A teacher who was locked out of his pension for weeks says staff at the Capita-run scheme were 'dismissive and unhelpful' during his repeated attempts to access his account.

Graeme Hull, 45, says the multi-factor authentication process failed, his passcode kept being rejected, and the website incorrectly said no telephone number was saved on his account.

He rang the Teachers' Pension scheme several times, waiting 40 minutes or more to get through, but conversations with staff got nowhere.

Outsourcing giant Capita has run Teachers' Pensions since 1996, but it lost the contract and is due to hand over to Tata Consultancy Services in November.

Capita is currently embroiled in controversy over a meltdown at the civil service pension scheme, which it took over from MyCSP last December.

The company issued a public apology after a government minister and MPs condemned its 'dreadful' running of that scheme, which saw civil service pensioners and bereaved families face hardship after being deprived of incomes for months.

It would not respond on the record to This is Money's question about what it is doing to ensure the Teachers' Pensions handover goes smoothly, so Tata is not left with a backlog of unresolved cases as Capita was when it took over the civil service scheme.

Hull was a special educational needs teacher at a school in Cambridgeshire between 2004 and 2017. 

He has now moved to do the same job in Turks and Caicos, a British Overseas Territory located north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic in the Atlantic Ocean.

However, Hull's attempts to log on and phone calls to Teachers' Pensions were all made from the UK during a visit here this summer.

He had last looked at his pension account three years ago, and he condemned his experiences trying to access it this time as 'unacceptable'.

'I was repeatedly told to "write in" but staff were unable — or unwilling — to explain what information was required.

'In one instance, I was even asked to provide a payslip from 20 years ago, which is wholly unreasonable.

'I have submitted written correspondence to TPS, including detailed identity verification and historical employment information, yet I have received no response whatsoever.'

Hull says an online search shows a significant number of other teachers are having the same difficulties – locked accounts, failed multi-factor authentication, incorrect personal details, and unresponsive customer service.

However, This is Money could not verify if there is a widespread problem – see below to find out how to contact us if you are locked out of the Teachers' Pensions scheme website.

After our intervention, Hull was contacted by a staff member who updated his details online so he could pass security.

He says the process of using an authenticator failed again while she was helping him – which she told him would be reported to IT – but he regained access to his account after choosing to receive an SMS text message instead.

'The SMS option did work but that is only because the pressure from you got them to update my details,' he says. 'It's a little disappointing that they only really responded due to media pressure.'

A Capita spokesman says: 'Where a member contacts us regarding access to their My Pension Online account, we work directly with them to investigate the issue and provide appropriate support.

'There is no current technical issue preventing Teachers’ Pension Scheme members from accessing My Pension Online.

'A small number of members cannot log in because their contact details are out of date, their identity verification is incomplete, or they need assistance setting up multi-factor authentication. We work with those members directly to get them back in.'

A Department for Education spokesman says: 'We are aware that Teachers’ Pensions is currently experiencing high levels of member contact – and we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

'We are working closely with the scheme administrator to ensure these cases are resolved and monitored, and that any feedback or emerging issues are addressed where necessary.'

Are you locked out of the Teachers' Pensions scheme website? Contact us at pensionquestions@thisismoney.co.uk.