Concerned for my SEND Teacher Mum

[BoldDenimStork]

Hi, I left teaching a few years back but my mum is still teaching. She is getting towards 60 and had major life surgery this year. She teaches in a special needs school and has been there for a long time. This year she has been encountering extremely difficult and violent behaviour from pupils- children throwing chairs at her, trying to attack her and others in the class scarily frequently. She believes their behaviour is posing a threat to her, the other staff's and childrens' safety.

She would ideally leave at 60 but she is extremely concerned not just for her wellbeing and her physical safety but also her financial wellbeing. She was widowed a few years back and simply cannot afford to retire at 60 but its feeling increasingly unlikely she will make it that far given recent horrendous violence. She is also saying she cannot afford to take a paycut as a single woman.

Is there anyone with any advice on who she should be speaking to, what steps she should be taking or what her rights are in this situation etc? Or is there anyone who had a similar situation and in some way came out the other end?

Thank you- any help would be greatly appreciated. from a loving, concerned daughter of a wonderful mum who has been through an awful lot in life and deserves better than this ❤️

Leave and sign up with a supply agency?

Her union is the obvious answer

@LemonAndGingerMarmalade cant really afford that until at least 60 as she cant afford to lose what she'd lose to her total pot (it's 5% a year until you're 60, or at least thats what she understands)

@Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep thanks ive also advised this to her! Any idea what she might expect them to say or advise?

Yes union.

She won’t be the fist!

She needs to speak to her union as a matter of urgency and should seek advice about her pension. If she has been teaching a long time, she will be in the final salary scheme for most of her pension so may well have more income than she thinks. Also she can choose how much of her pension to take as a lump sum and how much to take as monthly income. She might benefit from financial advice about that too.

Regardless of the financial cost, she needs to put her physical safety first, even if that means stopping at 60 or before and doing a safer less well paid job until state pension age.

How much does she earn? Is she looking for a new job?

There is a great Facebook group called teachers pensions - teacher to teacher. It would be well worth doing some research into the financial costs and benefits of retiring early. It can be really hard to get accurate information about teachers pensions. There are many options. She could retire now and continue earning as much as she wants in teaching or out of teaching, take phased retirement, wait until 60 but be aware of abatement. If you retire after 60 you lose the money you would have got from 60. If you retire early you are not losing any money and it is only when you are in your early 80’s that you ‘lose out’.

The teacher's pension website is actually pretty useful too. She can get a calculation for what she would get if she retired in July.