Police Pension Forfeitures

A police officer or member of police staff may be liable to having the employer contributions to their police pension forfeited if they have been convicted of a criminal offence which was:

• carried out in connection with their service as a member of a police force
• and the offence has been certified by the Secretary of State as either liable to lead to a serious loss of confidence in the public service or gravely injurious to the interests of the State.

The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) is the Pension Service Authority (PSA) for the Metropolitan Police Service and is responsible for the submission of applications for pension forfeiture to the Home Secretary.

Regulations

The legislative basis for police pension forfeiture is found in regulation K5 of the 1987 Regulations, regulation 55 of the 2006 Regulations and Chapter 5 of Part 13 to the 2015 Regulations. Each of these regulations contain provisions which allow a PSA to determine forfeiture in cases where either;

• a pension scheme member has been convicted of treason or of offences under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1939 and has been sentenced to a term (or terms) of imprisonment of at least ten years. or;
• where a pension scheme member has been convicted of an offence committed in connection with his or her service as a member of a police force.

MOPAC has a policy for Pension Forfeiture which sets out the local process. A copy of the policy can be found here.