Teachers are being given the chance to work out how much they will lose from their pensions following a controversial change to how they are calculated.

Unions are up in arms following the announcement that public sector pensions will now be calculated against the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rather than the Retail Price Index (RPI).

The NASUWT teaching union has launched an “online ready reckoner” to allow teachers to calculate how hard they will be hit by the swap.

Based on the current RPI figure of 4.8 per cent and CPI of 3.1 per cent, a teacher with an annual pension of #163;10,000 could lose #163;74,016 over a 25-year period, the union said

Even if the CPI and RPI follow Bank of England predictions in the future, the same teacher would still be around #163;20,000 worse off, it added.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “This change represents nothing more than naked raiding of public service workers’ pensions to make them pay the price for the greed and recklessness of the financial sector. Teachers have made their financial plans for retirement in good faith on the basis of the long-established and historic link with RPI.

“To change the rules, not only for serving teachers but also for those who have retired is reprehensible.

“The NASUWT will continue to campaign with the Trades Union Congress to protect the pensions of teachers and other public sector workers, and for decent occupational pensions for workers in the private sector.”

www.nasuwt.org.ukRPItoCPI

#163;74k - How much a teacher with an annual pension of #163;10k could lose over a 25-year period.