Teaching assistant pension, how long?

ANNIEHAHA

May sound silly but is there a minimum number of years you have to work as a TA to get a minimum or decent pension?

Is it the more years the better or dependant on retirement age or both?

I know about the likely changes but any info would be appreciated

I only ask because a teacher was saying she had to work x amount of years to get her pension, didn't know if this is based on the amount (?)

pleasedelete

It is a local government pension different from a teachers pension.

Usually 40 years for a full pension. Depending on your current age and how long been in scheme you can access it between 60 and 66. If you do less than 40 years you get less pension.

ANNIEHAHA

I started when I was 31 so 71 years old for me, probably the age of retirement then (only 34 now)

atush

Basically every year you have the pension, the better off you will be. It won't matter if you retire before 40 yrs, you will still get a good defined benefit pension. Things may change now and in future, but your entitlement will be at the rate you gained it, ie they can't take things off you once they have been accrued. So you have 3 years accrued now, and no one can take them off you. Each year you work is 'banked'

But you can ask your human resources person who to contact for details of your own plan. What is the minimum? Minimum I assume will be the pension one would get if they paid in the min no of years. 1? 2? Defintely by 3 which is one you have. And this will be worth something even if you left now, and weill be worth a heck of a lot more if you work for another.

Decent. Well this is subjective. What is decent to you? a certain amt per year? Subtract your expected State pension from an amt you want to live on once you retire. That will be your 'decent'. everyone's Decent is different.

but I guarantee you, what you will get with 33-37 years in your current job will be more than decent compared with private pensions. And will be 82-92% of the full pension you may have gotten if you had done 40 years.

pleasedelete

Then you will retire at about 66 and would have 35 of the 40 years and so 7/8ths of a full pension. There will be a choice about whether you take some as a lump sum and have less pension. It is actually worked out on 80ths but based on 40 years.

Not neccesarily true that public sector pensions are best. I have 3. 1 teachers, 1 local gvt and one private employer. I paid least into the private employer one as it had the lowest contributions (only 5 per cent) and based on the number of years in each has the best return for each year in it.

CLAPTON

maybe consider reading a guide to your pension and the benefits

freely available and easy to read.