Glad you like them!

Thank you and good luck with your plans.

It has to be the employer from the time and I can see that is going to be confusing. Possibly get your National Insurance record from HMRC as that has an employer reference number that determines who was responsible for your payroll. Ask the union for help as well. On my TPS record it shows the change of employer from my LA to the academy very clearly and that would be who I would seek to get it sorted. Problem though is that the LA would probably want the school to confirm the error.

@@dfountain thank you so much

The blue rows are "summary" rows but the way they were introduced was a little piecemeal and as such you can have a "summary" of just a single row at times. The concept, and what is mostly happening now, is that you get a new row (grey) for each separate month. This makes it easier to match up the values with your monthly pay slips and therefore be able to identify errors sooner. Then a summary row will span several months, or even a full year. However, when it was introduced the requirement to submit monthly data returns was optional. So you have many rows with no summary, early in your career, and then it is possible to have a variety of summary lengths.

Opting out for a month locks in the best 3 years that are in effect at the point she, temporarily, leaves the scheme. Though as she has had previous breaks in service then it's worth taking a much closer look to check what is happening with those breaks - it is possible to really mess it up if you are not careful. (The difference between the unrestricted and restricted hypothetical can swing on a single penny!) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qax3fcWe2bO1eIU.html Almost all teachers who intend working full time beyond 60 would be better off, financially, arranging a break in contracts with their employers just before they get to that birthday and applying for their pensions to start "early" on the date between contracts. This removes the problems associated with abatement (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kKhlfrOKktTSgas.html ). The CA pension I will disagree with you on, whilst it may have been slammed as being "average" it is still a great scheme and, by my calculations better than opting out and paying into a private pension - certainly if the employer is not going to make any contribution towards it: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/obCghpaduJnMYWQ.html

@@dfountain Many thanks for the excellent information, appreciate it.We will look at the info asap. I might have crossed wires on the Career Average point, I also think it's a better and simpler plan but in my wife's case it is rubbish as the pot of money in the CA (NPA67) compared to the final salary 1/80 scheme (NPA60) is about 1/18 the value of the pot in her case (part time supply work we guess). BTW You make a very important point on checking the data, about 8 years ago we noticed some missing days due to the fact she is a supply teacher, it took a year to sort out but ended up with having 6 years added to the pensionable service record due to miss reporting of the days she actually did..thank goodness.

There is no pension fund amount. The TPS is what is called an "unfunded" scheme. The contributions teachers pay go to the Treasury who then pay out the pensions, if the contributions paid by current teachers are less than the amount paid out then the Treasury pays the extra needed, if the contributions paid exceed the amount paid out then the Treasury keep the extra.

@@dfountain Thanks for your answer. In my case I'd like to transfer my funds to another provider, how do I know how much contributions have been paid to date that I can transfer?

Certainly on my radar once they start producing the "Remediable Service Statements", but the current, new, "Rollback" statements follow the same structure as the previous ones that I cover here.

Yes. Deferred pension statements get updated later than active teachers whose statements are currently showing the inflation increase from last April and they will go up each month as another month of this year gets included - until April. Quite bemusing but if you look at your deferred statement today you will see the Annual Pension is only up to last April BUT the lump sum HAS been updated.

You are correct. I don't believe there has been much movement on this as yet - there is still a consultation required on how to handle certain aspects in the remedy, such as what options will be offered to those who purchased additional pension. The law as it stands sets an absolute final deadline though of October 2023.

OK. Starting in 2005 means you entered the pension scheme that had a "normal" pension age of 60 and because of this, when you left on 31 August your pension went into a "payment mode" on 1 September. This happens to someone who is over 60 when they next leave the scheme. You should not have a "re-employed" designation until you return to employment...that is unless you have PREVIOUSLY left the scheme! (If you have had a gap in employment or opted out of the pension scheme since you turned 60 then your pension has been in "payment mode" since then!) Once your pension goes into this payment phase the benefit statement disappears because it is no longer relevant. the statement is an ESTIMATE of what you would get and because yours has (or should have been) calculated already there is no longer the need for such an estimate. The form you should have filled in to start the pension being paid out to you is the "normal age" retirement form for JUST the final salary pension.

@@dfountain Thank you for your speedy response. What you have explained makes a lot of sense, and you are correct - I should not have a re-employed because I always stayed in the scheme. I had no gap in employment or opted out of the pension scheme! Do you know who I should contact at Teachers Pension?

