Overview of Organization Model

There is some flexibility in how legal entity work structures can be created, which is not specific to education authorities.

The structures below show how we expect the typical TPS customer to create their legal entity work structures, based on their specific needs.

A legal entity can represent both a Payroll Statutory Unit (PSU) and a legal employer, or a PSU can represent multiple legal employers. Similarly, a legal reporting unit can represent both a Tax Reporting Unit (TRU) and a reporting establishment, or a TRU can represent multiple reporting establishments, although there must be at least one TRU.

Ensure that the appropriate PSUs, legal employers and reporting establishments are created.

PSU (could also be legal employer): to represent an academy, local authority, MAT, or payroll provider. Create multiple PSUs, if required.
Legal employer: to represent an academy, local authority or MAT serviced by a payroll provider.

Or,

Legal employer: to represent an academy or local authority within a MAT.
Reporting establishment: to represent individual establishments such as an academy or a school.

Here’s the recommended setup for organisations.

Payroll Provider

If you are a payroll provider with a 750 payroll provider registration number with Teachers’ Pension and you submit the MCR for multiple employers in a single file, you can configure your organization model to include all those employers in one MCR file using a single MCR submission.

Create a PSU to represent the payroll provider; this main legal entity also needs to be a legal employer. A main legal reporting unit is automatically created and can be identified as a TRU or Reporting Establishment (or both) representing the legal entity.

Record the payroll provider registration number in the format 750/nnnn on the PSU information page. Record the LA Number 750 at the PSU level.

Note: the 750 LA Number you record here is not included in the MCR output, but is required for the processing of the file.

You can create additional legal reporting units, if required, as either TRUs or reporting establishments, or both.

Create legal employers to represent the local authorities, academies, or MATs covered under the 750 registration. (The legal employer is the organization with whom employee contracts are held.)

Record local authority numbers at the highest level applicable in the organization hierarchy (for example, at legal employer level) and enter additional local authority numbers at reporting establishment level only if they differ from the local authority number recorded at a higher level in the hierarchy.

Create the schools, academies and other establishments included in the 750 submission as reporting establishments with associated establishment numbers.

Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs)

If you are a MAT or a third-party provider responsible for MAT submissions, and you have a 751 registration number for that MAT with Teachers’ Pension, you can configure your organization model to make a single MCR submission and create a single file for the central executive staff and academies covered under that MAT registration number.

Create a PSU or legal employer as the legal entity that represents the MAT. If your PSU is the MAT legal entity, this also needs to be a legal employer.

A main legal reporting unit is automatically created and can be identified as a TRU or Reporting Establishment (or both) representing the legal entity. Identify the legal reporting unit as a reporting establishment and enter the establishment number against which central MAT staff (for example, executive headteachers) are reported in the MCR.

Record both the MAT registration number in the format 751/nnnn and LA Number 751 on either the PSU or legal employer information page. The MAT central staff are reported against this LA number.

You can create additional legal reporting units, if required, as either TRUs or reporting establishments, or both.

Create legal employers for the trusts or academies covered under the registration and to reflect your organization model. (The legal employer is the organization with whom employee contracts are held.)

Create the academies included in the 751 submission as reporting establishments with associated establishment numbers.

Local Authority

You must set up a local authority as a legal entity which is both a PSU registered to report payroll info for all organisations within the structure, and a legal employer, for employees whose contract is held by the local authority. Record the local authority number at PSU level.

A main legal reporting unit is automatically created and can be identified as a TRU or Reporting Establishment (or both) representing the legal entity. Identify the legal reporting establishment as a reporting establishment and enter the establishment number 0000 for the local authority. (There may not be employees associated with this establishment.)

You can create additional legal reporting units, if required, as either TRUs or reporting establishments, or both.

Any academies or MATs within the local authority must be created as legal employers, where an employee’s contract is held. As they can have their own local authority number, independent of the local authority, the local authority number must be entered on the legal employer information.

Create the schools and academies as reporting establishments with associated establishment numbers.

Academies

You can represent a single academy as a legal entity which is both a PSU registered to report payroll info for all organisations within the structure, and a legal employer, for employees whose contract is held by the academy. Record the local authority number at PSU level.

A main legal reporting unit is automatically created and can be identified as a TRU or Reporting Establishment (or both) representing this legal entity. Create the academy as a reporting establishment with its associated establishment number. Create additional academies if required.