Where do I get advice re my teachers pension?

[T3nessee]

It’s impossible to speak to anybody at the company itself.

I’m 57 and no longer teaching. Have been advised it’s better to claim it now than wait but would like to check forecasts for either option.

Wesleyan are the people who come into my school to give free advice every now and again

There is a Facebook group specifically for Teacher Pensions where you can get all sorts of advice. But in a nutshell, you could claim it now but it would be actuarially reduced for taking it early.
this is the group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/teachertoteacher.tps/permalink/1180001943821805/?

There's a brilliant Facebook group. Wesleyan do charge I believe.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/teachertoteacher.tps/?ref=share

Wouldn't bother with Wesleyan, they're only interested if you're thinking of investing your lump sum (with them).
Once they realised I had a financial advisor already they weren't interested.

Wesleyan don't charge for the first meeting.

If you want to get further financial advice / investment advice, that is when they charge.

I found the woman I spoke to at Wesleyan very helpful indeed.

Top tip from me is to go through your record of employment with a fine toothcomb. I had a pretty straightforward employment history but they still made a load of stuff up. The rep from Wesleyan advised doing this. She said 60% of all teachers she speaks to from my LA have mistakes on their records. This is without ever working in academies / different LAs / Supply or any other things that might have complicated it.

Yes I thought there were mistakes ie no record of supply I’d done. I have no way of proving it though.
It’s impossible to get through to the pension company on the phone to query this.

From what I’ve learnt so far by looking online the amount I’d lose by claiming now is so small I’d be daft not to claim now. I’d like to double check however the difficulty in getting through to the company is hindering that.

We have a few pensions between the two of us and the teachers pension company is by far the worst to deal with. 😳

It's shocking how it's run by all accounts. They've lost the contract so it will be run by a different company ina few months so it may be why it's particularly bad just now. I'm sure I saw something in the press about it.

People are having delays to divorces, can't buy houses and all sorts because of delays with pension statements and difficulty getting through.

TPS are shocking to get through to on the phone.
Once you are through the menu, it takes between 35 mins and an hour on hold before you speak to someone.

Live chat on the website has been better, although, I personally prefer to speak to someone.

You can't e-mail them (except on the 'attachments' e-mail) and when you do, they look at them after about 15 days and answer you from a 'NoReply@..' e-mail, so you can't 'continue the conversations.

They won't allocate a case worker.

When you do get through to the staff on the phone - individually they are very nice BUT they will tell you they can't do anything about your service record, that has to come from your employer.

I retired in August, and still haven't had any pension. As I say, I had a fairly straightforward career, working in the same authority in permanent roles, so I have no idea how anyone with a more complicated history would get on.

They are shocking.

I kept all my payslips. Realised I had 2 years worth missing so contacted LA, emailed them the proof and it was updated on pension site that day. I'm going to claim mine too, think I'll just send it tracked delivery through the post. Tried to do it online and it wasn't having it.

Following this thread too. As a newly qualified teacher I feel it so unfair to be given a pension, but not have the ins and outs explained in terms of contributions/scenarios. I feel employers should have an obligation to provide free financial advice as well as simply offering the pension.

Following as would also like to know if there's any free advice out there? Citizen's advice worth a go?

I can heartily recommend the Facebook group already linked to above. A gentleman called David Fountain is on there and is genuinely a font (excuse the pun) of all knowledge. He and others have done a lot of help files that are stored on there, too.

Oh my goodness I just got through after an hi out and it was shocking. The call handler was so rude, couldn’t give me any answers,kept sighing, kept just leaving the call and I was clearly a massive inconvenience.

Could somebody give me a name of that good Facebook group not a link.

Teacher Pensions - Teacher to Teacher (Uk)
I am one of the Group Experts on the site.
Have you registered on the TPS site?

Yes I think so.

Have just read the Trust Pilot reviews on it. They’re shocking. Why isn’t the DofEd doing anything about it?

The person I spoke to just now was so awful that at one point I thought I’d got the wrong number and rung a scam line instead.

I don’t understand what’s happened to thecTPF. I had to deal with them before I retired and contacting them was easy and they were always helpful. Customer service these days seems to be mainly for the company’s convenience.

Wesleyan are good - I'd ask them. I needed TPS advice when I was working at an independent school that was aiming to leave TPS and they were v helpful.

TPS are privately owned and have changed ownership.

(The actual organisation - the pension itself is still govt backed of course).

Wesleyan weren't at all helpful to me once they realised they couldn't sell me any financial products. Would strongly recommend Dave Fountain 's FB group.

Must depend on the advisor I suppose. They didn't try to sell me anything.

Me neither. I found the lady I spoke to at Wesleyan very helpful and quite the opposite of pressured sales.

Are you eligible for the final salary scheme at age 60? That will have a big influence on what you decide to do.
For me, I can’t sustain working full time due to health issues. Working part time means that I won’t be able to retire using the final salary scheme as I will lose out massively on the lump sum. Look at the calculators, making sure you have entered the most exact information you have, selecting your retirement age. They will give you the best estimate of what you will get - you can adjust the retirement age depending on what you think you want to do and see how it affects your pension and lump sum.

I currently work part time and found the calculators on the TPS site really unhelpful, they were WAY out. I am a very simple case too, don’t want any extra lump sum. full time always apart from the last few years. Many years’ service.

However, Dave Fountain’s early retirement tables on the FB page Teacher Pensions - Teacher to Teacher UK were spot on to within a few pounds (I have just applied for early retirement and had my DCU choices.)

Knowing what it was likely to say owing to Dave Fountain’s spreadsheets really helped with my financial planning over the last two years.