Teachers Active Member Newsletter - July 2024
Hello! Welcome to the first ever edition of our annual newsletter.
This newsletter is all about you and your pension journey. Whether you're curious about your pension benefits, want to stay in the loop about recent changes, are interested in other member stories or need some handy tools and advice, we've got you covered.
We’d also like to gather more information about our members’ lives and how they feel about their pension and the SPPA, so please do share your views in our new annual member survey.
We hope you find this newsletter helpful. Please feel free to feedback using the ‘was this information useful’ button at the bottom of the page.
Thanks again for everything you do. We’re immensely proud to serve the people who serve Scotland.
Understanding your pension
Did you know you could have more than one pension depending on when you joined the Scottish Teachers Pension Scheme? That’s because over time, the scheme has been separated out into different ‘sections’. It all depends on when you joined. Each section has slightly different rules (for example different retirement ages), so it’s helpful to work out just which one, or ones, you are part of:
- Superannuation (joined before April 2007) – your pension is based on your final salary and you get an automatic lump sum of 3x your annual pension (and you can take more if you like). You can normally retire at 60.
- Superannuation (joined after April 2007) – your pension is based on your final salary and you have the option to take 25% of your pension as a tax-free lump sum. You can normally retire at 65.
- 2015 section – this is also known as CARE (which stands for Career Average Revalued Earnings) and everyone working as a teacher now will be a member of this section. The pension is based on how much you have earned throughout your career, and you have the option to turn up to 25% of it into a lump sum. The age you can retire is the same as the state pension age (at the time you retire).
Find out more about the different sections of the Scottish Teachers Pension Scheme.
Working out what your pension will be when you retire
We know for many of you retirement will seem a long way away, but if you do want to find out what your pension will be on retirement you can use our Teachers pension calculator. You’ll need a bit of information to use this calculator, such as your current pay, date you joined the pension scheme. It’s also important to have a recent Annual Benefits Statement when using the calculator.
If you are eligible for Remedy you can use our Teachers Remedy calculator.
Remedy
The 2015 Remedy is a hot topic for many of our members. For members who are still working and are eligible for Remedy (not everyone is), you’ll get more information about how this could impact your pension in your Annual Benefits Statement (ABS) which will be uploaded to My Pension Online by 31 March 2025.
- If you’re not sure what Remedy is or want to check if you are eligible – find out more here.
- Fully informed, but want to know when you will make your Remedy choice?
- Members can also use our Remedy calculator to get an idea of what their pension might be depending on which pension benefits they choose.
An update about your Annual Benefit Statement
For members who are eligible for the 2015 Remedy, Annual Benefit Statements (ABS) will look a little different from now. ABS will be combined with a Remediable Service Statement (RSS) so that you can keep track of benefits in the alternative scheme.
You will receive your new look ABS-RSS by 31 March 2025 and annually thereafter. The SPPA is committed to delivering the best service possible for our members. We regret that the ABS-RSS will not be available sooner, this is due to the complexities of delivering the 2015 Remedy.
ABS-RSS will be available on our self-service portal when available. We would encourage you to register for this service if you are not already: sign-up to our self-serve portal.
For all other members, Annual Benefit Statements (ABS) will be issued by the end of August 2024 and will be available on our self-service portal.
Keeping track of your pension
To help you work out what you will receive when you retire, you can use one of our pension calculators:
If you require an estimate to support with retirement planning or other life events, an estimate can be provided if you are:
- At retirement age and ready/thinking about retirement
- Within 6 months of retirement
- Requiring an estimate pending redundancy, divorce, ill health or for mortgage applications
More information about requesting an estimate can be found on our website: keeping track of your pension
How to increase you pension
If you’re looking to increase your pension you could consider buying Additional Pension, signing up for faster pension accrual or contributing to a separate pension (‘additional voluntary contributions’).
Additional Pension
Additional Pension can be bought in multiples of £250 of annual pension, up to a maximum of £7,000. These amounts refer to the amount of pension you can buy, not how much you’ll have to pay for the extra pension. The cost of purchasing additional pension will vary depending on many factors and can pay for it either as a single lump sum or through additional monthly contributions.
Faster pension accrual
With this option you can choose to earn pension at a faster rate by making extra monthly contributions from your salary. The usual amount you contribute is 1/57th of your pensionable pay, but with faster accrual you could instead contribute 1/55th, 1/50th or 1/45th.
You can find out more about increasing your pension here, where you’ll also find a calculator to help you work out how much additional pension you’d like to purchase, as well as forms to fill in if you’d like to apply.
Your retirement options
If you’re getting close to your retirement age but would like to keep working, you could consider taking phased retirement, or retiring fully but then returning to work as a teacher (reemployment)
Phased retirement
You can take phased retirement from age 55. This means you can take up to 75% of your pension benefits without having to leave your current job, take a break or change jobs.
To qualify, you need to reduce your pensionable pay by 20% for at least 12 months. You can still build up pension in the 2015 Scheme, based on your reduced salary.
Reemployment
You can retire and return to work as a teacher, as long as you take a break of at least one working day. You can the re-join and Scottish Teachers Pension Scheme 2015.
Weighing up your options?
We know when retirement is a long way off, many members may consider opting out of the pension scheme so they can increase their take home pay.
There are a lot of benefits to remaining in the scheme. As well as generous employer contributions, a guaranteed income once you retire, you can also retire early if you are unable to work due to illness, and if you die your spouse, partner or children could be eligible to a pension.
Thinking about retiring in the next twelve months?
Join one of our Ready for Retirement webinars or watch this recent recording.
Staying connected with SPPA
Our online portals
Sign up to our online member services to view your pension information (including your Annual Benefits Statement) and update your personal details if you have a change of circumstances. Find our more about the member portal and sign up.
For anyone struggling to log in or register for our online portal, you can get watch guidance videos on our member portal page.
Customer support
Find out how to contact the team about specific subjects.
Website
Our website has a wealth of information about all things pension-related.