Additional Pension

If you're an actively contributing member of the Police Pension Scheme 2015, you can buy Additional Pension at any time up to your normal pension age. It’s then paid in addition to your scheme benefits when you retire. 

How much does Additional Pension cost? 

The cost of purchasing Additional Pension depends on a number of factors including: 

• your age at the date of your election 
• the amount you wish to purchase 
• whether you're buying your Additional Pension with a lump sum or by paying regular contributions 
• whether the pension is just for you or for you AND your dependants. 

Cover options 

Your Additional Pension purchases can cover either: 

• an increase in pension for yourself only or; 
• an increase in pension for yourself AND any pension payable to your dependants (spouse, partner or dependent children) after your death. 

Maximum amount 

The maximum amount of Additional Pension you can currently buy is £6500 (subject to increase). 

If you choose to take out more than one contract, we’ll take into account the value of all of your contracts to ensure you don’t exceed the maximum allowable amount. 

Making payments 

You can pay for Additional Pension either by lump sum or by making regular contributions through your salary. 

Lump sum payments can only be made if you’ve been an active member of the Police Pension Scheme 2015 for a continuous period of at least 12 months. You can only make one lump sum payment per year. Tax relief on lump sum pension payments can be claimed by contacting HMRC. 

Regular contributions can be made through the PAYE system and receive tax relief at source. It’s your responsibility to ensure your employer is deducting the correct amount from your salary. If you identify an error, you should contact them immediately. 

Additional Pension and the Annual Allowance 

If the growth in your benefits exceeds the Annual Allowance, you may be subject to an Annual Allowance charge. Given the potential tax consequences, you should seek advice from an Independent Financial Advisor if you’re planning to make a lump sum payment to purchase additional pension. Please see HMRC’s website for more information about the Annual Allowance. 

Retirement options that affect Additional Pension 

There are a number of circumstances that affect the amount of Additional Pension payable to you. If you choose to receive your pension earlier than your normal retirement age, your Additional Pension will be reduced. 

If you continue to work beyond your normal pension age, your Additional Pension will be increased to reflect the later than expected payment. 

Benefits payable on death 

If you've elected to include cover for your dependants within your Additional Pension purchase, they'll become eligible for benefits after 12 months of regular contributions and would receive their full benefit entitlement in the event of your death, even if you haven't completed all the payments, as long as you were in good health when the contract was taken out. 

How to apply 

The additional pension calculator generates its own application form. If you wish to proceed with a quote please fill in the application form, sign it and return it to SPPA. We’ll then check the figures and forward it through to your payroll department so they can start taking deductions. 

Estimate the cost of buying Additional Pension

If you'd like to work out how much it's likely to cost to purchase Additional Pension to add to your Police retirement benefits, just use our handy Additional Pension Calculator.

It will give you an indication of the single payments or monthly contributions you'd have to pay to get the extra pension amount you require.

Download the Additional Pension Calculator

As all members are now in the Care Scheme, it is no longer possible to purchase Added Years in this scheme as it has closed. 

The key highlights of this were: 

• You could choose the date that you wish the Added Years to become reckonable in calculating your pension. In effect, this would be your planned retirement date – provided it was between your 55th birthday and the compulsory retirement age for your rank. 
• Your extra contributions were calculated as a percentage of your pay and, accordingly, increase every time your pay increased as do the benefits provided by the purchase. Your contributions for increased benefits would be deducted from your pay before tax. 
• If you served part-time you had a choice of purchasing Added Years on either a full-time or part-time basis 
• Any increased benefits you purchased would count when determining the level of your New Police Pension Scheme 2006 pension, whether payable to you or your survivors, but they would not enable you to qualify for any type of award or enhancement to which you would not otherwise be entitled. 
• If you retired before your planned retirement date, or leave the Police with a deferred pension or a transfer value, you'd be credited with an appropriate proportion of the increased benefits you were purchasing. 
• If you died or retired on ill-health grounds, you'd be credited with the total Added Years you elected to buy either by lump sum or by regular contributions.

As all members are now in the Care Scheme, it is no longer possible to purchase Added Years in this scheme as it has closed. 

The key highlights of this were: 

• You could choose the date that you wish the Added Years to become reckonable in calculating your pension.
• If you served part-time, you had a choice of purchasing Added Years on either a full-time or part-time basis 
• If you retired before your planned date of retirement, or leave the Police with a deferred pension or with a transfer value, you'd be credited with an appropriate proportion of the increased benefits you were purchasing. 
• If you died or retired on ill-health grounds, you'd be credited with the total Added Years you elected to buy either by lump sum or by regular contributions.