Final salary pension
Information about the final salary section of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), including how to find out if you are in this TPS section.
Advice and guidance about pensions including information on the latest pension updates (including the 2019 salary band contribution changes), pensions advice and key documents.
You can also browse the A-Z of our advice and guidance including all our advice on pensions, or take a look at the top five questions asked by members to our Advice Line.
Pensions update
Salary band contribution changes
From 1 April 2019 the contribution bands for employee pension contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme are rising by 2.4 per cent. This is in line with the September 2018 increase in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).
This increase only affects the contribution bands. The contribution rates remain the same. The increase applies to members in the Career Average section and the Final Salary sections of the scheme. The contribution structure is based on the teacher’s actual salary rather than the full-time equivalent salary
The tiered contribution rates for the TPS from 1 April 2019 are as follows:
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Indexation of TPS career average pensions
The Government has confirmed that career average pension rights for members in teaching will be increased by 4 per cent in April 2019.
Members with deferred pensions will have their career average pension rights increased by 2.4 per cent in April 2019.
Most teachers are in the career average section of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. Their pension is being built up at 1/57 of their pensionable earnings each year. These pension rights are then increased each year until retirement at CPI inflation + 1.6 per cent for teachers who stay in teaching, and at CPI inflation only for those who leave the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
The increase is based on the CPI figure from September 2018, which was 2.4 per cent.
Read the full latest summer term pensions update.
Court of Appeal decision on age discrimination in relation to transitional protection provisions in the Judges and Firefighters’ pension schemes.
The Government has now paused the actuarial valuation of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme following its defeat at the Court of Appeal. Employer pension contributions are still set to rise from 16.4 per cent to 23.6 per cent from September 2019, but planned improvements to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme are on hold. The NEU continues to monitor the situation but believes the improvements should have been implemented from 1 April 2019.
NEU consultation response : funding increases to teachers' pensions employer contributions
Employer pension contributions are set to rise from 16.4 per cent to 23.6 per cent in September 2019. The Department for Education has been running a consultation on whether this increase should be funded by Government for the period September 2019 to April 2020 for certain sectors. The NEU's response, is arguing this should be done. Independent schools and the post-1992 universities are not within the scope of this consultation and will face serious pressures as a result.
Pensions advice
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Advice
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Advice 
Pension increase 2019
The Government has published the proposed increases in teachers’ pensions with effect from 8 April 2019.
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Advice 
State pension
Information about the single-tier state pension and changes to the state retirement age.