Teachers who have retired through illness have received letters from the Training and Development Agency for Schools, enticing them back. One recipient was John Illingworth, a former primary head who broke down at the NUT conference two years ago, saying he would leave the profession because of mental illness brought on by stress. Mr Illingworth said he found the letter outrageous in its lack of sensitivity towards mentally ill colleagues and in its “misleading” claims over improvements to teacher pay and workload. “I take that letter as a joke,” he said.