Information about retirement, ill health and pensions

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.035224

I note you seek access to the following information:

Request 1:
1. Can you confirm with absolute certainty that in 2006 the Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA) of 55 yrs old for Constable & Sergeant ranks and that of Inspector ranks were both aligned and all federated ranks raised to age 60 and these are the current scheme rules in 2024.

2. Can you outline if this new CRA of age 60 would have a detrimental impact if an officer of inspector rank were to be ill health retired, exiting the police service after their 55th birthday specifically with regards to the enhancement (7/60th) available to be applied under the 1987 scheme.

3. Can you confirm if a Constable or Sergeant was to have been ill health retired before the changes in 2006 when the previous old CRA’s applied, then an officer of either of these two ranks exited the police after their 55th birthday, the ill health enhancement of 7/60th would not be applied as they had reached CRA of 55 for their rank.

Request 2:
4. Can you provide the simple formula used by your forces pensions branch showing how the 1/60th’s accrual rate are established in practice for this hypothetical officer below:

a 52 yr old police inspector who joined in October 1998 who has 25yrs 5 months total pensionable service composed of 23 years 6 months in the 1987 scheme and 2 years in the CARE 2015 scheme and is ill health retired on medical grounds, low tier, exiting in March 2024 - pensionable salary is 59,162 - please outline the order sequence in calculating the total 1/60th’s this officer will be credited with when calculating the gross pension for both schemes.

Request 3:
5. Can you provide the weighted accrual calculation for a police officer who has 27 years total pensionable service composed of 23 in the 1987 legacy scheme and 4 years in the 2015 CARE scheme) who is ill health retired in January 2024 when they exit the police service.

Can you explain if this is not 1/45th
Can you explain why, if this is 1/47.647th.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full. Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Q1 - Can you confirm with absolute certainty that in 2006 the Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA) of 55 yrs old for Constable & Sergeant ranks and that of Inspector ranks were both aligned and all federated ranks raised to age 60 and these are the current scheme rules in 2024.

Whilst CRAs were changed, the 1987 Police Pension Scheme regulations are still based on the original pre 2006 CRAs.

Q2 - Can you outline if this new CRA of age 60 would have a detrimental impact if an officer of inspector rank were to be ill health retired, exiting the police service after their 55th birthday specifically with regards to the enhancement (7/60th) available to be applied under the 1987 scheme.

As above, for the purpose of the 1987 scheme the CRAs remained the same, therefore there was no detriment nor benefit of any changes to the CRAs

Q3 - Can you confirm if a Constable or Sergeant was to have been ill health retired before the changes in 2006 when the previous old CRA’s applied, then an officer of either of these two ranks exited the police after their 55th birthday, the ill health enhancement of 7/60th would not be applied as they had reached CRA of 55 for their rank.

As above the changes in 2006 had and have no bearing on the 1987 pension. In general terms no ill health enhancement is applied to the 1987 scheme once an officer has reached their CRA

Q4 - Can you provide the simple formula used by your forces pensions branch showing how the 1/60th’s accrual rate are established in practice for this hypothetical officer below:

a 52 yr old police inspector who joined in October 1998 who has 25yrs 5 months total pensionable service composed of 23 years 6 months in the 1987 scheme and 2 years in the CARE 2015 scheme and is ill health retired on medical grounds, low tier, exiting in March 2024 - pensionable salary is 59,162 - please outline the order sequence in calculating the total 1/60th’s this officer will be credited with when calculating the gross pension for both schemes.

The number of 60ths in the 1987 scheme is calculated on the pensionable service as at the office’s last day of pensionable service in the 1987 scheme.

So for the above example this officer has 23 and a half years of 1987 service. The calculation would be:

20/60ths for the first 20 years
7/60ths (2/60ths for every year above 20 i.e. 3.5 times 2)
A maximum of 7/60ths ill health retirement subject to capping

The total of the above would amount to 34/60ths. If this total exceeds the total amount of 60ths the officer would have achieved had they continued to serve until their pre-2006 CRA, then the 60ths would be reduced accordingly

The above calculations are subject to an underpin, whereby if the officer would have received a higher 1987 pension had they retired in good health under the ‘weighted accrual’ method, then this higher pension would be applied.

Q5 - Can you provide the weighted accrual calculation for a police officer who has 27 years total pensionable service composed of 23 in the 1987 legacy scheme and 4 years in the 2015 CARE scheme) who is ill health retired in January 2024 when they exit the police service.

Can you explain if this is not 1/45th
Can you explain why, if this is 1/47.647th

As above weighted accrual is only calculated for the purpose of the underpin. For calculating accrual with ill health enhancement, weighted accrual is ignored as it is calculated on the accrual up to the point of an officer’s last day of service in the 1987 scheme.

The formula to calculate the weighted accrual for the purpose of the underpin is:

A x B/C = D

A - Total calendar years’ service in 1987 and 2015 schemes
B - 60 (1987 scheme accrual rate)
C - Total service including double accrual that would have been awarded had the member remained in the 1987 scheme
D - Weighted accrual rate on which pension rights accrued under the 1987 scheme will be calculated.

So in the above example we would arrive at the following:
a - 27
b - 60
c - 34
d - 47.647

As such the accrual would be 1/47.647 for the purpose of the underpin calculation.