Police pension advice comes from your force's pensions team for figures, the Police Federation for background and a regulated adviser for a recommendation.
Most of what an officer needs to know about a police pension is free from the force's administrator. Paid advice earns its place when a decision cannot be undone and the answer turns on your whole position, not just the scheme. Few police pension decisions turn on the scheme alone. Savings, debts and a partner's income all count, so an FCA-authorised adviser you reach through this page's form will cover those too, at no charge for the call.
Who can help with a police pension, and what each can and cannot do
The scheme's own administrator comes first. The Home Office says that responsibility for administering the police pension schemes "lies locally in each police force area", so the person to ask is your force's pensions team, who hold your service record and can produce figures. What they will not do is tell you which option to pick. The 1987 scheme's guide, in its worked example of a transfer, says the choice is the member's own and "the police authority cannot advise him as to what he should do".
The Police Federation of England and Wales publishes explanations of each scheme, the remedy and commutation. Its own pensions page calls the content "generic information" and says members "must not make any financial decisions based upon information provided on the website". Treat it as a map of the topics, then check your own numbers with the administrator.
Pension Wise will not help with the police pension itself. Its scope, as GOV.UK words it, stops short of 'final salary' and 'career average' schemes, and every police scheme is one or the other. You can read why in our Pension Wise explainer.
That leaves a regulated adviser. MoneyHelper says anyone choosing one should use a firm regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and that you must be told what the advice will cost before you commit. Typical fees are on the pension advice cost page, and the search for a local firm is on the page on finding a pension adviser.
Between them these routes cover different jobs: figures and forms from the administrator, background from the Federation, and a recommendation from a regulated firm.
1987, 2006 or 2015: which of the three do you hold?
Three schemes exist, and many officers hold more than one. The Home Office guide to the 2015 scheme lists them as the legacy 1987 scheme, the legacy 2006 scheme and the reformed 2015 scheme, and says a high proportion of members have "mixed membership".
| Scheme | Who joined it | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Recruits before 6 April 2006 (unless they opted out) | Legacy, final salary |
| 2006 | Recruits from 6 April 2006 until the 2015 scheme began on 1 April 2015 | Legacy, final salary |
| 2015 | Everyone who joined from 1 April 2015 | Career average, defined benefit |
The dates come from the schemes' own guides. All three are defined benefit schemes: the pension is set by a formula, not by what an investment fund grew to. The 2006 guide adds that, like the 1987 scheme, it is "technically an 'unfunded' scheme", so there is no pot of invested money behind your name. That matters in the transfer section below.
If you are not sure which slices of service you hold, your annual benefit statement or the administrator will say. The ages each slice allows are laid out on the police pension age page.
The McCloud remedy: a choice many officers now face
The Home Office says the transitional arrangements made when public service schemes, the police schemes included, were reformed between 2014 and 2016 amounted to unlawful age discrimination. For police in England and Wales, it describes a remedy period between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022, and says eligible members "will be able to choose to receive legacy pension scheme benefits or benefits equivalent to those available under the 2015 reformed scheme for service during the remedy period".
Two features make this a real decision. First, the regulations for England and Wales say an immediate choice decision "is irrevocable", so a choice once made stands. Second, the law requires the scheme manager to send each member with relevant service a remediable service statement, which is the document to compare the options with. How the choice works step by step is on the police pension remedy page.
Which option is worth more depends on your age, your service in each scheme, your pay and your other income. Weighing those against the statement is the sort of job an adviser does.
Commuting a police pension: cash now, smaller pension for life
Commutation trades some yearly income for cash. Under the Police Pensions Regulations 2015, which cover England and Wales, for every £1 of annual pension given up the member "must be paid a lump sum of £12", and a cap applies: no more than 25% of the cash value the scheme actuary puts on the pension. The option can only be used before the first payment of the pension is made. The 1987 guide likewise says you must tell your force's administrator before retirement, or before the pension comes into payment if it does not start when you retire.
The exchange is permanent: a smaller pension for life against cash now. Whether it suits depends on what the cash would do, such as clearing a mortgage, and on what your household would live on without the pension you gave up. Tax on the lump sum is on the police pension tax page, and the sums for a typical pension are on the police pension amount page.
