Latest news with #UnitedLearning
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Teachers blocked from swapping gold-plated pensions for higher salaries
A radical plan to offer teachers higher pay for giving up their gold-plated pensions has been blocked by the Government, reports suggest. United Learning, England's largest academy trust, wrote to teachers last summer offering pay rises of up to 15pc to leave the Teachers' Pension Scheme. However, the Department for Education has now opposed the move, according to reports in the i newspaper. It comes as current and former teachers launch legal action against the Teachers' Pension Scheme over severe pension valuations delays. Teaching staff are automatically enrolled in the generous pension scheme and pay between 7.4pc and 11.7pc of their salary in contributions, with a further 28.7pc added by their employer. Contributions are boosted by inflation each year, plus another 1.6pc for those still teaching. Upon retirement, the final pot provides retirees with inflation-linked pensions for life that already cost the taxpayer £1bn a month. Although state schools must legally offer the scheme, teachers can opt out and United Learning planned to induce this by offering increased pay and a less generous pension from April. Starting salaries would have jumped from £32,850 to almost £38,000 outside London and from £39,000 to £45,000 inside London. However, teaching unions said the move was 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' and asked Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, to intervene. Civil servants have now reportedly written to United Learning – which contains nearly 100 academies – and opposed the plan. It is understood that the Government suggested that part of the trust's funding could be ring-fenced unless it was used to pay pension contributions, before warning of a financial notice to improve from the Education and Skills Funding Agency. When approached by The Telegraph, the Department for Education declined to comment but did not deny the reports. It comes after law firm Leigh Day and teachers union NASUWT on Monday launched a legal claim against the Government over long-running pension delays. Pension valuations, known as Cash Equivalent Transfer Values, are usually requested in instances of divorce as a pension needs to be valued when assets are split. Official guidelines state that they should usually be completed within three months, or six months in exceptional cases, but the process has since October been wracked with delays. A Freedom of Information request by The Telegraph revealed that 1,053 were outstanding at the end of January. Almost 400 teachers had experienced delays of more than six months and 160 had waited over a year, while the oldest overdue case was first lodged in April 2023. One teacher told The Telegraph she had waited more than nine months, which had affected her health and left her trapped. According to the latest figures available, 621 are still outstanding, and the two organisations claimed the delays were causing financial losses and emotional stress Patrick Roach, the general secretary of NASUWT, said the time for excuses was over. He said: 'The unacceptable delays in processing CETV requests are placing intolerable financial and emotional burdens on teachers, many of whom are already dealing with significant personal challenges such as divorce or separation. Teachers who have dedicated their careers to public service deserve better than to be left in limbo.' Ryan Bradshaw, of Leigh Day said: 'This backlog must be cleared immediately, and those affected deserve compensation for their financial losses and the stress endured. Without proper accountability and reform, this situation sets a dangerous precedent for how we value and treat our public servants.' The Department for Education was contacted for comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
24-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Teachers blocked from swapping gold-plated pensions for higher salaries
A radical plan to offer teachers higher pay for giving up their gold-plated pensions has been blocked by the Government, reports suggest. United Learning, England's largest academy trust, wrote to teachers last summer offering pay rises of up to 15pc to leave the Teachers' Pension Scheme. However, the Department for Education has now opposed the move, according to reports in the i newspaper. It comes as current and former teachers launch legal action against the Teachers' Pension Scheme over severe pension valuations delays. Teaching staff are automatically enrolled in the generous pension scheme and pay between 7.4pc and 11.7pc of their salary in contributions, with a further 28.7pc added by their employer. Contributions are boosted by inflation each year, plus another 1.6pc for those still teaching. Upon retirement, the final pot provides retirees with inflation-linked pensions for life that already cost the taxpayer £1bn a month. Although state schools must legally offer the scheme, teachers can opt out and United Learning planned to induce this by offering increased pay and a less generous pension from April. Starting salaries would have jumped from £32,850 to almost £38,000 outside London and from £39,000 to £45,000 inside London. However, teaching unions said the move was 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' and asked Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, to intervene. Civil servants have now reportedly written to United Learning – which contains nearly 100 academies – and opposed the plan. It is understood that the Government suggested that part of the trust's funding could be ring-fenced unless it was used to pay pension contributions, before warning of a financial notice to improve from the Education and Skills Funding Agency. When approached by The Telegraph, the Department for Education declined to comment but did not deny the reports. It comes after law firm Leigh Day and teachers union NASUWT on Monday launched a legal claim against the Government over long-running pension delays. Pension valuations, known as Cash Equivalent Transfer Values, are usually requested in instances of divorce as a pension needs to be valued when assets are split. Official guidelines state that they should usually be completed within