NASUWT secures major victory over pension valuation delays

NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union has secured a major victory for its members who were affected by unlawful delays to valuations to their pensions.

Legal action brought by the teaching union on behalf of 83 members has meant the Department for Education has been forced to compensate NASUWT teachers and has agreed to resolve long running failures in the administration of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS)

Members were waiting months and in some cases more than a year – for legally required pension valuations known as Cash Equivalent Transfer Values (CETVs). The claims are estimated to be worth around £750,000, reflecting the scale of harm caused to teachers’ personal and family lives by the delays.

A CETV is required to determine the value of a pension pot. Without this information it is almost impossible to effectively plan for retirement, or reach a financial settlement in divorce proceedings.

As the original claim set out, many teachers had been left in “prolonged uncertainty and distress” after waiting months for CETVs, with some still waiting even after proceedings were issued. The delays made it “almost impossible to reach a financial settlement in divorce proceedings or effectively plan for retirement.”

Following sustained pressure from NASUWT and legal action by solicitors Leigh Day in the High Court, the DfE has now accepted responsibility for the failures and agreed to:

• Provide compensation to affected teachers
• Issue outstanding CETVs
• Implement urgent improvements to TPS administration to prevent future delays

The union said that this represents a clear acknowledgement that the Government failed in its statutory duties.

NASUWT General Secretary Matt Wrack said:

We gave the DfE ample time and opportunity to resolve this matter but their failure to address this satisfactorily left us with no choice but to take legal action.

Our members have won justice and this is a clear and important victory for teachers who were badly let down.

They were left feeling distressed and suffered financial harm because the DfE failed to meet its legal duties. Teachers who had paid into their pensions in good faith had every right to expect the Teachers’ Pension Scheme to be there for them when they needed it.

This result has also set a precedent that will protect thousands of teachers in the future. This victory shows that when teachers are treated unfairly the NASUWT will take action and we will win for them.

Wendy Dopheide, one of the teachers who participated in the claim, said:

I first enquired about applying for my CETV from Teachers’ Pensions in summer 2023. As became the norm, I heard nothing back for several weeks, by which time I had turned 60 and had to pay for this information. Over the next two years, I sent secure messages and raised complaints with Teachers’ Pensions, but was met either with stony silence or platitudes about the delays.

I finally received my CETV 22 months after applying for it. Throughout this time, the protracted divorce process meant my solicitor’s fees were increasing with every letter and phone call. It was an incredibly anxious, stressful and expensive time. I remain very angry that the information I was entitled to, and had had to pay for, was not forthcoming. I felt totally powerless as I was often just met with a wall of silence from Teachers’ Pensions.

Having joined the collective action initiated by Leigh Day, I finally felt supported and listened to. From the beginning, Leigh Day were professional, communicative and helpful.

Leigh Day partner Ryan Bradshaw said:

We are delighted to have secured an amicable settlement on behalf of our clients, which would not been possible without the support of their workplace union. It is a shame that we were required to issue claims in order to ensure our clients obtained the compensation they were entitled to.

This regrettable situation has once again highlighted the issues of maladministration that arise all too often when public services are outsourced to private providers.