Increased police officer pension contributions
Home Office circular 004/2012 Increased police officer pension contributions Broad subject: Police service Issue date: Tue Jan 31 00:…
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Home Office circular 004/2012
Increased police officer pension contributions
- Broad subject: Police service
- Issue date: Tue Jan 31 00:00:00 GMT 2012
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From:
Crime and policing group, policing directorate, police productivity unit -
Copies sent to:
Pension administrators - Sub category: Police pensions
- Implementation date: Tue Jan 31 00:00:00 GMT 2012
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For more info contact:
Stephen Finer
020 7035 8343 -
Addressed to:
Chief officers and chairs of police authorities
This circular publishes the Home Secretary’s decision to increase police pension contributions payable by police officers, with effect from 1 April 2012. This concerns contributions made under the Police Pension Regulations 1987 and the Police Pension Regulations 2006.
On 30 January 2012, the Home Secretary announced that she has decided to implement the first year of increases in line with the proposal put to the Police Negotiating Board, the details of which can be found at annex A (attached).
The relevant regulations will be amended, subject to the relevant Parliamentary procedure, in order that the changes take effect from 1 April 2012. The regulations will also make consequential amendments, such as increasing the current scheme limit of 15 per cent for officer contributions payable to the police pension scheme 1987, and adjusting the contribution rates of those ineligible for a pension award payable on the ground of permanent disablement.
The government is committed to securing in full the savings announced at Spending Review 2010 from increases in employee pension contributions for the unfunded public service pension schemes for 2013-14 and 2014-15. The Home Secretary will ask the Police Negotiating Board to consider proposed increases for these years in line with other public service schemes.
Please bring this notice to the attention of the relevant police pension administrators to ensure that the necessary arrangements are in place for the correct contributions to be deducted from members of the schemes, as appropriate and in line with the revised contribution rates, once the relevant regulations have come into effect.
Please note that the employer contribution rate does not change as a result of this notice or these intended regulation amendments.
Note: You should ensure that all members who are affected by this change are notified individually in writing in order to meet obligations under the Occupational Pension Scheme (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 1996. More details are at annex B (attached to this circular.
You may wish to use wording as follows in your notification:
‘This is to inform you of an increase in the contribution rate to your pension which is effective from 1 April 2012. The increase will depend on which scheme you are in, and on your basic annual salary, and will be as set out in the table below. Your employer will continue to pay a rate of 24.2 per cent on your behalf.’
The attached PDF contains:
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annex A (increase in police officer contributions)
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annex B (member communications: Occupational Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 1996)
Attachments
This document contains the annexes for Home Office circular 004/2012.