Partners of retired teachers who have died are repeatedly being asked to confirm whether they are in a new relationship, in a process described as “humiliating and intrusive” by teaching unions.
Those who fail to reply promptly face losing their dependant’s pension.
Letters sent every year by Teachers’ Pensions, which administers the scheme for the Department for Education (DfE), give spouses and civil partners of teachers who retired before January 2007 only 28 days to declare whether they remain single.
Those whose partners retired after that date remain entitled to the payments for life, regardless of their domestic circumstances. The system has left pensioners in their 80s and 90s at risk of losing their income unless they declare annually that they have not moved in with a new partner.
“My family has got used to me crying every year on my birthday when the letter arrives,” said Sandy Caley, who has drawn her husband’s pension since his death in 2012.
“I was devoted to my husband and would never remarry. I’ve asked Teachers’ Pensions if they could make the checks every three years instead. The assumption is we can’t be trusted to be honest with them.”
Pat Duggan’s survivor’s pension was stopped last year after she was asked to confirm whether she had begun a new relationship. “I found the annual letters so upsetting I decided not to reply by post and called them instead,” she said. “Weeks later I got short of cash and realised my pension had been stopped.”
Recently Guardian Money covered the case of the retired teacher Eileen McGrath, 85, who was left without income four times after Teachers’ Pensions linked her to a deceased stranger four years ago.
Since then other retired teachers have reported that they have also been declared dead and cut off by the scheme, which is overseen by the DfE.
The DfE insists its vetting procedures are necessary to prevent fraud but according to legal experts, pursuing people over a disproved identity and withholding rightful payments may be in breach of data protection laws.
General data protection regulation requires companies to ensure that personal data is not incorrect or misleading and that they correct or erase any inaccurate information. They should also consider an individual’s right to rectify any errors.
“There are real data protection issues here, since there shouldn’t be any reason why the DfE can’t cross-check against the register of deaths and live up to their obligations to ensure that personal data which they hold is accurate,” said Steve Kuncewicz, a partner at the law firm Glaisyers.
Christine Evans said she has been forced to prove that she is alive since 2018 and had her pension payments stopped three times, despite having repeatedly confirmed that the death register entry flagged by Teachers’ Pensions is unrelated.
“I live abroad and the latest letter took 32 days to reach me via Lithuania,” she said. “I’ve asked in vain for them to contact me by email so I can respond in time. I’m told that the inquiries were triggered after I was matched to someone on the death register who shared my first name and date of birth, despite the fact that the DfE holds my full records.”
Another pensioner, who did not wish to be named, said that she had received six letters from Teachers’ Pensions since 2020 stating that information from the General Register Office suggested her “circumstances” had changed. “I felt very stressed as the pension is my main income,” she said. “When I explained this, I was told that I would probably receive these letters every year.”
The DfE told Guardian Money that its checks are required to prevent fraud and protect beneficiaries from onerous repayments if they are found to have received payments to which they are no longer entitled.
It insisted that the system does not allow names to be decoupled once a potential match between a beneficiary and a death register entry has been identified, even if it has been disproved. However, it said that in the light of the issues raised by Guardian Money, it would review the process.
Those who feel that their data privacy had been breached can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
An ICO spokesperson said: “Organisations have a responsibility under the law to ensure the personal information they hold on an individual is accurate and up to date. If an organisation becomes aware that information is incorrect, it should take all reasonable steps to correct it. While organisations must be compliant with the law, they should also exercise empathy and common sense when receiving information from individuals, particularly of this nature.”