Teachers Pension Calculator UK 2026/27
Estimate your Teachers' Pension Scheme income for both Career Average and Final Salary service, including lump-sum options, part-time effects and early retirement adjustments.
Use it as a planning tool first, then compare the result with your TPS annual statement so you can see whether the main driver is salary, years of service, revaluation or retirement timing.
Teachers Pension Scheme (TPS) Calculator
This calculator is built for the two questions most teachers actually ask: “What could my pension look like if I stay in teaching?” and “How much does early retirement reduce it?”
Choose the section that matches your service history, enter the inputs you know today, and use the result as a planning estimate rather than a replacement for your official TPS statement.
How this calculator works
The model separates Career Average and Final Salary benefits because they build up in different ways. Career Average service accrues year by year from pensionable earnings, while Final Salary service is tied more directly to final pensionable salary and service windows.
- Career Average: each year adds roughly 1/57 of pensionable pay, then those slices are revalued with CPI until retirement.
- Final Salary: pre-2007 service uses the 1/80 section with an automatic lump sum, while 2007-2015 service uses the 1/60 section.
- Early retirement: the calculator applies a simplified actuarial reduction so you can see the direction of travel before checking the exact scheme factors.
- Part-time work: the part-time fraction adjusts pensionable pay rather than pretending part-time years behave like full-time years.
Worked example
A typical use case is a classroom teacher earning £38,000, already holding 12 years of Career Average service, expecting to work another 15 years and considering whether to retire at normal pension age or one to two years early.
In that scenario, the two biggest levers are not usually contribution rate changes. They are the amount of future pensionable pay that continues to build 1/57 slices and whether early retirement reduces the final pension after revaluation. That is why the calculator exposes salary, years left, CPI and early-retirement timing separately instead of hiding them behind a generic estimate.
2026/27 TPS contribution bands, thresholds and inputs
The input fields mirror the variables that matter most when teachers compare TPS outcomes: current salary, service period, years to retirement, inflation assumptions, contribution band and whether part-time work changes pensionable earnings.
From 1 April 2026, the salary bands that decide your member contribution rate rose by 3.8% in line with the Pensions Increase. The contribution rates themselves are unchanged — only the salary boundaries moved up — so a pay rise no longer pushes you into a higher tier as quickly. The table below shows the official 2026/27 bands alongside the 2025/26 bands they replaced, so you can see exactly which tier you fall into.
| Annual salary rate (2025/26) | Annual salary rate (2026/27) | Member contribution rate |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £34,872.99 | Up to £36,198.99 | 7.4% |
| £34,873.00 – £46,943.99 | £36,199.00 – £48,727.99 | 8.9% |
| £46,944.00 – £55,660.99 | £48,728.00 – £57,776.99 | 9.9% |
| £55,661.00 – £73,768.99 | £57,777.00 – £76,572.99 | 10.5% |
| £73,769.00 – £100,590.99 | £76,573.00 – £104,413.99 | 11.6% |
| £100,591.00 and above | £104,414.00 and above | 12% |
Employer contribution: 28.68% for 2026/27 (including the 0.08% administration levy). The combined member + employer cost makes TPS one of the most valuable pension packages in the UK public sector. Source: Teachers' Pensions (April 2026 contribution bands).
Edge cases and assumptions
The Teachers Pension Scheme (TPS) is the defined benefit occupational pension for teachers and some other education staff in England and Wales. It is administered by Capita on behalf of the Department for Education and is one of the most generous public sector pensions available, with an employer contribution of 28.68% for 2026/27 — far more than the typical private sector employer contribution.
The TPS has three distinct sections depending on when you joined and when you accrued service. Understanding which section(s) apply to you is essential for accurate retirement planning.
Career Average Section (From April 2015)
The Career Average section operates on the same principle as the NHS 2015 scheme. Each year you earn 1/57 of your pensionable pay as pension. That annual slice is then increased by CPI until you retire.
Your NPA is your State Pension Age (currently 67). This section now applies to all active TPS members for service from April 2015 onwards.
For example, a teacher earning £40,000 accrues £40,000 ÷ 57 = £701.75 of pension per year. Over 20 years of contributions (with CPI revaluation), this builds to a substantial retirement income without depending on your final salary figure.
Final Salary Section — Post-2007 (1/60 scheme)
Teachers who joined the TPS between 1 January 2007 and 31 March 2015 have Final Salary benefits for that service window at 1/60 of final salary per year. There is no automatic lump sum for post-2007 entrants, though benefits can be commuted at retirement. NPA for the Final Salary section is 65.
