Teacher pensions question

[SevenYellowHammers]

After 25 years, period of time off sick with stress, grievance procedures re bullying, followed by termination settlement, I am done! Free at last! So I access my pension record to find breaks in pensions when schools have been academised, which means I have to chase that before I can apply 😩. I’m also looking at jobs , I would love a part time TA job, possibly with younger children (I am a secondary English Teacher) but I am unsure if I can work in education right now and apply for pension. My settlement was salary until April and I am 60. Any advice welcome, thanks!

I would imagine that, as long as you are not paying into the Teachers pension scheme, you should be able to work in education now, certainly as a TA you should be fine! Is there anything in your settlement agreement that says you shouldn’t?

https://facebook.com/groups/teachertoteacher.tps/

You need this Facebook group. It's a very complex scheme but there are helpful experts there. I wouldn't have managed without it.

I retired at 58. There was a gap in my employment record and I had to apply to the educational establishment to rectify it. I now do supply work occasionally which means a totally separate pension scheme probably worth about 50p a month when I give up for good. If you apply for work in an educational setting you must ensure your new pension provision is kept totally separate from your existing one, as I understand things.

You can get and TA job and pay into LGPS or opt out ... your choice

No nothing like that! Thanks so much

Membership of the TPS is only open to people whose main job is teaching so TA or any other non-teaching jobs wouldn't cause a problem with your pension. A lot of TA staff are in the Local Government Pension Scheme. Have a look at the David Fountain videos on youtube. He's a retired teacher who makes really accessible videos on all aspects of the TPS.

Yes you can claim pension and still work in education. I activated the FS element of my pension and continued to pay into the CARE scheme which I will activiate nearer my SPA.

Your challenge is to ensure the pension gaps are filled in at TPS and you may in for a fight. Before I left my last state school, with a month to go, I stood over an HR person and ensured that all my gaps were filled in and I am forever grateful to the teacher who warned me to check. I had different time periods amounting to two years missing which I had spent two academic years trying to fill in, so I simply refused to teach any lessons until it was done. I had all my pay slips as evidence of pension contributions being made but the TPS wasn’t interested and bounced me back to the school every time. Luckily the ‘missing time’ was with the school where the HR person sorted it.

Do not claim until the gaps are sorted.

Good luck.

Thank you so much. The jobs I am looking at refer to the peoples pension.

Another thumbs from me for David Fountain - his vids are on YouTube

I should have added that I continued to work as a Teacher.

Thank you! The gaps are a few months each and occurred when schools became academies and when county split into unitary authorities. I will kick off until sorted! 😀

I retired last year from teaching. I'm now nearly 57. I had a couple of discrepancies on my work history which HR at my council sorted, they won't process your application if it isn't sorted.

Im now doing supply 2-3 days a week on a casual basis which means I'm not tied to a contract giving me greater freedom to holiday when I want. I can join the supply agencies pension scheme but have no desire to, so will opt out of that when it's offered. I decided I didn't want another job as such, as I wanted more flexibility. I have no mortgage or debt and I've not even dipped into my lump sum yet.

I also opened a SIPP (self invested private pension) just before I left and put some savings in there. I now pay in £250 a month and it's nearly doubled in size in 15 months. Even if not working you can put £2800 a year into a SIPP. The plan is the SIPP will fund the gap from 61-67 when I fully retire, then I'll take my state pension.

Ive not regretted retiring one bit, it's the best thing I've ever done. Supply is the best bits of teaching without all the crap. Walking out at 3.30 pm is brilliant and I still smile as I drive away 🤩