Keele statement of accounts 20/21 | Page 70

Keele University

Notes to the Accounts For the year ended 31 July 2021

32 Pension Schemes ( continued )

An HM Treasury pension scheme valuation for funding purposes was carried out as at March 2012 . The Scheme Regulations have been changed to allow contribution rates to be set by the Secretary of State for Health , with the consent of HM Treasury , and consideration of the advice of the Scheme Actuary and appropriate employee and employer representatives as deemed appropriate .

The contribution rate payable by the University during the year to 31 March 2021 was equal to 14.30 % ( plus a 0.08 % scheme administration levy ) ( 2020 – 14.30 % plus 0.08 %) of the total pensionable salaries in accordance with the conclusion of the Government Actuary ’ s report on the scheme , and the University contributed £ 414k ( 2020 :£ 425k ).

33 Access and Participation Plan

Access and Participation Plans (“ APPs ”) set out how a higher education provider will improve equality of opportunity in higher education . They must be approved by the OfS if the provider wants to charge higher tuition fees . APP ’ s have been introduced from 2019 / 20 and replace the old Access Agreements that were previously approved by the Office for Fair Access .

The Keele APP articulates our ongoing commitment to improving equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups to access , succeed in and progress from higher education . Our latest Plan incorporates contributions from colleagues across our university community . Keele has an approved APP for 2019 / 20 and for 2020 / 21 to 2024 / 25 . The APP for Keele can be accessed on either the OfS website or the Keele website on :

https :// www . keele . ac . uk / access-plan / Expenditure incurred during the year on the APP in the four sectors identified by the OfS was :

Total access and participation expenditure 6,427 4,479

Included within the above expenditure is £ 2,763k ( 2020 : £ 1,482k ) of staff costs that are also included in Note 8 “ Staff costs ”. Variance to submitted 2020 / 21 APP

The actual access expenditure is £ 996k above the planned expenditure in the 2020 / 21 APP and £ 960k above the 2019 / 20 spend . This is due to additional pay and non-pay spend across the University Faculties and Directorates , including student support and assistance , an enhanced digital presence allowing flexibility for student circumstances and support from the Keele Institute for Innovation and Teaching Excellence ( KIITE ).

Spend on financial support is £ 462k above the planned level from the 2020 / 21 APP and £ 215k above the 2019 / 20 spend . This is primarily due to a more focused approach on bursaries and hardship funding in the year , offset by additional in year OfS hardship funding of £ 480k which facilitated £ 539k of bursaries and equipment to support students .

Expenditure on support for disabled students has increased compared to 2019 / 20 by £ 567k , but there was no category in the APP submitted plan for this . Again , this is due to additional Student Services spend on counselling and mental health along with disability and dyslexia support together with IT support and KIITE .

Expenditure on research & evaluation is £ 221k above the planned level from the 2020 / 21 APP and £ 206k above the 2019 / 20 spend . This relates to additional non-pay spend in IT and additional staffing resource allocated in the University .

34 Subsequent Events

Since the year end , following the completion of the 2020 actuarial valuation , a new dual rate schedule of contributions has been agreed with an effective date of 1 October 2021 . Recalculating the USS provision based on these contributions would result in an obligation to fund the deficit of £ 82.6m , an increase of £ 56.8m from the £ 25.8m in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position as at 31 July 2021 .

A further change to employer contributions , and the deficit recovery element of these contributions , will become applicable under the 2020 valuation if the Joint Negotiating Committee recommended deed on benefit changes has not been executed by 28 February 2022 . In this scenario , the element of employer contributions classed as deficit recovery contributions will increase from 1 October 2022 at 3 % of salary and then increase every 6 months until they reach 20 % at 1 October 2025 . They remain at this level until 31 July 2032 . It should be noted that the statutory consultation remains open until January 2022 , but an increase to this level is considered remote by the University .

If the Schedule of Contributions remains unchanged , the University ' s Financial Statements for the year ended 31 July 2022 will reflect these changes to the provision , subject to any other changes in financial and operational assumptions .

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