How Can They Take A Policeman's Pension Away?

[ToraToraTora]

related to a thread in news, ok they can fire a policeman but surely if he's paid into a pension they cannot take that away?? By what mechanism is that possible?

[LadyCG]

How disgusting to take away what a man has worked all his life for.

[ubasses]

No Gulliver, nothing in this world is ever 100% guaranteed but now the pensions you referred to are under the umbrella of the PPF they are as safe as can be in this world.

[gulliver1]

14.10 "Safe as can be in this world ". How the financial world can change , at one time you could almost live off the interest on savings and investments Banks were seeking you with good interest rates, then overnight , Crash," and today , its not worth saving or investing.
Nothing is certain with finance etc these days.

[dannyk13]

Gulliver //Nothing is certain with finance etc these days//
Nothing in life is certain.

[gulliver1]

Who would have thought New York could ever go Bankrupt, but it did in 1975.

[zebo]

If they are not going to pay the pension does the miscreant get their contributions back, with interest?

[Prudie]

I don't know how the police pension works but in the case of the civil service as I mentioned earlier I'm not sure how it can be described as unfair - when the rule was written into the 'code', civil service pensions were entirely non contributory so it's not exactly taking away what someone's earned.

[THECORBYLOON]

NJ, action can be taken under Reg 211(1) of The Police Pension Regulations 2015

"211.—(1) If a member is convicted of a relevant offence, the pension supervising authority may, to the extent the pension supervising authority considers appropriate, require the scheme manager to withhold benefits payable under this scheme to or in respect of the member."

[wolf63]

I used to work with someone who lost her job in the civil servant and also lost her pension. At the time I had 24 years service and she had quite a few years more. It's a lot to lose.

[New Judge]

//NJ, action can be taken under Reg 211(1) of The Police Pension Regulations 2015//

Yes I know it can, Corby (though I didn't know the exact source, thanks for providing). But it's the fact that action in this respect can be taken at all that irks me. There is no justification for such a sanction. Even if the scheme is non-contributory by members (but see below)it is still part of the employees remuneration package. No private scheme would get away with such severe sanctions against an employee.

//...when the rule was written into the 'code', civil service pensions were entirely non contributory so it's not exactly taking away what someone's earned.//

They may have been non-contributory when the code was written (though that's still no justification for withholding all or part of the benefits). But they are not non-contributory now. Contributions range from 4.06% to 8.05%. Police officers' contributions range from 11.00% to 12.75%.

[Hymie]

Early in my career, a fellow employee who had worked for the company for many years was prosecuted for theft from the company and jailed. The company also took away his pension (defined benefit) despite most of the contributions being his. The union tried to fight this on his behalf but lost – so it is not just public employees that this can happen to.

I’ve never come across another such case – but what with most people now enrolled in money purchase pension schemes, I doubt the employer could touch the money.

[THECORBYLOON]

There are more circumstances allowing forfeiture of Pension in the public service compared to those in the private sector.

Reg 6(1)(b)-(d)of The Occupational Pension Schemes (Assignment, Forfeiture, Bankruptcy etc.) Regulations 1997 states it can be forfeited where,

"(b)a person in respect of whom a pension is or would have been payable has caused a monetary loss to the scheme as a result of—

(i)a criminal, negligent or fraudulent act or omission by him, or

(ii)in the case of a trust scheme of which the person is a trustee, a breach of trust by him;

(c)in the case of a public service pension scheme—

(i)the member is convicted of an offence committed in connection with his service as a public servant, and

(ii)a Minister of the Crown certifies that the commission of that offence has been gravely injurious to the interests of the State or is liable to lead to serious loss of confidence in the public service;

(d)in the case of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme—

(i)the member is convicted of an offence committed in connection with his service as a member of the Armed Forces, and

(ii)the Secretary of State considers that offence to have been gravely injurious to the defence, security or other interests of the State."

[douglas9401]

'They' can, and do, do exactly as they like. One of the perks of being 'them'.

Oddly enough 'they' are often found wanting themselves, such is life.

[Peter Pedant]

pensions have been around a long time ( civil service 1840)
and were non contributory
so you could take them away

things changed and regulations changed - I think at one point police were direct employees of the home secretary

anyway the pensions became contributory and that part is protected. I havent looked up chapter and verse - this is AB