Five-month 'gap' in Northamptonshire teachers' pensions is glitch in system and not missing money, says council

A 'glitch' in a switchover in how Northamptonshire County Council handles teachers' pensions means there is a five-month gap in 2017 where it appears teachers' pensions were not paid forward.

It led to teachers contacting the Chronicle & Echo fearing they had feared half-a-year's worth of their pension was missing.

However, the county council has now clarified that the apparent 'gap' is due to records not being updated and that teachers' pension money is not missing in any case.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council said: “There is no issue in relation to any missing payments to teachers pensions for any of their members, and there is no detrimental impact upon anybody’s pension pot.

“We have however identified that there is an issue with the teachers' pensions portal that was discovered during a recent audit, in which some records had not been updated.

“Although a data file had been processed, some additional manual input is required. This is being addressed and these records should all be up to date within the week.”

Dozens of teachers in Northamptonshire who discovered the issue in their plans contacted LGSS - who handle county council pensions - to report their concerns.