Final Salary Section — Pre-2007 (1/80 scheme)
Teachers who joined before 1 January 2007 have the most generous historic benefits: 1/80 of final salary per year plus an automatic tax-free lump sum of 3/80 of final salary per year. A teacher with 20 years of pre-2007 service on a £42,000 final salary would receive £10,500/year pension plus a £31,500 automatic lump sum from that tranche alone. NPA is 65.
McCloud Remedy for Teachers
Like the NHS, TPS members were subject to the McCloud equalisation judgment. Teachers in the Final Salary section who were moved to Career Average in April 2015 had a remedy period assessed (2015–2022), and received the better of Final Salary or Career Average benefits for that window. The remedy was applied through "rollback" — Final Salary benefits were used as the default for the remedy period.
Early Retirement from TPS
You can retire from TPS from age 55 (rising to 57 from 2028 for most members). If you retire before your NPA, benefits are actuarially reduced. For Career Average benefits the reduction is approximately 3-5% per year early, depending on your exact age. Phased retirement is also available from age 55, allowing you to draw part of your pension while continuing to work at reduced hours or salary.
Death Benefits
If you die in service, a death grant of 3 times your annual pensionable pay is paid to your nominated beneficiary (this is more generous than the NHS 2015 scheme death grant). Your spouse, civil partner or qualifying partner receives an ongoing dependant's pension equal to approximately 37.5% of your earned pension entitlement. Children also qualify for a children's pension.
AVCs and Additional Contributions
TPS members can pay Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) to boost retirement income. The TPS AVC arrangement is administered by Prudential (Retrieve+). Alternatively, teachers can open a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) alongside their TPS, maximising the £60,000 annual allowance by combining defined benefit and defined contribution contributions. For broader retirement planning across all your pots, our general pension calculator and State Pension calculator let you stack TPS income on top of your State Pension.
Leaving Teaching and Deferred Benefits
If you leave teaching before retirement age, your TPS benefits are preserved as a deferred pension. Deferred pension is revalued annually by CPI until you claim it. You can claim deferred benefits from age 55 (Career Average) or 60 (Final Salary), with early retirement reductions applying if claimed before NPA. There is no penalty for leaving TPS — your accrued benefits remain safe.
Opting Out of TPS
Some teachers opt out of TPS to avoid the high contribution rates and invest the savings independently. While the employer contribution of 28.68% is very valuable, high-earning teachers close to the £60,000 annual allowance may consider opting out to avoid tax charges. Any decision to opt out should be taken with independent financial advice as TPS is generally one of the UK's most valuable pension arrangements.
Sources and methodology
This calculator is based on the published structure of the Teachers' Pension Scheme for Career Average and Final Salary service. It uses a simplified planning model rather than a full scheme-administration engine, which keeps it useful for quick comparisons without pretending to replace the official TPS statement.
- Primary sources: Teachers' Pensions member guidance, contribution band tables and scheme factsheets.
- Career Average model: accrual estimated at 1/57 of pensionable pay with CPI-style revaluation applied to historical and future slices.
- Final Salary model: separate 1/80 and 1/60 sections shown so pre-2007 and 2007-2015 service are not blended incorrectly.
- Early retirement: simplified reduction factors are used for planning, so the result should be checked against the official scheme quotation before making retirement decisions.
Reviewed by / last updated
Reviewed by: UK Calculator Editorial Team, UK financial content specialist covering public sector pensions and teacher pay.
Last updated: 10 June 2026 — refreshed for the 2026/27 TPS contribution bands (effective 1 April 2026), the 28.68% employer rate and the April 2026 Pensions Increase.
Review scope: TPS section logic, 2026/27 contribution bands, result interpretation, early-retirement assumptions, the 2028 minimum pension age change and page-to-calculator consistency.
Worked 2026/27 Career Average example, step by step
The clearest way to understand the Teachers' Pension Scheme is to follow a single year of accrual and then scale it across a career. The Career Average (CARE) section banks 1/57th of your pensionable earnings each year, and that banked slice is then index-linked every year until you retire. Here is exactly how one year builds.
Take a teacher earning £38,000 of pensionable pay in 2026/27. That year they bank £38,000 ÷ 57 = £666.67 of annual pension. While they are an active member, that slice is revalued each year by CPI plus 1.6%; once they leave service it is revalued by CPI alone. Over a 30-year career on broadly similar real-terms pay, the banked slices add up to roughly £20,000 of annual pension before any lump-sum commutation — a figure the calculator above estimates for your own salary, service and retirement timing.
