Police pension increases: are they index linked?

A police pension increase follows CPI each April: 3.8% from 6 April 2026 for pensions in payment for a full year, with the next rise set the same way.

Police pensions are index linked, though the link works differently for a pension in payment, a deferred pension and pension still being built up in the 2015 scheme. Your administrator's letter shows each April's rise. Set against your other income, each April uplift deserves a look from an FCA-authorised adviser; retired officers who fill the form on this page get that call free.

Are police pensions index linked? How the April rise works

A police pension in payment is increased once a year, in April, under the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971. The Home Office's 2015 scheme guide says: "Pensions in payment to members are increased every year in line with CPI under the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971." The size of the rise comes from the previous September: the guide says increases "are based on the rise in the CPI in the 12 months up to the end of the previous September."

The Treasury publishes the percentage for public service pensions generally, not for police alone. Its note for 2026 says pensions that have been in payment for a year "will be increased by 3.8% from 6 April 2026 in line with the September-to-September increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI)." The 1987 scheme guide says the same in older words: "Pensions in payment are increased annually in line with inflation."

The percentage is not a fixed uplift or a pay-rise link. It is whatever the Treasury's order for that year sets, so it can be large in one April and small in the next, as the table below shows.

Police pension increase for April 2026 and recent years

The April 2026 rise was 3.8% for any pension that started before 7 April 2025. The Pensions Increase (Review) Orders set out each year's rate, and the table lists five of them, with the start date each order prints.

Each rate applies to the pension as already increased by earlier years, so the figures compound rather than add up.

For next April the percentage is not confirmed until the Treasury publishes its note and order, as it did on 26 February 2026 for this year's. The Office for National Statistics reports that "The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to September 2026, up from 3.1% the previous month." That is the September figure the rule looks to, but treat it as the measure behind next April's rise rather than the confirmed rise itself.

What if my police pension started part-way through the year?

A pension that has been in payment for under a year gets a smaller first increase, in proportion to the months it has been paid, according to the Treasury's note. Under the 2026 order the full 3.8% goes to pensions that started before 7 April 2025 and a month-based fraction of it to later ones.

The 1987 scheme guide gives a worked case from its time: an officer retiring half way through the relevant 12-month period, where "the pension is increased proportionately (i.e., by one half of the total increase, 1.75%)." The 3.5% in that example is illustrative and old. The 2015 guide adds that the first increase takes account of the movement in CPI since the beginning date of your pension.

Is there an age rule? Police pension increases at 55

For the older schemes, yes: the 1987 and 2006 guides both say increases "are paid to all pensioners aged 55 or over". The 2015 guide uses a different test, saying they are paid to "all pensioners who have reached NMPA", meaning normal minimum pension age.

Some pensions get the increase earlier. The 1987 guide pays it before 55 to an officer who retired on grounds of ill-health or injury, the 2006 guide to someone under 55 in receipt of an ill-health pension, and the 2015 guide, before NMPA, to an ill-health pension or a deferred pension paid early on ill-health grounds. The 1987 guide says a deferred pension paid before 55 because of permanent disablement is not increased until 55, unless the person is disabled from regular full-time work of any kind. The Act itself lets a pension be increased where the pensioner has retired because of physical or mental infirmity. Survivors' pensions are covered too, and attract the increase as soon as they come into payment.

When the increase does become payable, the 1987 and 2006 guides say it takes account of the movement in the price index since the date of your retirement. To apply that to your own first rise, the adviser can go through your actual dates at no cost; send the form here to get that conversation started.

Do deferred police pensions go up before you retire?

They do. An officer who leaves before pension age keeps a deferred pension, and each Home Office guide says it is increased while it waits. The 2006 guide says a deferred pension is increased for inflation from the time you leave the force until your benefits become payable; the 1987 guide says deferred pensions are increased "to maintain their value up to the date they become payable".

The 2015 guide is the most specific about the measure: "A Deferred Pension will be increased in line with CPI under the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971 from the time that you leave the police force or opt out until the date at which your benefits become payable." When that pension can be claimed is covered on police pension age, and the cost of claiming early on taking a police pension early.

Once your retirement age and the yearly rise are clear, the adviser phoning you after the form here can help with the State Pension side, free of charge.

Serving officers: how the 2015 scheme pension grows each year

An officer still serving in the 2015 scheme sees a different kind of increase, called revaluation, applied to the pension already earned. The Home Office's guide says "CPI (which can be either negative or positive) + 1.25% is applied to your total pension balance at the start of each scheme year." The regulations define the index adjustment as the change in prices in the previous scheme year plus 1.25%, and note that the change in prices is whatever a Treasury order specifies for the period, which the next paragraph shows.

For the period beginning with 1 April 2025 and ending with 31 March 2026, the Public Service Pensions Revaluation Order 2026 sets the change in prices at an increase of 3.8 per cent. That 3.8%, plus the 1.25%, is what was applied to a serving officer's pension balance at the start of the scheme year on 1 April 2026.

The extra 1.25% applies only while you are serving. Once you stop being an active member, the guide says earned blocks continue to rise each year until retirement by the movement in CPI only. How the blocks are built up in the first place is covered on how much police pension you get. Officers with service between 2015 and 2022 may also face a scheme choice under the remedy, which is separate from the yearly increase.

RPI or CPI: why older police pension guides say RPI

The 1987 guide (October 2006) and the 2006 guide (March 2009) both say April increases follow the rise in the RPI in the 12 months up to the end of the previous September. The 2015 guide and the Treasury's 2026 note name CPI instead. Treat the RPI wording in the older guides as dated; the figure in the table above, and the 3.8% for 2026, is the CPI-based rise the Treasury applied.

Those older guides are still published on GOV.UK and describe the rules in their own terms. For how the three schemes fit together, see how the police schemes differ.

Checking your own increase, tax and Scotland

Your pensions administrator, not the Home Office, makes the award and pays it, and GOV.UK keeps a list of administrator contacts for England and Wales. A raised pension is still taxable pension income; see tax on a police pension. This page covers England and Wales: Scottish officers have their own scheme, set out on the Scottish police pension page.

For similar rises in other public schemes, see NHS pension increases, armed forces pension increases and firefighters pension increases.

Police pension increase questions from pensioners and officers

Is a police pension triple locked like the State Pension?

No. Each April's rise is the CPI-based percentage in the Treasury's order, which was 1.7% in 2025 and 3.8% in 2026. The triple lock is a State Pension rule (see what the triple lock is), and the State Pension is uprated separately, as the State Pension explained sets out.

Does a police pension still rise if I live abroad?

Yes, with a caveat. The 2015 guide says the increase is applied "irrespective of your country of residence after your retirement", though increases to your State Pension and any Guaranteed Minimum Pension element may be affected if you live outside the UK.

Does a widow's, widower's or partner's police pension go up?

Survivors' pensions are covered by the same increases, and the 1987 guide says they attract the rise as soon as they come into payment, without waiting. The rules on who gets what are on police pension on death.

Who works out my police pension increase?

Your pensions administrator. The Home Office describes it as responsible for assessing, awarding, paying and maintaining all police pensions, and your annual letter is where the new figure appears.

Why did a colleague's pension rise by a different percentage from mine?

The likeliest reason is the start date: a pension in payment for less than a year gets a part-year share of the rise. Ill-health pensions can also be increased before 55, which is covered on ill-health retirement for police officers.

Officers whose start date, scheme or ill-health award makes the rise hard to follow can have an FCA-authorised adviser explain those police figures free by phone, a call the short request form on this page sets up.