Teachers’ retirement fund in trouble

The administrator of Labour’s prized Teachers’ Retirement Saving Scheme has written to all schools giving notice that it is withdrawing from the scheme, says National’s Education spokesman, Bill English.

The scheme, set up just three years ago, is administered by the Global Retirement Trust, which says it will pull out of the operation in September this year.

The more than 11,000 members of the scheme contribute three percent of their income to the fund, which is matched by a government subsidy.

“This is Labour’s flagship retirement scheme and clearly Labour did not expect to see the administrator withdraw so soon. This suggests there are problems,” says Mr English.

“Teachers are owed an explanation as to what went wrong and they need to know that their savings are safe.”

The letter that went out late on Friday afternoon says the expected increase in government subsidy is now at risk, and teachers who are not already part of the scheme cannot join.

“This scheme has been at the heart of teacher pay deals over the past few pay rounds so teachers will be anxious to know what’s going on,” says Mr English.

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