How the three TPS sections accrue (2026/27)
Which section you are in depends on when you joined and when you built up service. Since 1 April 2022, every active member accrues only in the Career Average section, but many teachers still hold protected Final Salary benefits from earlier service. This table compares how each section turns service into pension.
| Section | When it applies | Accrual rate | Automatic lump sum | Normal Pension Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career Average (CARE) | Service from April 2015 (all active members from April 2022) | 1/57 of each year's pensionable pay, revalued by CPI | No — pension can be commuted to a lump sum | State Pension Age (currently 67) |
| Final Salary — post-2007 | Joined 1 Jan 2007 to 31 Mar 2015 | 1/60 of final salary per year | No automatic lump sum | 65 |
| Final Salary — pre-2007 | Joined before 1 Jan 2007 | 1/80 of final salary per year | Yes — 3/80 of final salary per year, tax-free | 60 |
What changed for 2026/27
Two numbers moved this year and both are reflected in the calculator and the band table above. First, the member contribution salary bands rose by 3.8% from 1 April 2026 in line with the Pensions Increase, so the salary at which you move into a higher contribution tier is now higher — for example the 8.9% tier starts at £36,199 rather than £34,873. Second, the employer contribution is 28.68%, including a 0.08% administration levy. The accrual rate (1/57) and the way benefits build are unchanged, so existing pension already banked is unaffected. If you also want to see your monthly take-home pay after these contributions and tax, use our teacher salary calculator, and to compare TPS with the other big public sector scheme see the NHS Pension Calculator.
Remember that the contribution tier is set by your actual annual salary rate in each employment, not the full-time equivalent — so a part-time teacher pays the rate that matches their real earnings, and a teacher with two pensionable jobs has each job assessed separately. Overtime and back-dated pay are not counted when deciding the band, but they are counted in the pensionable earnings the rate is applied to.
Sources: Teachers' Pensions — 2026/27 contribution bands and 28.68% employer rate; Teachers' Pensions — Calculating benefits (1/57 accrual). Figures verified May 2026 for the 2026/27 tax year.
TPS lump sum exchange (12:1) and the April 2026 Pensions Increase
How the 12:1 lump sum commutation works
Career Average members and post-2007 Final Salary members have no automatic lump sum, but can exchange part of their pension for tax-free cash at retirement. The scheme rate is fixed: you give up £1 of annual pension for every £12 of lump sum, up to a maximum lump sum of 25% of the total value of your benefits. The calculator above uses the same 12:1 rate — the “Pension After Max Lump Sum” row in the breakdown shows exactly how much annual income the full lump sum costs.
Example: giving up £1,000 of annual pension generates a £12,000 tax-free lump sum. Because 12:1 is a relatively low exchange rate for an index-linked pension, many teachers take less than the maximum — compare the annual-pension and lump-sum outputs in the breakdown table before deciding.
April 2026 Pensions Increase and revaluation
From 6 April 2026, public service pensions that have been in payment for a year — including TPS pensions — increased by 3.8%, in line with the September 2025 rise in CPI. Benefits still building in the Career Average section are revalued more generously while you remain in service.
| Benefit type | April 2026 increase | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| TPS pension in payment | 3.8% | Pensions Increase (September 2025 CPI) |
| Deferred benefits (left service) | 3.8% | CPI revaluation |
| Active Career Average benefits | 5.4% | CPI + 1.6% (3.8% + 1.6%) |
Sources: GOV.UK — Public service pensions increase 2026 (3.8% from 6 April 2026); Teachers' Pensions — converting pension into lump sum (£12 of lump sum per £1 of pension, maximum 25% of benefit value). Verified June 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the TPS Career Average accrual rate?
What is the Normal Pension Age for TPS Career Average?
Do teachers still get a lump sum from TPS?
How much do I contribute to the Teachers Pension Scheme?
Can I retire early from the Teachers Pension Scheme?
What is phased retirement for teachers?
How does part-time service affect my TPS pension?
Is the teachers pension minimum retirement age changing in 2028?
How accurate is an online teachers pension calculator?
Official Sources
- Teachers' Pensions — 2026/27 member contribution bands
- Teachers' Pensions — Calculating contributions (28.68% employer rate)
- Teachers' Pensions — Calculating benefits (1/57 Career Average accrual)
- Teachers' Pensions — When can you retire? (2028 minimum age change)
- GOV.UK — New State Pension
- GOV.UK — Workplace Pensions
Contribution bands, employer rate and accrual figures verified against the official Teachers' Pensions website. Last checked 30 May 2026 for the 2026/27 tax year.