revealed in June that just two retired teachers had received the money or pension increase they were entitled to.<\/a><\/p>\nDelays are also plaguing thousands of unwell pensioners. Of the outstanding statements, 3,539 are due to pensioners who are in \u201cill health\u201d, FOI data shows.<\/p>\n
Paul Heap, a retired teacher, said he was owed \u201caround \u00a314,000 from the original case, plus \u00a37,000 in losses because of delays\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome teachers have died waiting. Others, like me, are watching our health decline. Every month this drags on, more people die. We\u2019ve worked our whole lives as teachers, and this is how we\u2019re treated \u2013 like we don\u2019t matter anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
The delays have left a lasting mark on Graeme Humphrey, who retired in 2022 after 35 years in teaching.<\/p>\n
He suffers from generalised anxiety disorder, and \u201cthis whole process has made it worse\u201d, he told Schools Week.<\/p>\n
\u201cTPS seems to have contempt for the legal process and is seemingly disinterested in delivering legislated monies within any reasonable time scale.\u201d<\/p>\n
Retirees return to the classroom<\/p>\n
For other former leaders and teachers, delays in receiving payouts have prompted a forced return to the classroom.<\/p>\n
Former headteacher Gary Watson retired in 2022, but is owed \u00a331,000 that should have formed part of his lump sum. He says he has had to \u201cgo back to work to supplement my income\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think any private sector pension provider could get away with this. Trustpilot reviews are incredibly damning, and many retired teachers [are] simply despairing at either the incompetence, under-staffing or perhaps a combination of both.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Trustpilot, the Teachers\u2019 Pension Scheme has an average score of 1.1 out of five, based on 739 reviews. Ninety-five per cent of reviews give just one star.<\/p>\n
Emma Mitchell, who taught history and geography for 30 years, has been waiting nearly a year to hear back from the TPS about her McCloud paperwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m owed just over \u00a310,000 as a lump sum and about \u00a32,000 a year,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve had to dip into my savings to pay for roof repairs. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs a single parent, that money really matters \u2013 but it\u2019s not extra. It\u2019s ours. You give everything to your students, to your school, to the community and you expect the system you\u2019ve paid into to be there when it\u2019s your turn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watson added: \u201cThis is scandalous. To compound matters the communication from TPS is abysmal. When will these dues be settled?\u201d<\/p>\n
The TPS has been run for most of the past 30 years by outsourcing giant Capita.<\/p>\n
The \u00a3233 million, 10-year contract was due to transfer to Indian IT firm TCS in October, but Schools Week revealed earlier this year the handover had been pushed back to next summer.<\/p>\n
\u2018Government turning blind eye\u2019<\/p>\n
Delays to McCloud settlements aren\u2019t the only administrative issue affecting TPS members. For example, teachers have reported delays to cash-equivalent transfer values \u2013 needed to finalise divorces. Others reported being locked out of accounts, or their details being lost entirely.<\/p>\n
Diane Tonkins, 60, sobbed over half-marked schoolbooks as she recalled being told by TPS she did not have a pension.<\/p>\n
Decades of records, including her private pension and \u00a32,000 in contributions, were \u201clost\u201d. Worth about \u00a330,000, the missing funds forced her to keep working while caring for parents with dementia and Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of their mistake, I couldn\u2019t retire,\u201d she says. During Covid, her parents died in care, confused and alone, she said.<\/p>\n
Heap said the TPS under Capita was \u201cunderstaffed, lacks communication and is failing, but the government has been turning a blind eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe backlog is thousands deep. They\u2019re processing around 40 cases a month when thousands are depending on the money the government took from us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dowling added Wesleyan is \u201cincreasingly seeing delays not just in the issuing of remediable pension saving statements, but in processing pensions themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis data, and our own experience, shows many are entering their retirement without an accurate understanding of how much they have in their pension \u2013 a precarious position for anyone to be in that\u2019s only compounded if they have dependents, ill-health or care needs that mean they\u2019re particularly reliant on this pension income.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calls for hardship fund<\/p>\n
Heap said he asked officials to create a hardship fund for struggling retirees but was told there was \u201cno need for one\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went six months without glasses because I couldn\u2019t afford new ones,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvery month, I have to spend a quarter of my pension on paying interest that is only owed because my pension correction wasn\u2019t completed on time. I just about manage to cover council tax, energy bills and food.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kate Atkinson, national secretary for school leaders\u2019 union NAHT, said it had been \u201ccontacted by members with life-limiting conditions that are part of the backlog. <\/p>\n
\u201cClearly any further delay for these individuals is unacceptable and we have asked for a \u2018fast-track\u2019 approach to be taken in relation to anyone in this group \u2013 we are hopeful that this can be achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Capita acknowledged \u201cthat some members have experienced delays in receiving their remediable service statements and subsequent payments, and we sincerely apologise for this\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, they said the delays were \u201clargely due to the complexity stemming from the McCloud remedy \u2026 and dependencies outside of Capita\u2019s control.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are continuing to work with the Department for Education to implement measures to improve the service, which includes automation and updated communications to members.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Complex legal issues\u2019<\/p>\n
The DfE said transitional protection remedy was \u201ccomplex\u201d due to its size. The \u201cretrospective nature\u201d had resulted in \u201ca number of technical and legal issues\u201d that \u201cneeded to be resolved before guidance could be provided to the scheme administrator\u201d.<\/p>\n
Officials are in touch with Capita to \u201caddress\u201d rising numbers of enquiries.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
However, a spokesperson added: \u201cWe understand that this has caused frustration and are continuing to work closely with Teachers\u2019 Pensions to resolve this issue as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was also \u201creviewing arrangements for the issuing of the remaining remediable service statements\u201d, but would give no further details.<\/p>\n
The FOI data suggests most retirees who have received their statements and responded have opted to stick to the legacy pension scheme.<\/p>\n
As of March, 8,488 respondents had chosen to stick with the legacy scheme, compared with 2,890 who opted for the reformed scheme.<\/p>\n
The schools sector, which employs almost a million people in England, is not the only part of the public sector facing issues with the McCloud remedy.<\/p>\n
Workers in the NHS, which employs about1.5 million people in England, have reported significant delays. The British Medical Association has warned the backlog has left many members with \u201cno knowledge of their pension-saving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More from this theme Recent articles Thousands of retired teachers and leaders potentially entitled to better pensions following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,44,4363,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-284094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-pensions","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n