Can you top up or buy extra years in a police pension?

Can I top up my police pension? Yes: serving officers in the 2015 scheme can buy added pension up to a yearly limit, or save separately.

For most officers the answer turns on one choice. The 2015 scheme sells "added pension", a set amount of extra yearly pension, and has no AVC arrangement of its own. Whether buying more is sensible depends on your age, pay, tax position and how many years you have left to serve. Pay, age and service left are what an FCA-authorised adviser, ringing back at no cost, would go over with any officer who sends in the form on this page. This page covers England, Wales and Scotland.

Can I top up my police pension?

Yes, if you are an active member of the 2015 scheme, and the Home Office says that since 1 April 2022 "all police officers who continued in pensionable service were transitioned to the 2015 reformed scheme, regardless of age." Service built up in an older scheme stays with you; new top-ups are bought in the 2015 scheme.

Under the 2015 regulations, an active member can choose payments for added pension that increase either retirement benefits only, or retirement benefits and death benefits for a period of service. The extra is paid with the rest of your pension. It is not a separate pot, and not extra "years": it is an amount of annual pension.

If you are weighing it against simply saving elsewhere, the sections below set out both routes. For how the main scheme builds up, see how the police pension scheme works and how much a police pension pays.

Lump sum or regular payments: how added pension is bought

You can pay for added pension by a lump sum or by regular deductions from pay. The regulations set the ground rules for each.

• Regular payments come out of pay through your force. They can be a percentage of pensionable earnings or a fixed sum, and the scheme manager can set a minimum amount. You can cancel in writing during the payment period.
• A lump sum needs a track record: the member must have been an active member for a continuous 12 months at least. The regulations add that "an option to make a lump sum payment for added pension may only be exercised once in any scheme year."
• Who it covers is your choice: yourself only, or yourself and your dependants. Either way the amount credited is worked out from actuarial tables, so the price depends on factors such as your age. For a lump sum, the scheme can issue a statement of the pension the money would buy, which holds if the payment arrives within one month of its date.

Your force's pensions administrator handles applications and quotations. A lump sum can also come from a compensation lump sum on voluntary retirement, if the option notice says so.

How much added pension can you buy each year?

There is a cap, and it changes each year. The Home Office's 2015 scheme guide gives £6,500 for the scheme year 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016, and says the maximum is reviewed annually by HM Treasury and may effectively increase in line with CPI. Under the regulations, later limits are the figure the Treasury publishes before each scheme year or, failing that, last year's limit raised in line with pension increases. So £6,500 is the starting point, not today's figure; a lump sum statement from your administrator must state the current limit.

The cap applies to the total in your account. The regulations say "At any given time, the total amount of accrued added pension in the active member's account may not exceed the overall limit of added pension." If a payment would push you over it, the scheme must refund that payment. The guide adds that added pension is revalued by CPI, so it keeps pace with prices.

Those figures are a ceiling, not a recommendation. Buying a large amount in one go can interact with the annual allowance, a point the Scottish pensions authority makes directly: "If the growth in your benefits exceeds the Annual Allowance, you may be subject to an Annual Allowance charge." Pension tax relief explains the basics. Before committing a lump sum, ask an FCA-authorised adviser to test it against your annual allowance, since the short form here arranges a callback at no cost.

Buying extra years in the 1987 or 2006 scheme

Older guides for both schemes describe an "added years" route, but it applies to service that has now ended. The Scottish Public Pensions Agency says of its versions of both: "it is no longer possible to purchase Added Years in this scheme as it has closed."

For a sense of what the old route involved, the 1987 guide (dated 2006) said the full cost was "currently assessed as 37.1% of salary", with service plus purchased years not allowed to exceed 40/60ths. The 2006 guide (dated 2009) said an officer "may be able to buy up to 5 years' extra service" at a cost then assessed as 28.6% of salary. Both are history, not current prices, and both were far more expensive than normal contributions because the officer paid the full cost. For today's contribution rates, see police pension contributions; for ages and service, see police pension age and the police pension remedy.

Is there a police pension AVC?

Not in the 2015 scheme. The Home Office guide says: "The 2015 Scheme does not have a formal Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) arrangement, but you do have the option to make contributions to a separate personal pension scheme in addition to your contributions to the 2015 Scheme within limits prescribed by HMRC." The 1987 guide described an AVC scheme through Standard Life, and said AVCs are "deducted from pay before tax"; the 2006 guide said that scheme had no linked AVC arrangement.

So the practical alternative to added pension is a personal pension or SIPP of your own. Money in a personal pension is invested, so its value can fall as well as rise and you could get back less than you paid in. What a SIPP is and what pensions cost each year set out the trade-offs, and whether AVCs are worth it covers the idea in general.

Topping up a Scottish police pension

In Scotland the rules come from the SPPA. Its pages say that if you are an active member of the 2015 scheme you can buy Additional Pension "at any time up to your normal pension age", up to a maximum that the SPPA describes as subject to increase. Regular contributions are taken through payroll with tax relief at source, and a lump sum needs 12 months' continuous membership, with only one lump sum a year.

The SPPA also says that its calculator is offline: the actuarial factors have been revised, so new quotation requests are on hold until the changes are in place. Existing contracts may change in cost, and members affected will be contacted. For how the Scottish scheme differs overall, see the Scottish police pension.

Police pension top-up questions

Can I overpay into my police pension?

In the 2015 scheme, paying in extra means buying added pension, and any payment that would take you over the overall limit is refunded. The other route the Home Office guide mentions is a separate personal pension, within HMRC limits.

Does added pension cover my partner too?

It can, if you choose the option that includes dependants. For Scottish members, the SPPA says dependants become eligible for benefits "after 12 months of regular contributions", and receive the full entitlement if you die in the meantime, "as long as you were in good health when the contract was taken out".

What happens to added pension if I retire early?

In Scotland it is reduced: the SPPA says "If you choose to receive your pension earlier than your normal retirement age, your Additional Pension will be reduced", and that working past normal pension age increases it. For the main pension, see taking a police pension early.

Until what age can I buy added pension?

In Scotland the window runs up to normal pension age, according to the SPPA. For England and Wales, your force's pensions administrator can tell you the cut-off that applies to your contract.

Can I buy back missing service?

Added pension is the top-up route covered here. For a gap such as unpaid leave, your force's pensions administrator can say what can be bought back, and the remedy page linked above covers choices over service between 2015 and 2022.

Before you pay in more

Whichever route you lean towards, start with your force's administrator, then think about asking an FCA-authorised adviser to review your wider finances through the enquiry form. Free general information on financial planning is available from MoneyHelper, which the SPPA points members to, and whether a police pension is good puts the scheme in context.