Schools Week has revealed<\/a> how some retired teachers have died before receiving their statements, while many others are in ill health.<\/p>\nAt the National Education Union\u2019s conference last month, Liverpool joint secretary Graham Copsey described the TPS as \u201ca mess\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not fit for purpose. It\u2019s failing teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beneath posts on TPS social media pages, dozens of frustrated former teachers beg for updates and describe the difficulties they are facing.<\/p>\n
Katina McCormick retired in 2018 and has been waiting three years for her RSS.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just horrendous,\u201d she told Schools Week. \u201cI get days where it really won\u2019t go out of my head. I don\u2019t want to be one of those that dies before I get it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s \u00a31,000 or whatever, I need it and I\u2019m entitled to it. I\u2019m not in the best of health. I don\u2019t need the stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Union demands action on pensions<\/p>\n
Kate Atkinson, the national secretary for the school leaders\u2019 union NAHT, called on the DfE and Capita to \u201ctake urgent, transparent action\u201d to clear the backlog.<\/p>\n
\u201cThousands of dedicated professionals, who have spent their lives shaping the future of our children, are now being left in financial limbo at the very moment they should be able to plan their retirement or financial futures with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said members who contacted\u00a0 TPS reported \u201cwaiting for hours on the phone, or weeks for email responses and \u2026 often don\u2019t get the help they need\u201d.<\/p>\n
She had tried to contact TPS herself. \u201cYou are number 48 in the queue, then you get cut off before you get through. It is so frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atkinson said the DfE, as manager of the scheme, \u201cmust step in\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeachers deserve a pension system that works \u2013 and right now, it isn\u2019t working.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are urging the government to act now. These issues are causing real harm to real people \u2013 and they will not be solved by waiting and hoping for improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other pensions affected<\/p>\n
The delays to teachers\u2019 pensions statements can have huge ramifications for other elements of members\u2019 finances \u2013 and other pension schemes.<\/p>\n
Pank Patel, the former regional schools commissioner for the West Midlands, told Schools Week the issue with teachers\u2019 pensions meant he was unable to access his civil servant\u2019s pension.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Pank-Patel-cutourt-400x332.jpg\" "\\"PankPatelcutourt")
Pank Patel<\/p>\n
Having also served as a headteacher and academy leader, he retired five years ago and has been drawing his teacher\u2019s pension.<\/p>\n
Now 60, he wants to access his civil service pension. But he must first obtain a transitional tax-free amount certificate (TTFAC) from the TPS, which cannot be issued until he has received and returned his RSS.<\/p>\n
Patel applied for his TTFAC in December and has since contacted the TPS and DfE repeatedly asking for a timeframe, but none has been given.<\/p>\n
He said he wants to access his lump sum so he can help his daughter get on the property ladder and ease his son\u2019s \u201ccrippling\u201d student loan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would desperately like to help our children, but we just can\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the one pot of money I had set aside to access at 60, and I can\u2019t have it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Stress and anxiety\u2019<\/p>\n
Patel has complained repeatedly, but has been left deeply frustrated by a lack of firm answers or timeframe for responses.<\/p>\n
He eventually received a response from the education secretary after his MP contacted her, but was disappointed by its contents.<\/p>\n
Bridget Phillipson\u2019s response, dated March 18, said: \u201cUnfortunately, I cannot provide a timescale for when your constituent\u2019s RSS and therefore when his TTFAC will be issued. However I can assure you that my officials have raised Mr Patel\u2019s case with TP and are working to get this issued to him as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Capita is understood to be reviewing Patel\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
He said a lack of any timeframe has \u201ccaused a lot of stress and anxiety\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a pension that is just sitting there and I can\u2019t access a single penny of it. I\u2019ve hit a complete block.\u201d<\/p>\n
No deadline in sight<\/p>\n
Schools Week previously revealed that as of last March, 77,600 retired teachers had not yet received their McCloud remedy statements. Nearly 6,000 had died without receiving their payment.<\/p>\n
A further FOI revealed that as of mid-November, 69,700 were still waiting. This means that between March and November, cases had been settled at a rate of 987 a month.<\/p>\n
Clearing the backlog will not finish until September 2031 if progress continues at that rate.<\/p>\n
To add to the chaos, the handover of the \u00a3233 million TPS contract from Capita to new provider Tata Consultancy Services, due to take place last October, has been delayed twice.<\/p>\n
A new government contract<\/a> shows the DfE is set to pay the professional services network PwC \u00a3260,000 plus VAT to \u201csupport the safe and effective transition\u201d of TPS administration.<\/p>\nGould told Schools Week the DfE was \u201creally determined to get [the transition] right\u201d. \u201cWe need to be absolutely assured that there is going to be no issues for teachers, so we will take that very carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
PwC is to provide \u201cindependent transition assurance and contingency planning support\u201d for the TPS transition.<\/p>\n
Its contract will run from April until the end of October, but may be extended until the end of January.<\/p>\n
\u2018Delivery is being phased\u2019<\/p>\n
A Department for Education spokesperson said: \u201cWe understand and recognise the disruption that delays have caused for some teachers\u201d.<\/p>\n
The McCloud remedy was \u201cone of the most significant changes to public service pensions in recent years, and delivery is being phased to ensure accuracy and fairness for members due to a complex process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect administrators to handle member queries and payments as quickly as possible, and we are working closely with the scheme administrator to monitor performance and address any emerging issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
They added that Capita \u201chad been implementing an IT development to reduce processing times on these cases, but unfortunately it has not produced the intended results\u201d. They gave no further details.<\/p>\n
Capita apologised for the \u201cinconvenience and stress\u201d the RSS delays had caused, adding: \u201cWe continue to work closely with the DfE to ensure cases are progressed correctly and in line with scheme rules\u201d.<\/p>\n
But it did not respond to questions about any timeframe.<\/p>\n
Capita said the McCloud remedy us \u201ca complex\u201d programme. Issuing RSS \u201cis therefore being carried out in stages due to the complexity of the remedy and the volume of affected members and is being delivered in line with agreed plans\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delays in the administration of teachers\u2019 pensions are \u201cunacceptable\u201d, the schools minister has said, as a union called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,253757,474,12,2499,7920,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-901105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-dfe","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-teacher-pay","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116421325560736491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Georgia-Gould-not-smiling-inset-1920px-670x447.jpg\" "\\"GeorgiaGouldnotsmilinginset1920px")
Georgia Gould<\/p>\n