three months, or six months in exceptional cases, but the process has since October been wracked with delays. A Freedom of Information request by The Telegraph revealed that 1,053 were outstanding at the end of January. Almost 400 teachers had experienced delays of more than six months and 160 had waited over a year, while the oldest overdue case was first lodged in April 2023. One teacher told The Telegraph she had waited more than nine months, which had affected her health and left her trapped. According to the latest figures available, 621 are still outstanding, and the two organisations claimed the delays were causing financial losses and emotional stress Patrick Roach, the general secretary of NASUWT, said the time for excuses was over. He said: 'The unacceptable delays in processing CETV requests are placing intolerable financial and emotional burdens on teachers, many of whom are already dealing with significant personal challenges such as divorce or separation. Teachers who have dedicated their careers to public service deserve better than to be left in limbo.' Ryan Bradshaw, of Leigh Day said: 'This backlog must be cleared immediately, and those affected deserve compensation for their financial losses and the stress endured. Without proper accountability and reform, this situation sets a dangerous precedent for how we value and treat our public servants.' The Department for Education was contacted for comment.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Teachers' pensions costing taxpayers £1bn a month
Retired teachers receive more than double the money that is spent on school students every year, official figures show. Spending per pupil was £7,460 in England and £7,327 in Wales during 2023 to 2024, but retirees in the Teachers' Pension Scheme were handed an average of £16,600 for the same period. The cost of payments to retirees has since soared past £1bn a month, while taxpayers will fund another £9bn of payments into current teachers' pensions this year. It comes as the Government's decision to charge VAT on private school fees is expected to raise £1.5bn in 2025 to 2026. Members of the Teachers' Pension Scheme are mostly teaching staff from mainstream schools, but some work in participating independent schools, further education and higher education. When they retire, they are guaranteed an income for life that rises annually with inflation. According to its annual report, the scheme paid £11.3bn to 681,000 retired teachers across England and Wales in 2023 to 2024. A further £559m was paid as part of 83,000 pensions to dependants. The report also suggests that current teachers will receive £8.8bn in pension contributions during 2024 to 2025. This would be an increase of almost £2bn compared to the previous year after schools were forced to increase contributions from 23.6pc to 28.6pc to meet the scheme's spiralling costs. Liz Emerson, of the charity Intergenerational Foundation, said students were losing out and that politicians should be honest about the cost of public sector pensions. She said: 'Economists have long warned that over-generous pension promises made in the past would come home to roost. The result is that today's students are losing out on education spending and resources for their generation as budgets are diverted to pay these annual pensions. 'Furthermore, a double whammy is at work because many of these pensions will be for private school teachers whose pension contributions were topped up not by their schools but by the general taxpayer during their working lives. 'Intergenerational unfairness in the pension system will not stop until politicians tell the truth about the hidden iceberg of liabilities looming below the surface in most public sector pension schemes.' Government figures also show that since July, the amount paid for retired teachers' pensions has exceeded £1bn a month. Like others in the public sector, they are funded on a pay-as-you-go basis, meaning contributions are not invested to pay future pensions. Instead, payments to retirees are made from general taxation and the contributions coming in. However, the rising cost of the Teachers' Pension Scheme is already forcing some schools to withdraw, which could lead to less money coming in – and a larger shortfall for taxpayers to plug. United Learning, the UK's largest academy chain, is already offering teachers higher salaries to opt out of the scheme, while around 400 private schools – which do not legally have to offer membership – have already closed it to new staff or left altogether. Teachers at some private schools have gone on strike after their employer threatened to fire and rehire them unless they withdrew in a desperate attempt to cut costs. A Department for Education spokesman said: 'Teachers are at the heart of the Government's mission to break down barriers to opportunity – there are 680,890 retired members of the Teacher Pension Scheme who have dedicated their careers to teaching children, ensuring that they can achieve and thrive. 'The pension in payment to a retired teacher is based on their entire career – they deserve to receive the benefits that they have accrued and a guaranteed income in retirement is one of the rewards for teaching. 'The Teacher Pension Scheme remains one of the most generous pension schemes available and is a key part of the recruitment and retention of the best and brightest teachers.' The National Education Union was approached for comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The radical Labour council waging class warfare on the south coast
