Circular 005/2013: increased police officer pension contributions
Published 7 March 2013
© Crown copyright 2013
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/increased-police-officer-pension-contributions--2/v
This circular publishes the Home Secretary’s decision to increase police pension contributions payable by police officers, with effect from 1 April 2013. This concerns contributions made under the Police Pension Regulations 1987 and the Police Pension Regulations 2006.
Further to increases implemented in April 2012, and following further consultation with the Police Negotiating Board, there will be implemented an increase in employee contributions, the details of which can be found at Annex A below.
The relevant regulations will be amended, subject to the relevant Parliamentary procedure, in order that the changes take effect from 1 April 2013.
The government is committed to securing the savings announced at Spending Review 2010 from increases in employee pension contributions for the unfunded public service pension schemes for 2014-15. The Home Secretary will ask the Police Negotiating Board to consider proposed increases for that year 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.
NB: 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 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 2013. 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% on your behalf.”