I expected to get my police pension at age 55, so why was this postponed at the last minute until age 60? STEVE WEBB replies

I joined the police in 1999, and when I joined the police my retirement age was 55. I left in 2011 when my children came along and retirement was postponed.

All my statements always showed that the pension was still affordable in 2027, when I turn 55. I have paperwork showing this. I recently requested a current statement and again it said age 55 and 2027.

When I asked a few more questions about my lump sum, the scheme noticed an error on their end.

Apparently the pension now won’t be paid until I’m 60, and they apologized for the mistake and inconvenience.

I have a lot planned around this retirement age. My mortgage needs to be paid off with part of my lump sum payment, as well as a loan my husband and I took out from the police when we first joined as a down payment on our first house.

This must be paid back when my husband retires next year. Can I do something about this?

Steve Webb replies: It is shocking that there has been a repeated mistake in such a fundamental fact, namely the age at which you can receive a pension.

Even if you have consistently received incorrect information, there is unfortunately no way to force the scheme to pay out a pension that would be contrary to the scheme’s rules and the regulations that apply to it.

By way of background: many pension schemes have different ‘sections’.

This is particularly common in public sector pension schemes, where several reforms have taken place over the years.

When changes are made, they sometimes only apply to new participants after a certain date, and a new ‘section’ with different rules is created for them.

In the case of the Police Pension Scheme, there are three main parts: the 1987 scheme, which applied when you took up employment, the 2006 scheme and the (current) scheme from 2015.

More information about the police pension scheme can be found here: Overview of police pension scheme.

The retirement age rules for the 1987 part of the police system are somewhat complex and partly reflect the demands placed on police officers with a long record of service on the front line.

Under the 1987 section, those with thirty years of continuous service could in some cases receive a pension as early as the age of fifty (although of course they would have had to join the police at an early age).

But what’s unusual about the rules for this section is that those, like you, who left the police well before retirement age (and with less than 25 years of service) couldn’t receive their pension until age 60.

In other words: the retirement age for ‘active’ participants who retire is lower than the retirement age for ‘dormant’ participants.

You shared with me some of the statements you received. The front page clearly states that you can receive your pension in 2027 at the age of 55.

But a later part of the same statement mentioned a retirement age of 60, in 2032.

To be honest, if the cover page of a statement states how much pension you will receive and when, I can very well understand why you expected that.

And this is especially true because you have been given the same information repeatedly.

What is particularly poignant is that you only learned this information earlier this year, on the eve of what you thought would be your retirement. This has put your financial planning in a very difficult place.

Where I have come across cases like this before, one thing that schemes often point out is that upon joining the scheme you would have been given a scheme booklet.

This booklet contains all the rules of the scheme, including the retirement age.

But as a new police recruit, no doubt given the sheer amount of paperwork required to join the force, I seriously doubt that studying the pension book would have been a priority.

In response to your complaint, the scheme administrators sent you a letter and you shared their letter with me.

They accept that they have made an administrative error and have apologized.

They have offered you a ‘goodwill’ payment of £200, which reflects what is known in the pensions industry as a ‘distress and inconvenience’ payment.

This of course in no way reflects the value of the five years of pension you expected and will not receive, but is a symbolic payment to acknowledge that this has been a difficult and distressing process.

You are considering whether or not to accept this offer of €200.

One option would be to reject the offer and file a complaint with the Pensions Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman can recommend his own figure for ‘distress and inconvenience’ and there is useful guidance explaining the sliding scale of payments the Ombudsman can recommend if he finds maladministration: Compensation for non-financial injustice.

However, keep in mind that this was released back in 2018 and is currently under review.

As you will see, the award can range from £500 for ‘significant’ distress to £2,000 for ‘severe’ cases, with more in exceptional cases.

The guide provides some examples and definitions of each category.

Although there is a possibility that if you go to the Ombudsman you will be awarded a higher amount, it can take almost a year for the Ombudsman to even look at the case and there is no guarantee of a better outcome.

Regarding the issues you have been experiencing, I raised your concerns with the administrator, XPS Group, and a spokesperson said:

‘We are sorry that your reader had conflicting pension dates in her administration, resulting in incorrect information on part of her benefit statement.

‘That error has now been corrected. We have apologized to your reader for our handling of her case and offered compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused, and regret that her concerns were not addressed more quickly through our correspondence.”