In today’s education news, is this a sign of things to come with teacher pensions…

in today's education news is this a sign of things to come ask anyone about one of the benefits of being a teacher they will always say the pension you get a really good pension out of teaching but is that all going to change when one of the leading unions is looking to an alternative pension that might boost starter salaries to 45k teachers at United learning trust will be able to opt into a less generous pension scheme and instead boost their take-home salary under plans being considered learning are coming from the angle that it might entice new graduates to come into the profession a starting salaries with this new alternative pension scheme might rise to 45 Grand a year in London and 38 Grand elsewhere but I cannot help but think this would cost teachers in the long term unions aren't in favor of this saying tampering with the statutory public sector pensions is dangerous and unwelcome and even question if it's legal the trusts say this is not about saving money but currently the teacher pension teachers have to pay between 7.4 and 11% into the TPS employers must then pay 28.6% of the teacher salary under the new plans the teachers can contribute 0 five or 10% and the trust would contribute at least 20 or 10% so it is a cost cutting thing now I agree with Rob here I think this is a real damning indictment as to where we are as far as pay within the sector that no teacher should have to take a hit on their pension in order to fund decent take-home pay now what is interesting in this article is that United learning acmy have pointed out that one in 10 teachers aged under 40 have already opted out of the TPS which is permitted and they don't currently have an alternative pension goes on to say that this might appeal to many teachers struggling with the cost of living challenges but might not fully understand the impact of losing a defined benefit pension scheme until it's too late decited to reach out to one of my best friends who is an expert when it comes to pensions he's a financial advisor he knows this stuff inside out which is very different I feel to the majority of teachers if you like me watching this it's not something that you truly understand or comprehend so I want to share a few things that he said he was basically saying that we all have this strong present bias and a tendency to Discount the future in favor and enjoying the he and now a lot of teachers will think this is a great idea and focus on this new salary rather than the superior benefit that a defined benefit pension could provide in retirement which is what we have with the TPS currently some of the problems from these proposals that he say is that there's no analysis between what a teacher is giving up against the now benefits including the new pension benefits he says the new pension is far inferior and could ultimately mean a lower pension at retirement the new pension will have to be invested which is a risk there is no risk with a DB pension the TPS which is that defined benefit pension there are also charges Etc with the new pension as the cost may be the same to the employer in simple terms but the new scheme benefits the employer as the costs become known the employer doesn't want to keep the liability of a DB scheme as changing market conditions could significantly cost them now he says if you want teachers can put into a private pension alongside the TPS pension if they want he also says although contrib utions into either scheme might be the same that doesn't mean the benefits at retirement are the same so he says to summarize I would explicitly say this is a really bad idea however I wouldn't do anything without a proper analysis my feeling is this would be a bad move for anyone to take he would however need to do the full analysis so when I read that article I was really Keen to speak to my friend and find out what he thought about this because I think we've got to be so informed when it comes to making choices like this on the surface seeing that oh I can take more home now and get on the property ladder or whatever it might be but to the detriment of a pension that shouldn't be the case in teaching teaching should be funded enough so teachers can take home a decent wage like Generations before us without it then affecting our pensions so I hope you found some of that advice or that Insight useful but I'd be really interested to know what you think is this a sign of things to come is it inevitable that with the current climate we're facing this idea of teachers having this type of pension isn't going to last it is a bit I mean most teachers don't even make it to retirement age anyway do they with the current state of things