Teachers in divorce 'limbo' take pension legal action

Teachers unable to get divorced because of delays getting their pensions valued are taking legal action against the government.

Hundreds of teachers have been frustrated by long delays that left them "in limbo", unable to move on with their lives or plan for their future.

Construction skills lecturer David Quinton, from Gloucestershire, said the legal action was not just about financial compensation but making the government "realise that they have affected people's mental well being".

The government, which issued an apology in December, has told the BBC there are now 620 people - including recent applicants - waiting for valuations, down from 3,062 in October 2024.

"I know a statement has been issued with an apology, but I don't think that apology is worth anything truthfully. It's a bit too little, too late," Mr Quinton said.

In December, Teachers' Pensions - which runs the scheme on behalf of the Department for Education - said it aimed to clear most of the backlog by the end of February, with the government describing the calculations as "extremely complex".

The value of a pension is needed by the courts to decide whether it should be shared with an ex-partner, and without which it is almost impossible to reach a financial settlement.

A Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV) is usually provided within three months of a request being submitted but some teachers have been waiting much longer.

Mr Quinton applied for a CETV in October 2023 as part of divorce proceedings and got it on 29 January this year, 15 months after applying.

Although he has now received his valuation, he said there is "still a long way to go" to finalise his divorce.

He now wants to a group action being brought by the teaching union NASUWT and legal firm Leigh Day against the pension provider and the Department for Education.

"I think it's important that the government need to realise that they have affected people's mental well being. They have affected them financially. And there has to be an impact on them for not doing that," he said.

"It's important that those thousands of people [affected] have a voice and the way that we have a voice is by ing this action."

Mr Quinton estimates that the "elongated" process of getting the CETV has now cost him upward of £8,000 in solicitors' bills.

Wendy Dopheide, 60, is an English and drama teacher from Warminster, Wiltshire, and said she would also consider legal action.

"I can't overstate just how stressful this is for people like me in this situation," she said.

"By the age of 60, which I am now, many people are starting to look forward to retirement. I can't do that because I have no idea about what my financial situation will be when I do retire and whether I'll be able to afford to live."

She originally applied for her CETV in August 2023 but is still waiting. She said the December update claiming that the backlog would be cleared by the end of February made her "hopeful", but that since then she has been met with a "stony silence".

"When I heard about it, I thought 'wow, I can start to move on and get the information that I need'," she said.

"And I heard nothing back, nothing at all."

A similar feeling of being left in the dark is shared by Philip Hawkins, a 57-year-old retired art teacher, from Exeter.

He first ed Teachers' Pensions about a CETV in October last year.

He was told he would have to pay for the valuation and that he would be sent an invoice. It took five months for that invoice to arrive.

"Each time I was calling up, I was told I would get a response within a certain number of days, 10 days, and never would get that response," he said.

"When I'd phone up again, I would say 'what's happened to my previous request":[]}