Popular Questions

If you’re thinking of switching to working part-time, our Active Teacher section explains the impact on your pension.

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Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) give you the option to pay contributions to build up additional retirement funds. These are administered by The Prudential.

In the event of your death a pension is payable to your beneficiaries. In the career average arrangement, an enhancement is applied if you die in service. For further details on family benefits please check the Life events section of our website.

Yes, if you’d like to stop paying contributions you can “Opt Out” of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

Your Teaching Service History is a record of your employment, which has been compiled from the information provided by your employer(s) in their service returns to the Scheme. Employers provide this for the Scheme year: 1 April to 31 March.

We recommend you check it. Any errors not identified now may result in delays when the time comes to calculate your pension benefits, or result in an incorrect pension amount being paid. If you identify any errors or omissions please contact the employer at the time of service, ask them to investigate and, where necessary, inform Teachers’ Pensions about any changes. We will then update your record accordingly.

You should apply for retirement using the relevant form three to four months before the date you want to draw your pension. Which form you use depends on your circumstances when you retire, ie. whether you want to retire on an age basis, or take phased retirement etc.

You can submit some retirement forms using My Pension Online, our secure site. For further information, see our Planning Retirement guide.