After my husband died in July 2020, I applied to Teachers’ Pensions for his pension to be transferred to me. A year on, I am still waiting.
I have phoned the helpline probably 40 times, and now feel I have been misled on numerous occasions.
I have been repeatedly told the process was with “calculation” and that I should receive information within eight to 10 days, but nothing happens. Three letters from the operations director state he had sent an urgent referral to the teams to “chase this up”. The last was on 19 December.
Three weeks ago, I was told, once again, calculations were complete and I should hear in 10 working days. Still nothing. I made a formal complaint in May and have had no response.
I am now beyond hope. I cannot grieve, and I cannot survive with not knowing if I will be able to move on.
CS, Staffordshire
This was an appalling story, and senior staff at Teachers’ Pensions need to urgently look into your case to establish how this went so wrong.
It turns out that the scheme’s administration is run by Capita on behalf of the Department for Education. It has also emerged that you are not the only person who has been struggling to get a basic service out of the organisation.
Its Trustpilot page makes for shocking reading, with frequent complaints about the TP website.
Happily, I was able to eventually find someone to sort out your case and the company has apologised for your experience.
“The delays resulted from delays in us obtaining the full data from the member’s employer. This has been resolved, and the benefits will be communicated to the member today and put into payment,” it says.
Capita has been the provider of the scheme, which is one of the largest public sector pension schemes in the UK, for more than 20 years. It recently signed an extension, and is contracted to run it until 2026.
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