Transfer of teachers’ pensions administration to Tata Consultancy Services
The administration of the Teachers' Pension Scheme will transition from Capita to Tata Consultancy Services on 1 November 2026.
The change in the Scheme administrator will have no impact on your TPS pension benefits or entitlements. There will be further updates as the transition date approaches. The NEU envisages a small crossover period where you will not be able to access your pension records on ‘MyPensionOnline’ but this will not affect the underlying pension.
We have been informed that 2025-26 Benefit Statements will not be available in their current format after the transfer. To ensure you have everything you need for your personal records, we recommend downloading copies of your previous Statements, including your 2025/26 Statement, before the transition.
Members can still generate a Benefit Statement on demand, and all future year-end statements will be available through the new member portal.
Teachers’ Pension Scheme Valuation 2024
The Teachers’ Pension Scheme Valuation 2024 has been published. The employer contribution rate will fall from the current 28.6 per cent to 17.6 per cent in April 2027 (excluding the administration levy). This does not affect the benefits that members are building up in the scheme and past entitlements remain unaltered.
Check your pension records
The NEU receives many reports of pension records being incorrect. The growing fragmentation of the school system means a growing number of small employers, and more changes of employer for teachers over their careers. These are perfect conditions for mistakes to be made.
Members should sign up with the Teachers’ Pension Scheme’s ‘MyPensionOnline’ service to check that their pension is correct. Teachers can register at www.teacherspensions.co.uk and will need their National Insurance number and an email address.
All members should check their salary details and that their contract and days out of service are correct. It is much simpler to deal with errors as they arise rather than shortly before retirement. It is therefore important to keep payslips and other salary records (like P60s).
The NEU recommends that you check your pension records and pension data at least once a term. You should raise any issues with your pension records immediately with Teachers’ Pensions.
Increase in minimum age at which private pension rights can be accessed
The ‘normal minimum pension age’ (the minimum age at which private pension rights can be taken) is set to increase from 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028. This is an overriding legislative change from the Government intended to link the age at which people can take private pension rights to the state pension age (which will be 67 from 6 April 2028 under current legislation).
However, there are exceptions which allow some groups to keep a ‘protected pension age’ at 55. It has been confirmed that TPS members with service in the final salary and/or career average scheme up to 3 November 2021 will retain the right to take Early (actuarially adjusted) Retirement or Phased Retirement from age 55. Members who joined the career average scheme for the first time after 3 November 2021 will have a Normal Minimum Pension Age of 57.
Increase in state pension age
The state pension age has begun increasing from April 2026. The Pensions Act 2014 brought forward the timetable for increasing the state pension age from 66 to 67. This will now occur between 2026 and 2028 for men and women according to the following timetable:
| Date of Birth | Date State Pension Age reached |
| 6 April 1960 – 5 May 1960 | 66 Years 1 Month |
| 6 May 1960 – 5 June 1960 | 66 Years 2 Months |
| 6 June 1960 – 5 July 1960 | 66 Years 3 Months |
| 6 July 1960 – 5 August 1960 | 66 Years 4 Months |
| 6 August 1960 – 5 September 1960 | 66 Years 5 Months |
| 6 September 1960 – 5 October 1960 | 66 Years 6 Months |
| 6 October 1960 – 5 November 1960 | 66 Years 7 Months |
| 6 November 1960 – 5 December 1960 | 66 Years 8 Months |
| 6 December 1960 – 5 January 1961 | 66 Years 9 Months |
| 6 January 1961 – 5 February 1961 | 66 Years 10 Months |
| 6 February 1961 – 5 March 1961 | 66 Years 11 Months |
| 6 March 1961 – 5 April 1977 | Your 67th birthday |
From April 2028, the state pension age will be 67, with the current legislative timetable for the increase to 68 being between 2044 and 2046. Members can check their state pension age.
Teachers’ Pension Scheme : Summary of age discrimination cases (McCloud)
Transitional protections meant older members of the TPS remained in the Final Salary Scheme or delayed joining the Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme, whereas younger members were immediately transferred into the CARE Scheme as soon as it was implemented in April 2015. The Courts determined in the ‘McCloud’ judgement that this was discriminatory against younger members and ordered the government to rectify the situation.
Eligible scheme members will choose between final salary or career average scheme benefits for the period 2015 to 2022 when they take benefits from the scheme – getting the better of the two schemes. The choice will for most people be made at the point of retirement. Members can find out whether they are affected through a handy decision tree on the Teachers’ Pension Scheme website.
Compensation arrangements for members in the Local Government Pension Scheme will be slightly different. All LGPS members joined the career average scheme in 2014, but some older members had the benefit of a final salary ‘underpin ’, meaning they would not get less than they would have received if they’d stayed in the previous final salary scheme. This underpin will now be extended to all members until 31 March 2022.
McCloud – Remediable service statements
Retired members and others who have taken benefits from the TPS either have or will be able to choose final salary or career average benefits for the April 2015 to March 2022 period.
The Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022 provided that members should receive a ‘Remediable Service Statement’ (RSS). The RSS includes details of remedy period benefits calculated under final salary and career average rules to allow members to make an informed choice. Due to the additional complexity of the remedy as technical and legal issues arose, far fewer RSSs could be automated than the public service pension schemes anticipated. The NEU’s understanding is that around half of the RSSs for retired members are still outstanding. The backlog is being cleared (slowly), but this is due to the need for manual processing.
In many cases, especially for those members who retired with a normal pension age of 60 on full protection, members will not gain from the RSS process. They will have retired with final salary benefits and will choose final salary benefits when they receive their RSS.
Eligible retired members will have 12 months from the date of issue to confirm their decision between final salary and career average benefits for the 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022 period. If they do not make a decision, the regulations allow the scheme manager to ‘deem’ an election for career average benefits if that would have a higher monetary value; otherwise, final salary benefits will be paid.
Active members must subsequently receive an RSS every year. Deferred members can request an RSS each year. When members apply for retirement benefits, they will receive an RSS which includes their final benefit calculations. If no choice is made, then the pension cannot be processed. A member can change their choice at any point before their application for retirement benefits has been processed.
Cash Equivalent Transfer Values (CETVs)
The NEU is aware of the continuing issues with the TPS providing CETVs. The latest delay stems from the change in the ‘discount rate’ on 19th May, which led to an embargo on processing CETV cases.
Guidance has been received from the Government Actuary’s Department, which has lifted the embargo, and these cases are now being processed. The NEU has been highlighting the disruption and inconvenience to members to the DfE and Teachers’ Pensions and has stressed (repeatedly) the importance of accurate communication.
