Police Pension ill health retirement calculations

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.035091

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. Can you confirm the current position with the 1987 legacy pension scheme which had a Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA) of 55 yrs old for Constable and Sergeant ranks and for those of Inspector rank and above being 60 yrs old. Similarly, senior officers had a CRA of 65yrs old.
2. Does the Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA) associated with the Constable & Sergeant ranks (55) and the inspector ranks (60) and above within the legacy 1987 pension scheme still apply now in 2024 and beyond when officers who are still members of those schemes come to retire with an ordinary pension?
3. Can you outline in a simple computational process how the enhancement of 7/60th’s which is maximum available under the 1987 legacy scheme is actually applied in practice to an officer who is ill health retired in April 2024 who has 23 1/2 years pensionable service in the 1987 legacy scheme and 2 years service in the CARE 2015 scheme?
4. Can you clarify is this 7/60th applied first as the officer has 13 years service or more completed, followed by 20/60th’s for the first 20 years service (making a total so far of 27/60th) and finally the remaining 3 1/2 years at the double accrual rate providing another 7/60th which altogether provide a total of 34/60th’s?
5. Is this the correct way to work out the total sixtieths the officer has accrued and will be credited if being ill health retired?
6. If not can you provide the correct computation to establish the total sixtieths the officer will be credited with?
7. Can you confirm that an officer who can never accrue more than the maximum 40/60th’s under the 1987 legacy scheme if being ill health retired for a member as they were moved to the CARE scheme so they would always receive the full 7/60 available so long as the total figure remained under 40 sixtieths overall?
8. What factors would impact on the officer not receiving the full 7/60th enhancement that is available under the 1987 legacy scheme?
9. Can you clarify the following comment in italics specifically with respect of an inspector being ill health retired under medical grounds who is aged 56 at the point of exiting the police service composed of 23 1/2 years in the 1987 legacy scheme and 2 years in the CARE 2015 scheme totalling 25 1/2 years pensionable service - the resultant pension must not be greater than the age retirement pension that could be achieved at the normal pension age of 55 for a Constable or Sergeant or at age 60 in the case of inspector or above.
10. Does the historical Compulsory Retirement Age associated with the Constable & Sergeant ranks (55) and the Inspectors ranks (60) still apply if an officer is ill health retired at some point in the future in 2024 and beyond, under the provisions of the IHR scheme within the legacy 1987 pension scheme?

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 the current position with the 1987 legacy pension scheme which had a Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA) of 55 yrs old for Constable and Sergeant ranks and for those of Inspector rank and above being 60 yrs old. Similarly, senior officers had a CRA of 65yrs old.

These CRAs do not apply within the Met Police, the Met Police has unique CRAs that differ to those from the rest of the country.

Met CRAs are:

Met Police
Age 55 for all ranks below Commander
Age 57 for Commanders & Deputy Assistant Commissioners
Age 60 for Assistant Commissioners

Q2 - Does the Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA) associated with the Constable & Sergeant ranks (55) and the inspector ranks (60) and above within the legacy 1987 pension scheme still apply now in 2024 and beyond when officers who are still members of those schemes come to retire with an ordinary pension?

These CRAs do not apply within the Met Police, the Met Police has unique CRAs that differ to those from the rest of the country. But yes CRAs do still apply to the 1987 element of pension.

Q3 - Can you outline in a simple computational process how the enhancement of 7/60th’s which is maximum available under the 1987 legacy scheme is actually applied in practice to an officer who is ill health retired in April 2024 who has 23 1/2 years pensionable service in the 1987 legacy scheme and 2 years service in the CARE 2015 scheme?

It would be the lower of the following two calculations:

1 – The number of 60ths within the 1987 scheme PLUS 7/60ths: 27/60ths PLUS 7/60ths = 34/60ths

2- The number of 60ths the officer would have achieved had they remained in the 1987 scheme up until their CRA i.e. on the basis that they never joined the 2015 scheme

The above comes with the caveat that an underpin applies, that being that if a standard pension was higher than the ill health pension, then the higher standard pension would be paid

Further any 1987 pension payable is always subject to the fact it cannot exceed 40/60ths

Q4 - Can you clarify is this 7/60th applied first as the officer has 13 years service or more completed, followed by 20/60th’s for the first 20 years service (making a total so far of 27/60th) and finally the remaining 3 1/2 years at the double accrual rate providing another 7/60th which altogether provide a total of 34/60th’s?

The order is irrelevant. The answer will always be 34/60ths. Any double accrual (2/60ths for each year above 20) is calculated based on actual time served within the 1987 pension scheme i.e. entirely independent of any enhancement.

Q5 - Is this the correct way to work out the total sixtieths the officer has accrued and will be credited if being ill health retired?

Please see above.

Q6 - If not can you provide the correct computation to establish the total sixtieths the officer will be credited with?

N/A

Q7 - Can you confirm that an officer who can never accrue more than the maximum 40/60th’s under the 1987 legacy scheme if being ill health retired for a member as they were moved to the CARE scheme so they would always receive the full 7/60 available so long as the total figure remained under 40 sixtieths overall?

Please see the answer to question 5 above. Yes the 1987 pension can never exceed 40/60ths but no this does not mean the 7/60ths are always applied in full. The total 60ths cannot exceed the total 60ths that would have been applied had the officer been a member of the 1987 pension scheme all the way through to their CRA.

Q8 - What factors would impact on the officer not receiving the full 7/60th enhancement that is available under the 1987 legacy scheme?

Please see the answer to question 9 above.

Q9 - Can you clarify the following comment in italics specifically with respect of an inspector being ill health retired under medical grounds who is aged 56 at the point of exiting the police service composed of 23 1/2 years in the 1987 legacy scheme and 2 years in the CARE 2015 scheme totalling 25 1/2 years pensionable service - the resultant pension must not be greater than the age retirement pension that could be achieved at the normal pension age of 55 for a Constable or Sergeant or at age 60 in the case of inspector or above.

These CRAs do not apply within the Met Police, the Met Police has unique CRAs that differ to those from the rest of the country.

Q10 - Does the historical Compulsory Retirement Age associated with the Constable & Sergeant ranks (55) and the Inspectors ranks (60) still apply if an officer is ill health retired at some point in the future in 2024 and beyond, under the provisions of the IHR scheme within the legacy 1987 pension scheme?

Historic CRAs will always apply to the 1987 element of the pension including in 2024 and beyond. The above CRAs however do not apply to the Met Police.