Teachers' pensions 'I'm in despair as my debts mount'

Delays to pension pot valuations are 'causing huge distress' and costing money for divorcing couples. Rupert Jones reports

- Rupert Jones

Current and retired teachers who are getting divorced have said their lives are on hold because of a bureaucratic logjam involving their pensions.

One teacher, Katherine Laird, said she believed she was among "huge numbers" of people who were unable to finalise a divorce while she waited for a valuation from Teachers' Pensions, with the wait "causing huge distress and also costing money".

Another, retired teacher Richard Blewitt, 72, said he has had to move into rented accommodation because of the delays, adding: "I am in despair as my debts mount."

At the heart of the problems is the valuation of people's pension pots, and changes to the way these are calculated.

When someone is getting divorced, they will typically need to get information on the value of their pension in order to allow the courts to consider whether or not it should be shared with their ex-partner and, if so, how much they should get.

Current and former teachers who are getting divorced have to contact Teachers' Pensions - which administers the Teachers' Pension Scheme on behalf of the Department for Education - to request a cash equivalent transfer value (CETV). This shows how much they have built up in the scheme.

Without a transfer value, it is difficult or impossible to reach a financial settlement in a divorce.

The government's MoneyHelper website says that if you qualify for a CETV, it must be provided within three months of you asking, but some teachers said they have been waiting a year or more, and a few said they had been hanging on for more than 18 months.

Delays seem to have started after changes to the "discount rate" used to work out contribution rates into public sector schemes, according to the former pensions minister Steve Webb, now a partner at the pension consultants LCP.