Teacher's Pension Scheme

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Any teachers in this scheme? I've just looked at mine online for first time in a long time. I've been paying in for 9.5 years. It's showing 6 years and 180days.

I am part time. Is this wrong?

There's no gap in my record I can see but wondering if it's correct. Some of the monthly breakdowns say pensionable and some don't.

Do I speak to employer or try and ring someone at the scheme. I feel a bit dumb but I don't really understand what I'm looking at.

Speak to your employer. The length of service is the FTE though, so if you work part time it will be less than the calendar years you've worked.

Which makes sense when you think about it because the pension entitlement is based on the full time salary, not the actual pay.

Each month the roller employer reports your pay scale (fte) together with your contribution. Therefore TP knows what fraction you worked.

It’s the individual days that are added up if you’re part time. So it’s likely to be correct.

Thanks so much everyone. Dare I ask another stupid question...? The figure on the statement...is that what I'd get at 67 if I didn't pay any more in? But presumably this will go up as I put more money in?

I think I need a financial advisor but I tend to think they're only any use when you have some money to invest and I'm relatively poor 🙈

I feel quite embarrassed that I don't understand this stuff.

I don't have experience with teatchers pension. I just came here to say that you should never feel embarrassed for asking a question and seeking help. Everyone has limitations, wise people acknowledge them and try to fill in the gap.

I am part time, was 3 days a week from Sept 15 to September 20, and now 4 days. I have been teaching since September 2009. So nearly 15 years. My service shows as 12.5 years due to the part time days.

The amount shown is what you would get at 67 if you didn't pay anything else in.

That sounds right. I’m part-time so although I’ve worked for 20 years without a break, my length of service is only about 16 as I haven’t worked the full 20 years. You can click and see exactly how many days service you have (and where the is from) in ‘My Pension online’.

Yes, the headline figure is what you would get if you paid nothing else in, and retired at the "Normal Pension Age." Depending on exactly when you joined, you might be in some combination of three different pension schemes all with different NPAs!

What you're paying in now will all go towards the "Career Average" plan. Every month, your annual pension will go up by 1/57th of what you earned that month. Then every year, the amount is increased to reflect inflation.

If you retire before the NPA, that will be reduced to account for the fact that you will be drawing your pension for longer.

Ask away! Took me a while to get my head round it all.

I'm sure you can also contact TPS directly for help.

I'm a MAT chief finance officer, and public sector pensions are hard..

Mine is also lower as I was part time when my children were pre- school. You can top up your contributions if you have some spare cash.

Join the David fountain group on Facebook - a wealth of info

I thought the pensionable date for the TPS calculation 65 regardless of the state retirement age.

As others have said the part time means the years reflect as added days. You can call TPS with any questions you have thye should answer and explain, they will be used to it, it's so complicated many people probably call asking.

There's a teachers pension Facebook group with a chap called David Fountain who gives lots of advice.
RosesAndHellebores, I'm a transition* member *and can take the final salary portion when I'm 69 and the career average portion when I'm 67, if I've understood correctly.

Sorry, typo, 60 and 67.

Depends which scheme you are in and how old you are.

I'm a transitional member so it means a bit chunk of mine is final salary scheme with a lump sum and a NPA of 60.
Anything from 2022 is now average salary scheme with no lump sum.

The first thing to do it to download your statement and to choose the bit that breaks down your years. And check there are no gaps in service that shouldn't be there.

I had to contact payroll and chase up a few gaps of a day here or there but also a 6 month gap when I was definitely working.

Part time will reduce the total years on record.

My pension being built up from 2022 onwards has a NPA of 67.

I came to say this.

Ah this is interesting to me. I’m seeing ‘15’ years service on my TPS although I’ve been 20 years teaching. But I’ve had 2 maternity leaves and been part-time since 2013. I am still struggling to make sense of it though and have questions about ‘reckable’ days - if there is anyone knowledgeable who can help?

If you log into your pension info page on teachers' pension, you can choose to download a detailed record of your contributions, where you can see if there are any missing days.

Maternity leaves and/or part time work would account for the difference.

There can still be missing times that you should have contributions, that for some reason are missing. I had to email staffing at our county council to chase up a few months that I had no contributions when I'd definitely been working, which they did.

TPS are also really helpful if you need to call them

Teacher Pensions - Teacher to Teacher is the Facebook group you need.