Police pensions | Employer contribution rate

Regulations have been made to allow the employer contribution to police pensions in England and Wales to be determined by the secretary of state on advice from the scheme actuary.

The explanatory memorandum for the regulations says that: "As the employer contribution rate is written into the regulations governing the police pension schemes, any change … needs to be reflected in those regulations. While the simplest amendment would be to update the percentage in the regulations to 35.3%, we are changing the approach in the drafting of the regulations to allow the Secretary of State to set the employer contribution rate, after taking advice from the scheme actuary. This will have the same result, because the advice from the scheme actuary (i.e. the valuation report) is that the rate should be 35.3%. This change will also future proof the scheme regulations, so future changes in the employer contribution rate, as assessed by the scheme actuary, will not require a change in regulations.

These amendments will mirror the set up on employer contributions in the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme regulations, as the police are most similar to fire and rescue authorities in terms of the administrative and governance arrangements around pensions. Other public service pension schemes (e.g. those for teachers and civil servants) also have similar rules to allow the employer contribution rate to be set by the Secretary of State further to advice from the scheme actuary."