cashinmattress Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 30,000 teachers facing £100 pension cuts More than 30,000 retired teachers face cuts in their pension payments that some fear could be as much as £100 a month.The reduction in pension payments come after a Whitehall blunder led to some public sector pensioners being paid too much over several years, money that will be recouped from future payments. The accounting error was first revealed to MPs in December, when ministers said it would affect around 95,000 former civil servants, soldiers, judges, NHS workers and teachers. However, HM Revenue and Customs has now identified historic overpayments to another 11,700 former teachers. In total, 32,000 former teachers are now affected. The Teachers Pension Scheme has written to pensioners affected, but has not yet told them how much it plans to reduce their future payments. In its letter, the agency said only that the new "corrected" payments are due to begin in August. It blamed the "complex" calculations involved for not providing pensioners with details about the cuts yet. The Department of Children, Schools and Families, which oversees the agency, was also unable to say how much would be cut from pensions. A spokesman said that "in some cases" the reduction would be small enough to be off-set by this year's increase in the basic state pension. However, one retired teacher affected has been told her pension could be cut by as much as £100 a month. Sandra Fletcher, 69, from the Vale of Belvoir in Nottinghamshire is a grandmother-of-five who taught home economics and English as a foreign language for 25 years. She retired at 57 and for the last nine years has received a teachers' pension of £689 a month. The £100-a-month reduction, calculated by her financial adviser, would substantially hit her income. She said: "There will be many people who this will be very difficult for. It just seems so unfair." The Teachers Pension Scheme said it has no choice but to reduce their pensions. The agency said: "We have no discretion to pay a pension different to that which the scheme rules allow. Where we are aware that we are paying the incorrect rate of pension, we have a duty to adjust the pension to the correct level." I know of two family members this will affect. Bloody irresponsible bureaucrats and government! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyMe Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Not been buying votes and favour for years have they? Mistake - not a chance, impossible to make such a big mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wires 74 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Teachers get big fat pensions anyway - me heart bleeds for them ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number79 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Teachers get big fat pensions anyway - me heart bleeds for them ... +1 impossible for me to find any sympathy and that really is the nicest I can be since it will affect the op's family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikhail Liebenstein Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Teachers get big fat pensions anyway - me heart bleeds for them ... Hopefully this will result in more boomers liquidating their homes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salty Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 30,000 teachers facing £100 pension cuts I know of two family members this will affect. Bloody irresponsible bureaucrats and government! It's hard for me too feel too much sympathy for the teachers. State education in this country has been an absolute joke for many years now, with the system being run for the benefit of teaching unions and civil servants rather than the children, who have been woefully short changed by rapidly declining standards masked by rampant grade inflation. Apparently we now have record numbers of pupils passing their A levels, but also record numbers of people who have gone through university and still have weak basic numeracy and literacy skills! The system seems more interested in indoctrinating children with climate change propaganda and handing out morning after abortion pills to young girls than in equipping young people with the skills they need to be valuable members of society. The sooner government gets out of the education business entirely, the better. Like every other good and service, the private sector would do a far better job in providing educational services than the state ever could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xux42 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Teachers get big fat pensions anyway - me heart bleeds for them ... Its funny isn't it? All those university educated people including maths graduates, and not one of them noticed that they were being paid too much... Where have all the honest people gone? Maybe they were just an illusion. I hope they have to pay interest on the taxpayers money they have been holding on to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashinmattress Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 (edited) It's hard for me too feel too much sympathy for the teachers. I find your lack of faith disturbing..... But seriously. Have you ever stood in front of a bunch of wild teenagers and tried to get them to learn, day in day out? Now do that with almost no disciplinary recourse in your toolbox. They do not get enough respect for the tough job they have. EDIT: Arghh! Terrible. C- for myself! Edited May 31, 2009 by cashinmattress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number79 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I find your lack of faith disturbing.....But seriously. Have you ever stood in front of a bunch of wild teenagers and tried to get them to learn, day in day out? Now do that not almost no disciplinary recourse in your toolbox. They do not get enough respect for the tough job they have. They may not get enough respect but they certainly get enough money. Secondary schoold may be more difficult but all the way up from infants through juniors is all gravy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salty Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I find your lack of faith disturbing.....But seriously. Have you ever stood in front of a bunch of wild teenagers and tried to get them to learn, day in day out? Now do that not almost no disciplinary recourse in your toolbox. They do not get enough respect for the tough job they have. I don't envy the job of anybody who has to control a typical group of teenagers in today's comprehensive schools. However, the great majority of teachers went into the job with their eyes open. They knew what they were getting into, and decided that being paid by the taxpayer, with relatively low salaries but excellent job security, holiday entitlements, and a guaranteed pension was the life for them. I agree with you about the disciplinary aspect - this is another problem that would not exist in a private sector educational system. Too many kids and their parents don't care about standards in education because they perceive it to be "free". That would change in an educational system provided by the market rather than the taxpayer. The parents and children who actually want to learn would soon self-segregate from the thugs and the morons who go to school to disrupt classes, educational standards across the board would rise. Furthermore, the politically correct policies of the past few decades which have encouraged indiscipline and lack of respect in schools were imposed by civil servants and teaching unions - that too would quickly change if education was provided in the same way as normal private sector services. