Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) financial and (b) other support her Department provides to teachers who retire unexpectedly due to ill health.

Teachers who are members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme who suffer ill-health such that they are assessed as being unable to continue working up until their Normal Pension Age, equal to State Pension Age, can access their accrued pension benefits without the usual actuarial adjustment being applied in view of early payment. In the most serious cases, an enhanced pension is payable, which is 50% of their projected accrual to their Normal Pension Age.

The department does not employ teachers, and it is the employer’s responsibility to offer any appropriate additional support to its employees.