specific representation on contributions or assurance that we have systems in place to operate Teachers Pension accurately and effectively