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim123 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 (edited) The £100-a-month reduction, calculated by her financial adviser, would substantially hit her income. Well of course no longer being paid money that you're not entitled to is going to affect your income. That's no reason for continueing to pay it though, is it? tim Edited May 31, 2009 by tim123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dremmler Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 ================================================================== The sooner government gets out of the education business entirely, the better. Like every other good and service, the private sector would do a far better job in providing educational services than the state ever could. ================================================================== Ah yes, the wonderful private sector-what a magnificent example it set in the outstanding job it did running the financial "services" industry. Good job the taxpayer was there to bail out their shocking incompetence eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dremmler Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Secondary schoold may be more difficult but all the way up from infants through juniors is all gravy. ============================================ Are you prepared to give us the benefit of your experience of teaching infants and juniors or did you get your opinion from the editorial column of the Daily Mail? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddlethefigures Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 ==================================================================The sooner government gets out of the education business entirely, the better. Like every other good and service, the private sector would do a far better job in providing educational services than the state ever could. ================================================================== Ah yes, the wonderful private sector-what a magnificent example it set in the outstanding job it did running the financial "services" industry. Good job the taxpayer was there to bail out their shocking incompetence eh? non sequitur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Loo Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 And they should pay back their overpayments...other benefits receivers have had to do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cogs Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 (edited) It's hard for me too feel too much sympathy for the teachers. State education in this country has been an absolute joke for many years now, with the system being run for the benefit of teaching unions and civil servants rather than the children, who have been woefully short changed by rapidly declining standards masked by rampant grade inflation. Apparently we now have record numbers of pupils passing their A levels, but also record numbers of people who have gone through university and still have weak basic numeracy and literacy skills! Run for the benefit of the teaching unions I'm not going to go line for line here but of the people affected by this many not only stuck it out through the destruction of the system in the 1970s, the constant cuts of the 1980s, the revision of the examination system and curriculum in the late 1980s and both the Tories and Labour's beureucratic overload and further attempts to destroy the system in the 1990s and 2000s. If they joined in the last 5 years, I'd still disagree but its fair comment, but we aren't talking about those people, we're talking about people in their 60s, 70s and 80s with 40+ years of service. Some of them retired while they were still teaching O-levels FFS and you want to rant, rave and twist the knife to punish them for what people who came along 20 years after they retired have or haven't done. Unbelievable. Edited May 31, 2009 by Cogs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InternationalRockSuperstar Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 They do not get enough respect for the tough job they have. I didn't realise I was supposed to respect people who get paid with stolen money for brainwashing our children with statist propaganda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 we're talking about people in their 60s, 70s and 80s with 40+ years of service. Some of them retired while they were still teaching O-levels FFS and you want to rant, rave and twist the knife to punish them for what people who came along 20 years after they retired have or haven't done. Unbelievable. So for years they've had too much? They got to pay it back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cogs Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 So for years they've had too much? They got to pay it back? "Several years", I assume they'll recover it over the next several years. I guess if they die before that point the money won't be recovered, but perhaps you and a band of HPCers can turn up at the funerals and shakedown the grieving relatives for it on behalf of the state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number79 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Secondary schoold may be more difficult but all the way up from infants through juniors is all gravy. ============================================ Are you prepared to give us the benefit of your experience of teaching infants and juniors or did you get your opinion from the editorial column of the Daily Mail? 2 of my wifes friends teach at junior schools. I work typically 4 on 4 off so have plenty of free time and frequently help at my daughters school. She is in the first year of infants and the class is quite large, around 30 kids. From what I have been told and have experienced dealing with younger kids is definately all gravy. Secondary school - I have no idea other than remembering being there. I don't read the daily mail but you do sound like a sun reader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 "Several years", I assume they'll recover it over the next several years. I guess if they die before that point the money won't be recovered, but perhaps you and a band of HPCers can turn up at the funerals and shakedown the grieving relatives for it on behalf of the state. I thought they'd previously said they wouldn't collect the overpayment but start by reducing it from now on- or was that a different set of pension messups? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xux42 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 you and a band of HPCers can turn up at the funerals and shakedown the grieving relatives for it on behalf of the state. No need for such crude measures - the Pension Administrators can claw it back from the Estate from the Executors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dremmler Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 (edited) From what I have been told and have experienced dealing with younger kids is definately all gravy. ========================================= So you think you can make those kind of judgements even though you've never actually done the job yourself then? Even when 1 in 6 kids entering schools these days don't even speak English as a first language? Dear oh dear oh dear. Absolutely clueless. Edited May 31, 2009 by dremmler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wires 74 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 (edited) I work typically 4 on 4 off so have plenty of free time and frequently help at my daughters school. Just out of interest is your profession related to your avatar at all ? Edited May 31, 2009 by Wires 74 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xux42 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 From what I have been told and have experienced dealing with younger kids is definately all gravy.========================================= So you think you can make those kind of judgements even though you've never actually done the job yourself then? Even when 1 in 6 kids entering schools these days don't even speak English as a first language? Dear oh dear oh dear. Absolutely clueless. Ahem. Aren't we talking about public money being reclaimed, not what a hard job teaching is? I happen to agree that it is difficult but no one is forced at gunpoint to take it up as a career. Teachers should pursue better pay and conditions, but as for telling all and sundry what martyrs they are - get over yourselves! Anyway the money never belonged to these pensioners, their former occupation is irrelevant. It must be paid back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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