@@mariathomas6324 If you haven't done so already they you should complete the NORMAL AGE retirement claim form for your final salary pension. Telephone them and ask them to check when you "left" the scheme. This is key to ensuring you get paid the benefits of your pension, if you are still employed and have had no break then the chances are your school has NOT submitted the data saying that you have left their employment.

Yes. The "service" history includes both final salary and career average service and so can be up to 7 years different. If you have worked part-time then your time served will also be less. If you worked 10 years on a 0.8 contract it will only credit you with 8 years to ensure you get the correct fraction of the pension. The blue section covers a wider service range, i.e. several months. The exact dates depend on your school's own internal accounting periods so can vary from school to school. The white sections are then the individual months within that range.

I'm afraid you may well be on a downward path and so should look at this with some urgency. Already, because we are in September now, your 10 year history will NO LONGER start from 01/09/2012 and so it could well be that your Method B is now 01/10/2012 to 30/09/2017...once we get into October it will then have moved another month...and so on. If you want to get in touch via my blog I can look through your figures with you and show you what is happening. dfountain.co.uk

They are only as good as the underlying data, so first thing to check is that the dates and salary figures for your employment have been recorded correctly. Note the annual salary is the "gull time" salary point and not the 0.8 amount you were paid for any part time period. Your "final average salary" could easily be well in excess of any amount you were ever paid for two reasons. 1) Inflation 2) Full time figures Inflation is added to each of the salaries from the last ten years and with pay erosion going back more than a decade this can easily result in a final salary that is more than 10% higher than anything you ever were paid. Full time figures. Part-time work is accounted for by adjusting the number of days/years that are used in the calculation. If they then also used the part-time salary such work would be cut twice and you'd get far less than you deserved.

Thank you for your quick and detailed reply David. That last point about halving the part-time salary puzzles me, would that be an error on the part of TP or can they do this? . I will look at the figures using a pdf as you suggest,however , I am not confident about my understanding of the figures enough to know if they have halved the part time salary (0.8) previously I was on a 0.5 for a few years. I am in the process of getting a financial advisor so they may be able to look at this. I’m at a University making redundancies at the moment so there’s some urgency in attempting to understand several aspects of the scheme.

@@fanthome46If you are happy to send me your statement I can check them with you. dave@dfountain.co.uk (note the d after the @) Part time figures. Compare two teachers, on the same scale that would pay full timers £40k but where one of them is full time and one is 0.8. They both worked 5 calendar years from 2005 to 2010. The full time teacher would be credited with 5 "service years" but the part-time teacher would get 0.8 x 5 years which is 4 "service years". The pension calculation is "service years" divided by 80 multiplied by their final salary (assume £40k for this). Full time pension: 5 / 80 x £40k = £2,500 0.8 p/t pension 4 / 80 x £40k = £2,000 This is correct because the 0.8 part-timer's pension is 80% of that of the full timer and so matches the contractual employment rates. If they had used the part-time teacher's salary, 0.8 of £40k as well the calculation would have been: 4/ 80 x £32k = £1,600 That is 64% of the full timer's pension because the part timer has been doubly penalised in the calculation, with 80% of the service time AND 80% of the salary. Handling the part-time figures by altering the amount of "service" has to be the way this is done, otherwise the whole calculation would rely on just the salaries in the final years, and that would be a major problem for those coming to the end of their careers looking to drop a day or so. It also allows for a fair amount of pension for those who have a wide mixture of service employments, such as yourself. Example of mixed periods: 10 years full time, 5 years of 0.8 and 10 years of 0.5 - a calendar career of 25 years but the service "years" would be: 10 x 1 + 5 x 0.8 + 10 x 0.5 = 10 + 5 +5 = 20 "service years".

Thank you David, I’m very grateful for the offer to look over my statement. I will take you up on that while also trying to get to understand. Mathematics is not my subject. I’ll do so this afternoon. Best wishes.

It makes no difference really. You get the inflation figure in full just in two different bits and some of it will be added later because of when it gets confirmed. Inflation is added to the initial calculation based on the proportion of the year that has passed since April. Then the next April you get the remaining proportion of the year as an "annual" increase. The thing is that inflation is added from April to March but we don't get to know how much that will be until September's figure is confirmed. Whilst we are told what this will be in October it takes the Government until early in the next year to officially confirm it will be used. This means that if you take your pension in October the pension will be lower than it should be because the proper inflation increase for the initial calculation from April 2023 to October 2023 won't have been factored in. It probably won't be until March 2024 that it gets confirmed at which point you will get the backdated figures and a payment for what it should have been. Then, in April, your pension will get the annual increase using that same inflation figure, but only for the 5 months of the year that have passed since it started. The one thing it can make the difference to is the automatic lump sum and so if you are happy to wait until later for it then you can see what inflation is likely to be for this coming year and if the inflation figure is higher than your alternative investment plans for it then hanging on means your lump sum would benefit from the inflation percentage increase instead.

