PPS 2015 · CARE scheme
Police pension calculator
Estimate what your Police Pension Scheme 2015 (CARE) pension could pay at retirement — your annual pension, your tax-free lump sum options, and how the pot builds up year by year. Covers England & Wales, Scotland and PSNI officers.
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This models the Police Pension Scheme 2015 (CARE) — the scheme most serving officers are in. Figures are estimates for guidance, not a formal benefit statement. If you are still partly in PPS 1987/2006, or covered by the McCloud remedy, your actual pension will differ — ask your force pension team for a personal projection.
PPS 2015 (CARE) · Pension projection
Your details
Sets the projection timeline — years to retirement and the today's-money conversion.
Your basic pensionable pay (plus pensionable allowances such as London Weighting). Overtime is not pensionable.
Optional — fills the pay box above from a published scale. The pension scheme is identical UK-wide; only the pay differs.
For a precise figure, enter your accrued pension from your benefit statement under “Assumptions” below.
The earliest you can draw a reduced PPS 2015 pension is 55 (the police scheme is exempt from the April 2028 rise to 57).
The annual pension you have built up so far, from your latest annual benefit statement. Enter it for an accurate result — otherwise we estimate past service from your years in scheme.
Revaluation = CPI + 1.25%.
Future pensionable pay growth.
Future inflation and pay growth are unknown — these are assumptions, not guarantees. The defaults (2%) are deliberately conservative.
Projected pension at 60 (today's money)
£32,715
per year · ≈ £2,726/month
≈ £53,673 in actual (future) pounds at retirement
Normal pension age
60
age 60 · serving members (statute)
Years to retirement
25
from age 35
A clean, branded summary of your projection — handy to keep or take to a pension specialist.
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Lump sum options at retirement
PPS 2015 has no automatic lump sum, but you can give up £1 of annual pension for £12 of tax-free cash (12:1 commutation).
Maximum pension
£32,715/yr
No lump sum taken
Maximum tax-free lump sum
£140,209
+ £21,031/yr reduced pension
Figures in today's money. The maximum tax-free lump sum is capped at 25% of the capital value of your benefits (HMRC). Whether to commute depends on your circumstances — consider regulated pension advice before deciding.
At £43,038 pensionable pay you currently contribute 13.88% (≈ £5,974/yr). Your force adds roughly 35.3% on top (£15,192/yr) — money you would never see in a private-sector role.
Your pension building up, year by year
Each year you lock in 1/55.3 of your pensionable pay, and the whole pot is revalued by CPI + 1.25%. Totals are in today's money and before any early-retirement reduction.
| Age | Pensionable pay (then) | Total pension (today's money) |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | £43,038 | £8,641 |
| 37 | £43,899 | £9,510 |
| 38 | £44,777 | £10,389 |
| 39 | £45,672 | £11,280 |
| 40 | £46,586 | £12,181 |
| 41 | £47,517 | £13,093 |
| 42 | £48,468 | £14,017 |
| 43 | £49,437 | £14,952 |
| 44 | £50,426 | £15,898 |
| 45 | £51,434 | £16,856 |
| 46 | £52,463 | £17,825 |
| 47 | £53,512 | £18,807 |
| 48 | £54,583 | £19,800 |
| 49 | £55,674 | £20,806 |
| 50 | £56,788 | £21,824 |
| 51 | £57,923 | £22,854 |
| 52 | £59,082 | £23,897 |
| 53 | £60,264 | £24,953 |
| 54 | £61,469 | £26,022 |
| 55 | £62,698 | £27,104 |
| 56 | £63,952 | £28,199 |
| 57 | £65,231 | £29,308 |
| 58 | £66,536 | £30,430 |
| 59 | £67,867 | £31,566 |
| 60 | £69,224 | £32,715 |
Estimates for guidance only, based on the PPS 2015 (CARE) rules and the assumptions you set. Actual benefits depend on your full service history, pay progression, future inflation, and the factors in force when you retire. For an authoritative figure, request a projection from your force pension team. Not financial advice.
How the police pension actually works
Most serving officers are in the Police Pension Scheme 2015, a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme. Unlike the older final-salary schemes, your pension is not based on your salary in your last year of service. Instead, you build up a slice of pension every single year, based on what you earned that year.
Building up your pension: 1/55.3 a year
Each year, you lock in a pension worth 1/55.3 of your pensionable pay for that year. A constable on £43,038, for example, earns about £778 of guaranteed annual pension from a single year of service. Do that for a full career and those slices add up to a substantial income. Overtime does not count — only your basic pensionable pay and certain pensionable allowances (such as London Weighting) do.