Because the trade is permanent and the right answer depends on your debts, health and household, talking it over with an adviser before you notify the administrator is sensible, and the quick enquiry form here can set that up.
Retiring early: what the reduction means
In the 2015 scheme, regulation 50 applies an "early payment reduction" when an active member becomes a pensioner member before reaching normal pension age, which lowers the annual rate of pension paid. The reduction does not come from an adviser or an administrator's discretion; it is in the regulations. The size for your age is a figure for the administrator to give you, and the buy-out and ill-health exceptions are covered on the page on taking a police pension early.
The sensible question for a reader weighing early retirement is how the lower income fits beside everything else: a second job, a partner's income, the State Pension years away. That is a question about your whole position, not about the scheme.
Transfers: why a police pension cannot simply be moved
Some officers are offered a move of their police pension into something with more freedom. For a serving or former officer this is largely closed off. All three police schemes are unfunded: the 2006 guide says so of the 1987 and 2006 schemes, and the Home Office's 2015 member's guide lists the police pension schemes among unfunded public service schemes whose transfers into defined contribution and other flexible benefit arrangements were to be restricted from 6 April 2015. Parliament made that restriction: a transfer from an unfunded public service defined benefits scheme is allowed only if the benefits the receiving scheme provides "are not flexible benefits". MoneyHelper's guide to defined benefit pensions says that in an unfunded public sector scheme you "can only transfer your pension to another defined benefit scheme", and that a transfer cannot be reversed once made.
Moving between public service schemes, for instance when leaving the police for another public sector job, is a separate question for both schemes' administrators. And anyone who contacts you offering to release or transfer a police pension should be treated as a possible scam: check the firm on the FCA register and read our scam guide first.
For the general transfer rules, see when advice is required before a transfer.
Where you serve changes the scheme: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
The schemes share names and shapes but are separate in law. The Home Office's 2015 member's guide says the 2015 scheme pays pensions and benefits in respect of officers of police forces in England and Wales, and the remedy regulations quoted here "extend to England and Wales".
In Scotland the Scottish Public Pensions Agency runs the police schemes. Its page says anyone who was in the 1987 or 2006 scheme "will have been transitioned to the 2015 scheme already", lists a lump sum option of £12 for every £1 of annual pension given up, with a current maximum of 35.7% of your pension fund that decreases from your 65th birthday, and describes early retirement from 55 with an actuarial reduction. Check its pages and its administrator, not the English ones, for your own figures.
Northern Ireland has its own scheme for the Police Service of Northern Ireland: the Department of Justice's guide to the benefits "only applies to members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland" and was published on 28 February 2022. If you serve there, the England and Wales remedy and commutation rules above are a guide to the shape of the questions, not your terms.
Finding a regulated adviser for a police pension
Look for a firm that is authorised for pension and retirement advice, ask whether it deals with public sector defined benefit schemes, and ask for the cost in writing before you agree. A firm's willingness to explain what it will not recommend is a better sign than a promise of results.
Free routes, such as the administrator and our guide to free pension help, remain open either way. Mention the choice you are weighing when you request a free call-back here, and the adviser can start from there.
Quick answers on police pension help
Does the Police Federation give pension advice?
It gives general information on each scheme, the remedy and commutation, and states that its pages are not a basis for financial decisions. Personal recommendations come from a regulated adviser.
Can I get police pension help for free?
The administrator will give free figures and explain the rules, and MoneyHelper offers free guidance, but neither will say what to choose. Asking an adviser to phone you via the enquiry form here costs nothing.
Where do I get Met Police pension advice?
Administration is local to each force area, so the Met is dealt with through its own administrator. A regulated adviser can work with its statements wherever you serve.
Is there Scottish police pension advice?
Start with the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, which runs the police schemes in Scotland. An adviser can then help with choices such as early retirement or commutation.
Can a police pension be switched into a personal pension?
Generally not into anything offering flexible benefits: MoneyHelper says an unfunded public sector scheme member can only transfer to another defined benefit scheme. Be wary of anyone who says otherwise.
Can I get police pension advice without leaving the scheme?
Yes. A regulated adviser can look at retirement timing, commutation or the remedy choice with you while your pension stays where it is.