Check Your TPS Pension (More Maladministration at Teachers Pension Scheme)

IveBeenConned_3

If you are currently in receipt of a TPS pension, I would strongly advise you to check your most recent payslips. There is a big bug in their system meaning they have cocked-up how they've applied the latest Index-linked increase. In my case, their error has cost me over £15,000 pa, yet nobody at TPS is prepared to help fix the problem or even admit that there is a problem. They will not communicate (in my case, 20 days and still waiting for a response).

Most recent TPS pensions are made up of both the Final Salary component (A) and the Career Average component (B), so the Total Annual Pension = A + B (simples!).

However, the TPS error now means that they have set the Annual Pension at just the Career Average Component (Total = B). In my case, my pension has just been cut from £20K to £4,750 pa due to their complete incompetence and maladministration. As a result, my June Gross Pay was £0.00!!!! 30 Years of paying into TPS for Nothing!

These clowns should all be sacked and should not be administering a Pension Scheme for 2 Million people.

CHECK YOUR PAYSLIPS!!

Universidad

I have little doubt that the administration of TPS is poor at the moment.

But this doesn't sound like the kind of widespread mistake that's happening for everyone. I would expect this is affecting a small number of people, or even just you.

The good news is that those numbers are so starkly different that it will be obvious something is amiss the first pass someone sensible is assigned it.

My recommendation would be to escalate this as a formal complaint ASAP as their complaints process is likely to process it more rapidly and is a necessary first step towards escalating it further in the unlikely event that you need to do that.

Marcon

In my case, their error has cost me over £15,000 pa, yet nobody at TPS is prepared to help fix the problem or even admit that there is a problem. They will not communicate (in my case, 20 days and still waiting for a response).

It will only have 'cost you over £15K pa' if you've not noticed anything wrong for the last year! Otherwise you've been underpaid by around £1,000 (net) for a month - something which will be remedied in due course, so suggesting it will 'cost' you anything is misguided. If you do have any real costs (eg bank fees because you are forced into overdraft), then keep a note because you will normally be able to seek reimbursement of actual financial losses which stem directly from a scheme's maladministration.

To say the scheme 'won't communicate' underestimates how long normal reply times are for most of the big public sector schemes.

My recommendation would be to escalate this as a formal complaint ASAP as their complaints process is likely to process it more rapidly and is a necessary first step towards escalating it further in the unlikely event that you need to do that.

Completely agree with this. I'd head straight for the scheme's IDRP: https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/public/contact-us/member-complaints-and-appeals.aspx

Just to add - in your shoes I too would be utterly exasperated!

horsewithnoname

at least capita don’t administer it. 😬

eastcorkram

I mentioned this to my Mrs . She checked hers and all is as it should be.

kpk2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82084719#Comment_82084719

they do currently I believe and will swap over to Tata at some point in the near future (already delayed though so more admin errors inbound!)

horsewithnoname

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085680#Comment_82085680

oh dear. Thoughts and prayers then 🥺

Ibrahim5

Sounds like they're having issues with the gold plate at the moment.

Organgrinder

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82088316#Comment_82088316

As a teacher who used to earn significantly more in industry I find this comment a little annoying to be honest.

If you view a pension as part of the overall package of employment as opposed to a bolt on relative to the salary I think you'll find it makes the overall package competitive compared to other professions.

Without this teacher salaries generally rank lower than the median earnings of other graduate-level professions, sitting near the bottom of professional group comparisons. While basic starting pay often compares decently against the wider national average workforce, it falls significantly behind specialized graduate careers like law, finance, engineering, and medicine. The pension therefore becomes an important factor in looking at how attractive the profession is from a financial perspective.