@@dfountain Thank you

If you are over the "normal pension age", then yes...however, you do have to claim your pension. It is not possible to ask for the lump sum on one day and your pension on another. For the NPA60 final salary scheme your pension (and lump sum) will be treated as being paid/started on the first day that you are both 60, or over, and out of the pension scheme. So, it is possible to do this just by opting out of the pension scheme on or after your 60th birthday. If you are under the normal pension age then you have to apply to take the pension "early" and the rules for this state that you cannot be employed in a TPS-eligible position on the day you want the pension to start. So, no, you cannot have the lump sum whilst STILL working, but you can return to work the day after you start receiving the pension.

@@dfountain Yes I am over the "normal pension age (64)" I have requested to work 3 days a week from September 2023. Will I need to take a day break and return to work after I receive my pension? I will be 65 on 13th October. Thank you.

@@mansukasu If you were in the NPA60 scheme then this pension is gaining NOTHING from being left - unless you are getting a super pay rise! (and even then as it would be limited to 10% I doubt it). If you have had a break from the pension scheme since your 60th birthday your final salary pension will already have entered its payment phase...just not being paid to you until you claim it. I would suggest you get in touch so we can go through your statement's figures to see when would be the best time to start taking it...you can start it just by opting out of the pension scheme for a month - no need to break your employment. My blog is at dfountain.co.uk

@@dfountain Hi David, I have just emailed you my benefit statement. Thank you for your time.

I've only seen 1 or 2 statements where additional pension has been bought and I delete statements pretty quickly after I've reviewed them with people so can't go back to see exactly how it is recorded but my recollection is that there is a summary in the "Summary of benefits" sections on page 2 and that there is a row or column added to the employment history depending on whether it is a lump sum payment or a monthly one.

@@dfountain an no probs, thanks for the reply. Assumed you had probably bought AP yourself as you were very positive about it in your vids. About to buy some monthly for 17 years.

@@alexreid You may want to hang on for a bit if you started in the TPS before March 2012 as there is going to be an opportunity for those affected by the McCloud judgement to buy AP in the legacy scheme. We don't have the details yet and I suspect there won't be much difference in the value but there could be and so it might be worth waiting to see if it could work in your favour. We didn't buy AP, though we did buy "additional years" before that opportunity was removed. We then took an alternative path and opened a private pension fund to run alongside our normal TP contributions with the aim of using it to cover the gap between 55 and 60. I explain that process here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/esuca5iDq8veYWg.html However, as I'm not a qualified financial adviser I cannot give you any idea as to what would be best of course!

@@dfountain Thanks, I started in 2005. I’ve been procrastinating on starting this AP as I kept thinking of different options over the last year but have used the summer break to get all the sums down on paper. How long are you suggesting it may take to wait for for that new info to come through? Worth it for those 7 years between 2005 and 2012? Just thinking if I waited another year the monthly payments will prob rise again

I explain this at 10:15 onwards. The final salary pension involves multiplying the "final salary" by how many "years" service have been completed. The years is worked out in days...365 days = 1 year and 366 days will equal 1.0027 years etc. Reckonable service is how many "days" get added to your "years" of service. For most full time teachers it will be the same as the qualifying days - though if you take an unpaid day out for strike action or for some other reason then it will be that many days less. The main reason it will be different is during any period of part time work as this is how the scheme ensures that a part-time teacher gets the correct proportion of pension compared to how much they worked. A 0.5 contract for instance does half the number of days and so gets half the pension credit for that period. So, for example, in September when there are 30 days a full time teacher will get 30 "reckonable days" whereas a 0.5 teacher will get 15 "reckonable days".

@@dfountain makes perfect sense, so this would not apply to those in career average. Thanks David.

@@spencerosei2616 No, but bear in mind that if they were in the TPS prior to 2012 then their service up to 31 March 2022 *could* be returned to the final salary scheme under the McCloud judgement.

@@dfountain The plot thickens.

It is income and is taxed in much the same way as other income is taxed. Your total income in a year is the basis for "income tax", so if you have no other income then you get the first £12,570 tax free and then the rest up to £50,270 is taxed at 20%. If you have another income then you get to choose which gives you that £12,570 tax free bit - you can get HMRC to split your personal allowance if neither of your income sources pay over £12,570.