Police Federation condemns ‘overnight’ cut to police pension lump sums

27 May 2026

Police officers in the 1987 Police Pension Scheme are facing an immediate reduction in the lump sums they receive at retirement, following a sudden change to commutation factors introduced this week.

The change was triggered by a Treasury decision to increase the SCAPE discount rate, with revised commutation factors issued and applied with immediate effect.

Commutation factors determine how much cash an officer receives if they choose to give up part of their annual pension at retirement. Under the new factors, officers retiring from today will receive almost 5% less lump sum for the same amount of pension surrendered than an officer retiring last week. That change is expected to cost police officers thousands of pounds each.

The Police Federation says the speed and timing of the change means some officers retiring now are being hit without warning, despite having received retirement quotations or benefit illustrations based on the previous factors only weeks earlier. That means officers may already have already made financial decisions based on those figures.

The Federation has confirmed it is seeking independent advice on the scale and justification for the change, and on whether those who received recent quotations should be could take legal action because of financial detriment.

Pension figures

John Partington, Police Federation National Secretary, said: “After decades of service, the ‘thanks’ retiring officers get is this: government quietly shaving cash off a hard-earned retirement overnight. It’s a blatant case of picking the pockets of police pensioners, and we will not let it stand.”

Tony Barnes, North Yorkshire Police Federation secretary, said: “The Government has again gone after police officers’ pensions with no notice – in this case officers in the 1987 Police Pension Scheme – even when some have already been provided retirement figures.

“This is the thanks we receive for years of serving the community.

“I have spoken to several officers who have made retirement decisions based on their pension figures, including one who said they would lose several thousand pounds from their lump sum and are having to make up the short fall out of their own savings.

“I have contacted the North Yorkshire Police pension team to ensure XPS is making manual calculations for these officers.

“If you are on the 1987 Police Pension Scheme and due to retire over the next few weeks, please contact the payroll and pensions team.”

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has produced an FAQs document to help explain the change and what it means to police pensions.