Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the current timescales for members of the Teachers Pension Scheme, who have submitted their remedial service statement and are awaiting payment of funds owed, to be paid those funds.
As the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme administrator, Capita are processing Remediable Service Statement (RSS) choices and aim to complete payments as quickly as possible. The relevant regulations provide for a member’s RSS choice to be put into payment as soon as is reasonably practicable. As part of the implementation arrangements for payments, it was not possible to start payments until June 2025 as time was needed to allow for recruitment, training, development of instructions, and IT enhancements to be made and implemented.
Members’ original pension benefits will continue to be paid until their choice has been implemented, at which point backdated interest will be applied to their payment.
Payment of members’ RSS choices is a high priority, and the department is continually exploring ways to improve payment and processing times with Capita, which includes providing further funding for additional staff and automating payment and processing functions.