How much police pension you get depends on your pay in each year of service, not your final rank: in the 2015 scheme, 1/55.3 of pensionable earnings is added each year.
Most people asking how much a police pension is want a monthly figure, and there is no single one: it depends on which scheme or schemes your service falls in, your pay year by year, when you leave and when you draw it. This page covers the Police Pension Scheme 2015 in England and Wales, the one every officer who joined from 1 April 2015 is in, and says where the older 1987 and 2006 schemes differ.
Only the scheme holds your real numbers, so the free routes come first: your force's pension administrator and the official calculator described below, with MoneyHelper for general information (Pension Wise appointments do not cover career average pensions). Officers who want that figure set beside their State Pension and savings can also talk it through with an FCA-authorised adviser, without charge: the form on this page, once sent, brings a call. How the police pension scheme works compares the three schemes in general; this page is about the amount.
The 1/55.3 rule in the 2015 scheme
The Home Office's guide to the benefits of the 2015 scheme (published December 2021) describes it as a defined benefit scheme that "provides a guaranteed income you can claim when you retire". It is a career average (or "CARE") design, so it is not tied to your pay at the end. In the guide's words, "1/55.3th of your pensionable earnings is added to your pension", and that happens when each scheme year closes on 31 March. The guide's own example is pensionable earnings of £55,300 in a year, which adds £1,000 to the pension.
What that means in practice:
- Each year earns its own block. One scheme year's pay produces one block of pension, and the blocks are added together. A rise in rank late in your career lifts the blocks from then on; it does not re-price the earlier ones, except through revaluation (below).
- Pay is what counts, not contributions. The guide says the employer pays around double the member contribution and that "the monetary amount of the contribution does not directly determine the size of the pension". What you pay in is covered by police pension contributions.
- Pensionable earnings means pay you are entitled to. The regulations (SI 2015/445, regulation 33) define it as pay to which the member is entitled in the period, taking account of any retrospective increase in that pay. Which allowances and payments count is a question for your force's administrator.
The regulations (regulations 90 and 91) also require at least two years' qualifying service, or a transfer payment of the kind they describe, before a retirement pension is payable.
Putting pounds on it: a worked sum
The sum below is our own working from the 1/55.3 rule, done on 20 October 2026. It is not a forecast and not a quote, and it leaves out revaluation, rank changes, part-time service and any early-payment reduction.
- Pensionable earnings of £41,475 in a scheme year add £750 to the annual pension (£41,475 divided by 55.3).
- Twenty years at that same pay, with no revaluation, would give £15,000 a year, or £1,250 a month before tax.
The Home Office guide runs a similar sum on its own figures. With a salary of £55,300 and, as it says, no allowance for annual revaluation, it reaches £10,000 of annual pension after ten years, £20,000 after twenty and £30,000 after thirty, which it describes as 54% of that salary at a pension age of 60. The guide adds a caution that matters for anyone using a sum like ours: "in practice, the pension calculation is more complex than demonstrated above", because the amount depends on pay awards, career progression and inflation.
Revaluation: how each block grows
A block of pension is not frozen at the amount first credited. The regulations define the in-service index adjustment as "the change in prices in the previous scheme year, plus 1.25%", and the Home Office guide explains that CPI (which "can be either negative or positive") plus 1.25% is applied to the whole pension balance at the start of each scheme year while you are an active member.
After you stop being an active member the extra 1.25% falls away: the guide says the blocks "will continue to be increased annually until your retirement by the movement in CPI only". The guide's illustration is an officer on £21,000 in their first year, who earns a block of £379.75 a year (1/55.3 of £21,000); if they stay active for thirty years and CPI stays at a constant 2%, that one block is worth £991.28 a year at retirement. That is the Home Office's example on its own assumptions, not a prediction about prices.
Once a pension is being paid it rises each year under a separate rule, set out in police pension increases.
Pension age, retiring early and leaving before pension age
The 2015 scheme's normal pension age is 60 for police. The Public Service Pensions Act 2013 (section 10) sets it by law: the general rule of State Pension age (or 65 if higher) does not apply to members of a police force, and their normal pension age "must be 60". Retire at 60 or later and no early-payment reduction applies.
Retiring before 60
An active member can take the pension from minimum retirement age, which the Home Office guide gives as currently 55, but it is reduced because it will be paid for longer. The guide (December 2021) gives a rule of thumb of a reduction of "roughly 5% for each year that you retire before 60", and adds that the real figure comes from actuarial calculations "updated periodically". The regulations (regulation 50) say the reduction is set by the scheme manager from actuarial guidance or tables, so the amount on your own quote is the one that counts. The regulations also give a member an option to buy out the reduction (regulations 98 and 122); how that works for you is for the administrator to explain.
Why the rise to 57 passes police by
The Finance Act 2022 (section 10) raises the normal minimum pension age for most pension schemes from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028, but keeps it at 55 for a "uniformed services pension scheme", and a police force other than the Civil Nuclear Constabulary is within that definition. So the general rise to 57 does not change the police position. The age at which each member can actually claim also depends on their scheme; our guide to the minimum pension age explains the general rule.
Leaving before 55: the deferred pension
An officer who leaves before 55 and has the qualifying service keeps the pension. The guide says payment of the 2015 pension "is deferred to State Pension age", and the regulations agree: a deferred member can draw the pension from the day they reach their State Pension age, or earlier from minimum pension age with a reduction. Until then the blocks are revalued by CPI only. Your State Pension age is on GOV.UK's check your State Pension age service, and our State Pension guide covers that separate pension.
Retiring at 55, at 60 or deferring to State Pension age each give a different figure from the same service. Picking between those dates is a decision about total income, not only this pension. Your answers in the form on this page travel to an FCA-authorised firm, and one of its advisers rings about the dates. Ill health is a separate route, covered in police ill health retirement.
