On the 15 May 2020 the Police Federation published the following article on their website: The Police Federation of England & Wales is launching a compensation claim against the Government on behalf of members who were victims of discrimination and suffered any ‘injury to feeling’ as a result of changes to members’ pensions caused by the introduction of a new scheme in 2015. PFEW to launch Compensation Claim against Government In 2018, the Court of Appeal ruled that the Government’s changes to pensions with regard to judges and firefighters were discriminatory on the grounds of age. PFEW’s Group Action claim follows unsuccessful discussions with Government about compensating police officers for pension losses suffered through the discriminatory 2015 pension changes. The claim is...
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Pensions Challenge Update
Matters arising from the McCloud judgment on the discrimination caused by the current transitional protections in the CARE 2015 scheme continue to be addressed. The seven main staff associations: Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW,) Scottish Police Federation (SPF,) Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI,) Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA), Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS,) Superintendents’ Association of Northern Ireland (SANI) and Chief Police Officers’ Staff Association (CPOSA) are working together with key employer representatives through the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) to reach a solution. The first meeting of the SAB, Technical Working Group (TWG) was held on 11 February 2020. The role of the associations in the first instance was to ensure that government understands the scale and...
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Pensions Challenge Update
Following a case management hearing in London on Monday 28th October, the seven staff associations who represent police officers throughout the United Kingdom have been granted interested party status to the Employment Tribunal tasked with determining the remedy to the discrimination caused by the transitional protections introduced in the CARE 2015 pension scheme. The Home Office has again confirmed that the remedy for claimants will be applied for all members who were discriminated against as a result of the transitional arrangements. It is for the tribunal to decide what, if any compensation it will award and will hear the evidence in respect of that during 2020. Collectively we, the staff associations for police officers throughout the UK, have a responsibility to represent...
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Pensions Challenge – Update October 2019
Following a meeting of the Police Pensions Forum last week, the seven staff associations who represent police officers throughout the United Kingdom have applied to be an interested party to the Employment Tribunal tasked with determining the remedy to the discrimination caused by the transitional protections introduced in the CARE 2015 pensions scheme. Throughout the course of this pension challenge we have maintained that we will keep the situation under review and act accordingly. Our move is not about seeking to delay or prevent a remedy but to ensure that any such solution is not unnecessarily detrimental to any other group of our membership. Collectively we, the staff associations for police officers throughout the UK, have a responsibility to represent...
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Association response to Supreme Court ruling re pension changes
National Secretary Dan Murphy responds to today’s Supreme Court decision on pension changes: The Supreme Court has today denied the Government leave to appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling that pension changes discriminated against younger workers. Now the Government has been unsuccessful, we await the Government response to this decision, which will enable us to fully understand what it means for our members and how they will be affected. On the 30th January this year, the Government issued the following statement: “The Government is announcing a pause to one element of the valuations of public service pensions, following a court ruling on part of the 2015 pension reforms. The Coalition Government introduced reforms to public sector pensions, meaning most...
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Pension Estimators – Self Service Queries
Shabir Hussain is a former Commander in the MPS and is the pension advisor to CPOSA. He is also willing to provide pension/AA/LTA calculations to members of the PSAEW through his website. He does make a charge for his services. A link to his website can be found in the Member Services section of our website. Shabir has recently developed two on-line pension estimators for self-service queries. They both have screen capture tutorials which explain how they work and test sites to practice navigation and inputting. www.2015care.one will estimate future 2015 rights and cater for future pay rises. Therefore, it will include 1987 or 2006 final salary rights with commutation( lump sum) options. £1 per session. www.ppstax.net caters for...
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Temporary Pomotions – Flexibility Around Pensionable Pay
Temporary promotions to and within the Superintending ranks – flexibility around pensionable pay As previously notified, agreement has been reached with Ministers to allow officers on temporary promotion to either Superintendent or Chief Superintendent to elect to receive a non-pensionable allowance instead of a pensionable temporary salary. This arrangement has been introduced to overcome the difficulty of officers, when not in their last three years of service, potentially incurring an Annual Allowance charge arising from a notional increase in the value of their pension from which they ultimately might not benefit. The details of the agreement are contained within HO Circular 008/2016 which can be accessed here (insert link). A similar provision already exists for Superintending ranks on temporary...
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Police Pensions: Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)
Police Pensions: Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) The Home Office has issued Circular 007/2016 which can be seen below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/circular-0072016-police-pensions-additional-voluntary-contributions/police-pensions-additional-voluntary-contributions The Circular contains information about AVCs in light of recent changes to taxation which have enabled greater access to pension savings.
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Police Pension Scheme 2015 – Members’ Guide
Police Pension Scheme 2015 Please find below a link to the HO’s Police Pension Scheme 2015 Members’ Guide and also a copy of the PFEW FAQs on the new scheme: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-police-pensions-scheme-2015-members-guide Police Pension Scheme 2015 – FAQs V.2 – 27 March 2015 FINAL (2)
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