Your teaching service history is essential to the calculation of your pension. It is the record of your employment. This has been compiled from your employer who returns information to the scheme. The employer should provide accurate information each year on service undertaken between 1 April and 31 March.
You must check your teaching service history on My Pension Online (MPO). If you seek to apply for your pension and you do not identify potential errors, then your pension payments could be delayed. It could also mean that you receive an incorrect amount.
If you identify an error, you should first address this with your employer. Your employer should then investigate and, if necessary, inform the relevant department within the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. It is only through confirmation from the employer that the records can be changed to reflect your real teaching service history.
A careful check
It is essential to spend some time checking the information provided by your employers. This will be recorded on your Benefits Statement, and your employer may have included excluded days. The excluded days are days not worked and therefore, cannot be used to accrue reckonable service. This is particularly vital if you have worked part-time at any point. Your employer is asked to report the number of days you have worked and derive the number of days excluded from this period.
Missing service is a common problem. It can be quickly resolved by contacting your employer. However, it first needs to be spotted and addressed. Therefore, a constant review of MPO is essential to ensure your pension benefits are accurate.
Is this the same as reckonable service?
The teaching service history is also sometimes known as your reckonable service, but they are not precisely the same. Reckonable service is any service that counts towards your benefits in the Final Salary Scheme. Your reckonable service also includes additional service previously purchased and any service credited to your Teachers’ Pension from another pension scheme.
The content in this article was correct on 26th August 2019. You should not rely on this article to make important financial decisions. Teachers Financial Planning offers advice on pensions for teachers and non-teachers. Please use the contact form below to arrange an informal chat with an advisor and see how we can help you.