It was Victorian Britain's pre-eminent seaside town, but Brighton is distinctly more shabby these days. The i360, a 'vertical pier' designed to bring in tourists, closed down in December with £50m of debt. Frequent bin strikes in recent years have resulted in piles of rotting rubbish in the streets, while plans to shut half the public toilets in the city to save cash were shelved. Now the new Labour-run council is embarking on a controversial education plan that experts say is a dangerous experiment in 'social engineering'. It has been accused of peddling class warfare by targeting middle-class parents who had hoped to send their children to schools within walking distance. The council says its radical plan will address the attainment gap between the richest and poorest pupils in its six state secondaries. Among a raft of controversial ideas, it proposes giving greater priority to children eligible for free school meals, carving up existing catchment areas and slashing admission numbers at oversubscribed schools in favour of bolstering uptake at others. It hopes to introduce the changes as soon as next September, but parents argue the shake-up will result in hundreds of pupils being 'randomly dispersed across the city'. Many of these students will have to take two buses to schools five miles outside the city, rather than be allowed to walk to one on their doorstep. Sir Jon Coles, formerly a senior civil servant in the Department for Education, and now chief executive of United Learning, which runs more than 100 schools, branded the plans 'truly extraordinary'. Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he said Brighton council's proposals were 'based on some very shaky pseudo-academic evidence. Surely no one wants a return to council-led social engineering by busing? Maybe improving the weak schools would be a better strategy'. On a cold January day, dozens of parents and children protested outside the council offices, calling for authority leaders to scrap the proposals. Sally Bunkham, a mother of two autistic daughters, said the 'council is using children as a social experiment'. Another parent, Tony Boland, told The Telegraph: 'There's a misconception within the council that if you live in a specific area in Brighton, you're a multimillionaire. It is completely untrue. 'We're not wealthy by any standards. Our community is a broad church and we have bled to live here. We bought a house here 10 years ago as we thought it would be a suitable area for our kids.' He adds: 'I don't know what we're going to do. We can't afford to move or send our kids to a private school, so we're just going to suck it up. 'There are two huge schools literally within 10 minutes walk of our area, but they will only have a one in four chance of being able to attend either.' Hundreds of children being forced into a lengthy commute at the age of 11 is a frightening prospect for Sarah Taylor, who says her daughter could 'end up having to walk into town for 20 minutes and then take two buses in the dark'. 'I don't see that as a safe or right thing to do,' she said. The council, which is currently running an active travel-to-school campaign encouraging walking, says children not receiving free school meals will get a free bus pass if they are forced to attend a school more than three miles from their home. Critics argue that shipping pupils across the city is at odds with plans to cut pollution and traffic. The council's website states that 'children who travel actively to and from school achieve higher academic success'. In a bombshell for the council, the heads and governors of all six local authority-run secondary schools in the city have lodged their concern at the proposals. A joint letter sent to the council reveals the schools' fears over 'significant unintended consequences for pupils across the city' as a result of the policy. The council argues its plan is fairer and would stop people buying up properties near good schools to get their children a place. It is being supported by left-wing campaign group Class Divide. Writing on the group's website, its founder, Curtis James, said: 'Years from now, when we look back at this moment, what will we tell our children about the choices we made? 'Will we say we were brave enough to create real change? Will we say we built a city where every child, regardless of their postcode or family income, had a fair chance at a great education? 'These proposals aren't perfect – no change ever is. But they offer a real chance to build the kind of education system our city deserves; one that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.' Labour voters are in despair at the council they voted for. Adam Dennett, a professor in urban analysis and a parent in Brighton, questioned the logic behind the proposals. He argued that Brighton's schools are already more socially mixed than most other areas of the country. 'What we have is something of a Frankenstein's monster of a proposal with bits bolted on and cobbled together,' he said. 'The Labour council thinks it can be bold, but being bold isn't about forcing through bad policies. I'm absolutely horrified that the party I voted for is forcing this through.' The school shake-up comes amid Brighton and Hove's plummeting birth rate. At 0.98, it is one of the lowest in Britain – and it is forecast to keep falling. Two primary schools shut their doors last year, and there are fears that dwindling pupil numbers will force more to close. The council hopes its plan to direct children to low-intake secondaries will stave off the threat of further cuts. The closure in 2005 of a secondary school in Whitehawk, a deprived neighbourhood, has left children in the east of the city without a local school. But campaigners say forcing hundreds more children to travel long distances is not justified. In an impact assessment of its own proposals, the council concedes that the catchment changes 'may separate existing friendship groups from primary school, potentially impacting social development and wellbeing'. It also states that extended travel times 'could reduce independence' for teenagers. 'Sibling links' are to be retained, making it more likely for youngsters to attend their local school if their older brother or sister already attends. Lorna Palmer said: 'My son, who is an only child, will be at the bottom of the priority list and will be totally separated from his friendship group. 'From the council's own figures, he'll be one of 250 kids displaced in the first year. In about five years' time you're going to have 1,000 kids travelling around Brighton unnecessarily.' The council is now deciding on its final plans, with thousands parents waiting on tenterhooks. Councillor Jacob Taylor, deputy leader, said: 'Our consultation proposed a small percentage of open admissions which would mean that every family in the city had at least some chance of a choice of secondary school for their children. 'We are ambitious for children's education in Brighton & Hove and we are committed for fairness for all.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
