Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) teachers and (b) ex-teachers who were (i) below and (ii) above the state pension age in December 2020.

Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of teachers and teacher retirements, is published in the annual ‘school workforce in England’ national statistic at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

As at November 2020 (latest information available) 1,656 (less than 1% of teachers) teachers working in state-funded schools in England were over the state pension age of 66 years old (Table 1). 316,688 ex-teachers (58% of ex-teachers) who no longer work within state-funded schools in England were under state pension age. This includes not only those teachers who left the profession, but also those who left to work in other countries, in further education, and in private schools. Many of these ex-teachers may now be employed in other sectors and occupations outside of education.

Table 1: Headcount of qualified teachers and teachers out of service¹ in state-funded schools by age group^2,3

November 2020

Source: School Workforce Census 2020 and Database of Teacher Records 2021

¹ Please note that teachers who no longer work within state-funded schools in England are classed as teachers out of service (ex-teachers) in this response. This therefore includes not only those teachers who left the profession, but also those who left to work in other countries, in further education, and in private schools. This excludes people who are known to have died.

² State pension age as at November 2020 was 66 years old.

³ Age as at November 2020 for teachers, and March 2021 for teachers out of service.