Officers with older service: the 1987 and 2006 schemes
Many serving and retired officers do not have 2015 scheme service alone. The Home Office guide says members who joined before April 2015 have membership of the legacy 1987 and 2006 schemes, so "a high proportion of scheme members" have "mixed membership", and it adds that the legacy pension "will continue to be uprated in line with your final salary up until the point of retirement".
The figures below come from the Home Office's two older member guides, which GOV.UK still hosts. The 1987 text is the October 2006 version and the 2006 text is the March 2009 version, so treat them as descriptions of how each scheme was built, and check anything that has changed with your administrator.
| Scheme | How the guide says the pension builds | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 (final salary) | 1/60 of final pay for each of the first 20 years of pensionable service, then 2/60 for each year in the final 10, based on average pensionable pay, which it describes as in effect the highest pensionable pay for the three years before retirement | Limit of 40/60 (two-thirds of average pensionable pay), which needs 30 years' service |
| 2006 (final salary) | 1/70 of final pay for each year of pensionable service | Limit of 35/70, for 35 years' service, which the guide describes as half of final pay, plus an automatic tax-free lump sum of four times the annual pension |
Officers who stayed on after the 2015 scheme opened keep some of that protection. The Home Office guide says "ongoing double accrual" on the 1987 part lets a member still reach an overall accrual rate of 1/45 on that part, assuming they complete 30 years' scheme membership, and that any 2015 pension is paid in addition. It also says a 1987 member keeps the option to retire after 25 years' service at 50 or over, or after 30 years' service, and a 2006 member can still retire from 55; the 2015 part is then reduced if it is taken before 60. For a 1987 member who leaves before 55, the guide says the 2015 benefits would be deferred to State Pension age, or paid from 55 with a reduction.
That makes a combined figure a sum of two or three parts, each with its own rules, and it is why the official calculator and your administrator's quote are worth more than a rule of thumb. Whether the 1987 or the 2015 pension suits a particular person better is covered by whether a police pension is good value, not here.
McCloud: a choice that can change the total
The remedy is law. The Police Pensions (Remediable Service) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/831) were made on 19 July 2023 and came into force on 1 October 2023. Their explanatory note says they decide whether a member's remediable service "is to be treated as service in the member’s legacy scheme or in the reformed scheme": for pensioners and members who have died the decision is an immediate choice, while for active and deferred members it is a deferred choice. GOV.UK's page on the Home Office consultation, updated with the outcome in August 2023, puts the remedy period at 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022 and says the choice comes at retirement or when benefits come into payment.
The regulations require the scheme manager to provide a remediable service statement, and a member who intends to claim notifies the scheme between 6 and 3 months before the date they want benefits to start, unless the scheme manager considers another period reasonable. Anyone in scope can therefore see two versions of the pension for the remedy period, and the statement is the document to compare them on. Who is in scope and how the choice works are on the police pension remedy explained.
Giving up some pension for a lump sum
Under regulation 124, a member who becomes entitled to a retirement or ill-health pension may exchange part of it for a lump sum, before the first payment is made. For every £1 of annual pension given up the lump sum is £12, and the lump sum may not be more than 25% of the cash value of the pension, as advised by the scheme actuary. The Home Office guide describes the same limit as "up to one quarter". To put a number on the trade (our working): £12,000 in cash costs £1,000 of pension in every year it is paid. Tax on the lump sum is covered by whether the police pension is taxable, and the factors the older schemes use by police pension commutation factors and the maximum commutation.
Where your real number comes from
- Your force's pension administrator. The Home Office guide says the administrator is responsible for the assessment, award, payment and maintenance of all police pensions, and GOV.UK's list of administrator contacts for England and Wales sorts them by force, since administration is local.
- Annual benefit statement. The regulations (regulation 227) require the scheme manager to provide benefit information statements to each active member. Compare it with the remedy statement if you are in scope.
- The Home Office calculator. GOV.UK hosts a police pensions calculator (a spreadsheet last updated on GOV.UK in February 2021) that gives "an illustration of your pension at a chosen retirement age". GOV.UK describes the results as "only estimates, based on your inputs and other assumptions". Both GOV.UK pages date from 2021, so ask the administrator whether newer factors apply.
- Free guidance. GOV.UK says MoneyHelper gives free and impartial information, and that Pension Wise, a free appointment for people over 50, does not cover "final salary" or "career average" pensions, which is what police pensions are.
This page covers England and Wales only; the Home Office guide says it applies only to police forces there, and Scotland has its own scheme, covered by the Scottish police pension. Death benefits and ill health pensions have their own pages.
Police pension amounts: common questions
How much is a police pension per month?
That varies from officer to officer, because the scheme or schemes, the pay earned in each year and the age the pension starts all change it. The £1,250 a month in the worked sum above shows how the arithmetic runs; it is not a typical amount.
How much is a police pension after 30 years?
On the Home Office's 2015 scheme example, 30 years on a flat £55,300 gives £30,000 a year before revaluation, 54% of that salary. In the 1987 scheme the guide describes the maximum as two-thirds of average pensionable pay, for which 30 years' service is needed.
How do GAD factors affect police pension calculations?
The regulations leave the early-payment reduction to actuarial guidance or tables. GOV.UK also hosts a Government Actuary's Department document from June 2015 on how to calculate the cost of buying out the reduction. Factors can be updated, so the figure on your own quote is the one to rely on.
Is a police pension final salary?
The 2015 scheme is career average. The 1987 and 2006 schemes are final salary, and for mixed members the older part stays linked to final salary up to retirement.
Where a police pension is one of several incomes, on the form on this page you can name each one, so the FCA-authorised adviser who calls back can cover all of them at once. There is no charge.