THEY SHOULD LOSE THEIR PENSIONS – The Survivors Trust called on child sexual offenders to forfeit their pensions.
More than 150 teachers have been allowed to keep their gold-plated pensions despite being banned for child sexual abuse.
Teachers receive an inflation-linked payment for life in retirement, but the Education Secretary can revoke it if they commit certain crimes.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show 60 teachers have been banned for sexual misconduct involving a child since 2015, and a further 96 have been barred for possessing indecent images.
However, no one in the profession has been stripped of their pension since 2005.
Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, is now under pressure to step in after The Survivors Trust called for workers found guilty of child sexual abuse to forfeit their pension. Lucy Duckworth, from the charity, said: “When someone is found guilty of these despicable offences, all government departments need to work together to make accountability effective – removing pensions is one way of doing this.”
The figures reveal that 1,095 teachers have been handed a prohibition order since 2015, permanently banning them from the profession unless they succeed in overturning it.
Of those, 316 were issued for sexual misconduct, including at least 60 where the victim was a child. However, the Teaching Regulation Agency refused to disclose the true figure.
