All supply teachers must be given access to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme to avoid entering an ‘impoverished retirement’, the National Union of Teachers has warned.

Currently teachers employed by agencies or notionally self-employed are excluded by rule from the TPS, NUT general secretary Christine Blower said in a statement.

“This is a scandal and will lead to impoverished retirement for supply teachers […] Our demand is that all supply teachers are given access to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme,” Blower added.

In the same statement, Blower called for an urgent independent review of the teachers’ retirement age that takes into account the “demands of the job”.

“We call for an independent review of the appropriate retirement age for teachers that takes account of the demands of the job. The NUT does not think that most teachers can work at full efficiency to age 68 and beyond if the state pension age rises,” she said.

“The increase in pension contributions is due to the government’s decision to change the ‘discount rate’ applied to the TPS. Independent actuarial work shows that if the government had stuck to its 2006 deal with the NUT and others, both teachers and employers would be paying less.”

Today, the NUT Annual Conference voted to carry on with the Union’s campaign against the government’s pension reforms.

“We will not accept that teachers should pay more for their pensions, work longer and get less in retirement,” Blower said.

Share Story: