Leaflet: Part-time Employment
March 2008
Part-time service can have a significant effect on your retirement benefits. The information in this leaflet is to help you understand the effects and responsibilities that apply to you and your employer.
Introduction
- Part-time service will only count towards your benefits if it is pensionable, i.e. you are paying pension contributions.
- When calculating benefits there are two aspects that may be affected by part-time employment: your reckonable service and your average salary.
Pensionable/not pensionable
- If you began part-time employment on or after 1 January 2007 your service will automatically be pensionable unless:
a) You opt out of the scheme by completing the OPT OUT form, which you may be able to complete and submit online via My Pension Online (our secure website);
b) You have previously opted out of the scheme;
c) You are employed in a full time teaching post concurrently, in which case part-time service cannot be pensionable see ”Concurrent part-time service”. - If you are continuing in a parttime post that began prior to 1 January 2007 the service will only be pensionable if:
a) You elect/have elected for it to be so;
b) Your contract changes on or after 1 January 2007 (in which case it should be treated as pensionable from the date of the change unless you then opt out);
c) You take up another part-time post after 1 January 2007 (in which case both posts become pensionable from the date you take up the new one unless you opt out). - You should confirm your pension arrangements with your employer whenever your contract changes or you take up a new post and let them know whether you wish to be a member of the scheme or not.
- If you are not eligible to be an automatic member of the scheme and you wish to join the scheme you need to elect to do so.
- If you are eligible to be an automatic member but do not wish to be in the scheme then
you have to elect to opt out.
Electing to join/opting out
- In order to join the scheme, if your service is not automatically pensionable, you need to complete the MEMELECT form.
- In order to opt out of the scheme and not contribute to it you need to complete the OPT OUT form, which you may be able to complete and submit online via My Pension Online (our secure website).
- Both forms can be found under Forms and Resources on our website;
- Both elections are normally effective from the first day of the month after the date you sign
them. - Backdating of your election can only be considered in very limited circumstances.
- An opting out election will automatically be backdated to the date of your latest appointment if it is signed within 3 months of that date.
- Please note that both elections cover all relevant subsequent employment with all employers and it is your responsibility to make new employers aware of the provisions you have in place. If you are a participating scheme member it is in your own interest to ensure that deduction of pension contributions appears on your payslip from your employer. Similarly, if you have opted out you should ensure that contributions are not being deducted.
Benefits of being in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme as a part-time member
- As a part-time member you enjoy the same scheme facilities as a full-time member;
a) You accrue additional reckonable service (proportionately) to be used in the calculation of benefits, including any potential children’s, partner’s or spouse’s short and long term pensions.
b) All periods of reckonable service, both full and parttime, are added together when calculating any benefits which may become due.
c) If you die in service a death grant of 3 times the average salary is payable, ie the same as a full-time member, unless your employment is deemed to be an irregular post see “Average Salary”.
d) The average salary uses full time equivalent salary rates.
Reckonable Service
- The amount of reckonable service credited to a member in respect of any period of eligible part-time service is calculated by comparing the amount of salary received in the period with the corresponding annual full time rate of salary as follows:-
__Salary paid X 365__ |
= Days of reckonable service |
The remainder of a full-time post “not worked” is shown on your record as days out.
Back to the topAverage Salary
- The average salary for a member employed on a regular parttime contract is calculated in exactly the same way as for fulltime teachers, i.e. using the fulltime equivalent salary rate and the whole of the period of parttime employment, not just the days/proportion actually worked in the period.
- If you are employed on an irregular part-time contract, although the full-time equivalent salary is still used, only the actual days/proportion worked during the period of pensionable employment are used, not the full period. For example a teacher who works 50% would have their average salary calculated over a two year period in order to obtain the 365 pensionable days required for the average salary calculation.
Multiple part-time service
- If you are eligible to have parttime service treated as pensionable, then all such service with all employers accepted into the scheme should be so treated.
- When we receive details of any multiple employment, we aggregate all the periods worked in order to obtain the total service and full-time equivalent salaries to use in the calculation of benefits. As we calculate an “average” of the post’s full-time equivalent salaries, if one of the post's fulltime annual salary rates was substantially lower than the other(s), this may adversely effect the average salary using the period of multiple employment.
- If you are employed in more than one part-time post, the total reckonable service that you accrue cannot add up to more than a full-time post, no matter what your earnings are.
- Members who are in pensionable multiple employments at the time of retirement must cease all such employments before benefits can be paid.
Concurrent part-time service
- If you take up a part-time post concurrent with a full-time post after 1 January 2007 then the part-time post cannot be treated as pensionable. This is because the regulations state that you cannot accrue more than fulltime service.
How part-time service counts for qualification for benefits
- In order to qualify for retirement benefits from the TPS you need to have completed 2 years qualifying/pensionable service after 5 April 1988 or 5 years at any time. Pensionable part-time service counts in full for qualification purposes, i.e. the whole period including the proportion of a full-time post not worked counts towards qualification.
Annual Benefits Statements
Teachers’ Pensions provides members with an annual benefit statement. It is important that part-time members carefully check the information it contains, particularly if you are in an irregular post, or multiple employment. Additionally, you can access your benefit statement at any time through the website, via the button My pension online.
Unless you are in multiple employment any queries regarding service or salary details will first of all need to be raised with the relevant employer as they provide the information used to calculate your annual benefit statement.
Members with more than one employer who have queries will need to contact Teachers’ Pensions first in order to obtain a breakdown of the record we hold of your periods of multiple employment. This breakdown will list details of your individual employers and periods of employment (unlike the benefit statement which aggregates this information) thereby providing you with means to verify the accuracy and completeness of your record.
Apart from the variations described in this leaflet the conditions that apply to fulltime members also apply to part-time participants.
Where there is any difference between the legislation governing the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and the information in this leaflet the legislation will apply.
For more information on this or any aspect of the TPS, you can Contact Us.