Cat64: WRONG
"The average pension in this country is just £3,900 a year. But a teacher retiring after 35 or 40 years of service at the normal age ? for them ? of 60 can expect to receive an index-linked pension of £24,000. Anyone who joined the scheme before 2007 also gets a tax-free lump sum worth three times the annual pay-out ? or around £72,000 for many teachers.
When unions like the NUT claim that the average teacher pension is just £10,300 a year they are right ? but only because they include within that average former teachers with as little as two or three years service. A headteacher at current levels will get around £42,000 a year. To get this kind of pay-out in the ?defined contribution? schemes now almost universal in the private sector, one would need to salt away a pension pot valued at around £1.5m during one?s working life ? which wouldn?t mean much money left over for fripperies like shelter, clothes or food.
These pay-outs don?t come from some great bank vault full of cash that teachers have contributed over the past. The Teachers Pension Scheme ? like most public sector schemes ? is ?unfunded?. That means the cash comes from current government expenditure. More plainly, it comes from tax being paid by you or I right now. The total, unfunded liability ? effectively the promises made to serving and retired teachers of the TPS is £223.9bn ? six times the size of the £35bn schools budget.
In 2009/10, the total cost of paying teachers? pensions was £7bn. But in just four years that is forecast to rise to £10bn. So we have a choice. We can either spend money on recruiting, training and equipping current teachers who will help ensure Britain has the kind of economy that can support generous teacher pensions in the future. "
By Neil O'Brien Politics Last updated: June 28th, 2011 in the Telegraph.