Teaching Pension

garry_s

I was only looking for some help and thanks to those who did try! A special thanks to Janxp who came to my rescue!

Hopefully the Scottish Teachers Pension scheme will explain to me (in the next six weeks)why I have 3 pensions,what happened to my private pension in 1988 and the authorities that accounted for my service!

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

xylophone

Hopefully the Scottish Teachers Pension scheme will explain to me (in the next six weeks)why I have 3 pensions,what happened to my private pension in 1988 and the authorities that accounted for my service!

Come back and reveal all!

mgdavid

Janxp wrote: »

Your replies are coming across very patronising - this person is only asking for help, if he doesn’t understand what people are asking then it is not your place to make judgement. One might hope a member of forums should be kinder and give helpful responses rather than very patronising and unnecessary rude replies. If you can’t help or feel as if your message isn’t getting across - just exit the forum and don’t leave such replies which can insult someone. Thanks very much but I think everyone can see your specific help isn’t needed.

I think if yoiu re-read the whole thread from post #1 you may see that several people asked questions in order to get a clear picture and provide help but all we got in response was vague half-answers and more contradictory information. Requests for clarification were met similarly.

jem16

Ok as a retired Scottish teacher I will give this a go.

garry_s wrote: »

Once again - started in 76 -left in 1985 and restarted in 1988.

As there was less than 5 years from leaving and restarting you would normally just rejoin the scheme. You would not start another pension.

I know this to be the case as I left in 1984 and restarted in 1989.

Retired in 2013

So in 2013 you would have received your pension which would have seen 34 years of service. You would also have some extra Service years added to account for the pension you transferred in.

At the point of retiring you would have received your pension claim paperwork which detailed length of service and pension to be paid along with lump sum. As it sounds like you weren’t quite 60 there would have been a reduction too and it would be detailed.

What did it say?

and started again in 2015. Collected my pension in 2013 and collected another two in 2016.

Ok. The pension from 2013 should have contained all of your service and all paid at once.

What are the other 2 that you collected?

Will be collecting another two in 2018.

I think what you are saying is that you’re working for two different authorities but both in Scotland. You won’t have two separate pensions though as the Teachers’ scheme doesn’t work like that as you’ve been told earlier. Your contributions will be collected by each authority and then sent to the SPPA where it is simply one pension.

One question - you say it’s too low. What is your actual pension?

jem16

hyubh wrote: »

Unfunded public sector schemes like the TPS/STSS only had to provide annual benefit statements from a few years ago - even other DB schemes (LGPS, private sector) only had to do so from 2005, for the 2004/5 financial year. So, to be honest, I'm a bit confused at this memory. (PS - annual benefit statements are different things to deferred benefit statements/statements of preserved benefits - the latter would have been produced all along, after the member left.)

His memory is correct as far as that’s concerned. I have statements from the 80s and 90s. We always got them and delivered directly to the schools via internal mail.

jem16

garry_s wrote: »

When I retired I claimed my pension.

Yes the main one with 34 years Service plus the amount of service your private pension transfer bought you.

How much is that paying you?

However I found a job with two authorities and started to contribute to a new pension scheme (CARE).

Ok if it was after April 2015 then it would have been the CARE scheme.

I wondered why I was contributing to a new pension and was told that I could stop and take out the two of these as pensions - hence three pensions.

It was a new pension scheme by then and you had already taken the previous one. However it wasn’t 2 pensions - it was one total pension containing the service from both authorities.

However if you were still continuing to work why would you take them as pensions. Why not just continue building up the service till you finally stopped working?

I am now working for two authorities and contributing again! Hence I need to take these out - pensions 4 and 5. Don't ask I don't know why!

Again they are not 2 separate pensions as they will be paid as one by the SPPA.

So basically you have one main final salary pension which should contain the extra service element from your transferred in pension.

You have one CARE pension already which for some reason you took even though still working.

You have another CARE pension which you are about to take.

That is basically 3 pensions and not 5.

hyubh

jem16 wrote: »

His memory is correct as far as that’s concerned. I have statements from the 80s and 90s. We always got them and delivered directly to the schools via internal mail.

OK, I stand corrected! Makes this a bit ironic...

'The Pensions Regulator issued the Scottish Teachers’ Pension Scheme 2015 with an improvement notice earlier this year, following the scheme’s failure to provide benefit information statements to around 14,000 members.

This is the first time the watchdog has issued an improvement notice to a public service pension scheme, according to a regulatory intervention report published this month.'

http://www.pensions-expert.com/Law-Regulation/Regulator-issues-Scottish-teachers-scheme-with-improvement-notice

Out of curiosity, who did the admin work 'back in the day' - was it like in England pre-Capita, with the local authority doing a large part of it, or has SPPA always been around...?

xylophone

So basically you have one main final salary pension which should contain the extra service element from your transferred in pension.

You have one CARE pension already which for some reason you took even though still working.

You have another CARE pension which you are about to take.

That is basically 3 pensions and not 5.

I have tried to clarify this - see previous posts.

He seems to be saying that he currently receives three pensions...... see post 38 and 39?

Unless what he actually means is that he is receiving the FS (age 60 NRA) (which includes - he thinks- the transferred in PP) and a CARE pension (one payment but arising from service in two boroughs)?

jem16

hyubh wrote: »

Out of curiosity, who did the admin work 'back in the day' - was it like in England pre-Capita, with the local authority doing a large part of it, or has SPPA always been around...?

It used to be handled by the Scottish Office Superannuation Division based in Edinburgh.

In 1993 it became the Scottish Office Pensions Agency and after devolution in 1997 it became the SPPA. In 2001 it moved from Edinburgh to Galashiels where it still remains.

jem16

xylophone wrote: »

I have tried to clarify this - see previous posts.

Yes I've noticed you've all tried to clarify things with him with not a great deal of success. I think that's down to his not understanding how it all works.

He seems to be saying that he currently receives three pensions...... see post 38 and 39?

Yes I read that too.

Unless what he actually means is that he is receiving the FS (age 60 NRA) (which includes - he thinks- the transferred in PP) and a CARE pension (one payment but arising from service in two boroughs)?

My understanding of the whole situation, having dealt with them for 37 years, is exactly what you've said above.

His service from 1976 to 2013 will all have been paid in one even with the break from 1985 to 1988. His transferred in pension will simply have bought years plus days and will have been added onto the total service and the pension then calculated. Although it was made up of 2 separate pension inputs, it will not be being paid as 3 separate pensions.

His 2nd pension will be the CARE pension, which for some unknown reason, he took part of in 2016 even though he seems to still have been working.

In 2018 now that he's retiring again he will take the remainder of his CARE pension.