For many recently retired teachers in the UK, these days their financial distress is acute. This is largely a result of their pension lump sum payments being delayed. One of them is Nicky Caveney, 59, who has not yet seen her lump sum of £65,000, which she was told would be paid out. Caroline Close, 58, who moved in the summer into the Portland neighborhood of north St. Now, she’s looking forward to her tax-free pension lump sum of just under £40,000.
These extensive delays have understandably led many to worry whether these educators will be able to cover their monthly costs. Caroline Close is an educator dedicated to south London, where she has taught psychology and sociology for the last 30 years. As such, she is due a pension of just over £11,000 a year. She’s had to take out a loan to cover her daily expenses. The lump sum payment she was counting on by September 1 never came through.
Photo by Kendall Hunsucker Sally Close, a recently retired teacher, sent in her application for retirement in March. Unfortunately, she finds herself in similar straits today. She announced her retirement in August after 25 years of service with excellence. The stress of worrying whether she will receive her pension payments has taken a heavy toll on her.
“I retired in good faith, having taught for 25 years, and applied for my pension in March,” said Sally Close.
The situation for these teachers has risen to a level past just inconvenience. One affected Warwickshire primary school teacher said the delays prevented her from meeting a six hundred pound credit card bill this month. As a consequence, she is now accruing new interest charges. That teacher may have been stressed about her financial situation. She was anxious about how she would pay for key recurring costs such as groceries, utilities and mortgage payments.
“We have been unable to pay our large credit card bill this month (which has generated additional interest payments) and, if not resolved promptly, it will leave us unable to meet our monthly food costs, bills, mortgage, and direct debit payments,” the Warwickshire teacher stated.
Sevenoaks-based Capita, which administers teacher pensions, admitted the hold-ups. To explain, they pointed to a perfect storm of outside influences. A spokesperson from Capita explained that some delays stem from waiting for members’ transitional protection decisions and incomplete application submissions.
Payments can be held up for a variety of reasons outside of our own control. In the two examples cited above, these were delayed because they were waiting on members’ transitional protection decisions and/or on receiving partial applications. The spokesperson said.
Capita is in ongoing discussions with the Department for Education (DfE) to ensure members’ questions are being answered as quickly as possible. Lastly, they express their regrets for slower response times.
We are working with the DfE on ways to address members’ inquiries more quickly and apologise for any delays in response times, the spokesperson added.
Nicky Caveney expressed her concerns about how she would make her financial commitments. She was even more worried without the pension check she’d been relying on.
“Instead I’m sick with worry as to how I’m going to pay the bills when I get back,” Caveney said.
The DfE underscored the role of timely pension payments in attracting and retaining educators. A spokesperson stated that a guaranteed income in retirement is one of the rewards teachers deserve for their hard work.
“A guaranteed income in retirement is one of the rewards teachers deserve for their hard work,” the DfE spokesperson remarked.
So as these former educators wait to see their pension concerns remedied, every minute that ticks by brings them closer to the prospect of financial insecurity. Each day that passes with unpaid invoices, their stress just grows deeper.