Revaluation: why older years are worth more than they look
Each year's slice does not sit still. While you remain an active member, your whole built-up pension is revalued every year by CPI inflation plus 1.25%. It is a bit like getting a guaranteed pay rise on money you have already set aside. Over a long career this compounding is significant — it is why the simple “years × pay ÷ 55.3” sum understates what you will actually receive. (Once you are drawing the pension, it still rises each year, but by CPI only.)
Normal pension age: 60 if you stay — State Pension Age if you leave
For serving officers, the normal pension age is 60 — fixed by statute (the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 requires police schemes to set NPA at 60, alongside firefighters and the armed forces). You can draw your pension from age 55 (the police scheme is exempt from the April 2028 rise to 57), with an actuarial reduction of roughly 4.5% for each year before 60 — retiring at 55 costs around a fifth of the pension, for life.
The trap is leaving the service rather than retiring from it. Officers who leave before drawing their pension become deferred members, and a deferred pension is not payable in full until State Pension Age — currently 66–68. That is a gap of up to 8 years versus the age-60 NPA a serving officer keeps, and it makes walking away mid-career far more expensive than most people realise. It is one of the strongest financial reasons to stay in service to at least 55.
Lump sum: commutation at 12:1
PPS 2015 pays no automatic lump sum, but at retirement you can swap some annual pension for tax-free cash. The rate is £12 of lump sum for every £1 of annual pension you give up. HMRC limits the tax-free lump sum to 25% of the capital value of your benefits, which works out at roughly 4.28 times your annual pension. Many officers commute some pension to clear a mortgage or fund the years before other income kicks in — but it is a permanent trade, so it is worth taking regulated advice first.
Contributions — and why opting out rarely pays
You contribute between 12.88% and 14.22% of pensionable pay, depending on your band, and you get income tax relief on those contributions. It feels steep on the payslip. But your force contributes 35.3% of pensionable pay on top, and the result is a guaranteed, inflation-protected income for life. Opting out throws away that employer contribution entirely, so for almost everyone it is a poor deal. The take-home effect of your contributions is shown live in the main pay calculator.
A note on accuracy: this calculator models PPS 2015 only and produces an estimate for guidance. If you have service in PPS 1987/2006, or are covered by the McCloud remedy, your real pension will be calculated across more than one set of rules. The early-retirement reduction shown is approximate. For an authoritative figure, request a projection from your force pension team and check your annual benefit statement.
How much is a police pension after 20, 25 or 30 years?
The honest answer is “it depends on your career-average pay and when you draw it” — but rules of thumb help. The table below shows the approximate annual pension built up under PPS 2015, in today's money, payable in full at the serving-officer normal pension age of 60. It assumes pensionable pay holds steady in real terms at the career average shown, with the scheme's in-service revaluation of CPI + 1.25% applied.
| Service | Career-average pensionable pay | Approx. annual pension at NPA | As % of average pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 years | £42,000 | ~£17,100 | ~41% |
| 25 years | £44,000 | ~£23,200 | ~53% |
| 30 years | £46,000 | ~£30,000 | ~65% |
| 35 years | £47,000 | ~£37,000 | ~79% |
The timing caveat matters more than the table. Those figures are payable in full at the serving-officer normal pension ageof 60. Drawing at 55 applies an actuarial reduction of roughly 4.5% for every year early — around 20–22% off for life, so a 30-year officer expecting “about £30,000” who goes at 55 starts on something closer to £23,000–£24,000. The far bigger cut is leaving the servicebefore drawing: deferred members' pensions are not payable in full until State Pension Age (66–68), not 60 — exactly the trade-offs the calculator above lets you model.
Officers with service before 2015 (PPS 1987/2006, including the McCloud remedy) will have part of their pension calculated under more generous legacy rules, so these figures are a floor rather than a ceiling for longer-serving officers. Your annual benefit statement shows what you have actually accrued so far — you can enter that figure into the calculator to project forward from today.
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Useful reading
What this uses
- ✓PPS 2015 CARE accrual at 1/55.3
- ✓Revaluation of CPI + 1.25% in service
- ✓Normal pension age 60 (serving members)
- ✓Approx. early-retirement reduction
- ✓Commutation at 12:1 (25% tax-free cap)
- ✓2026/27 contribution tiers
Police pension — frequently asked questions
How is the police pension calculated under PPS 2015?
The Police Pension Scheme 2015 is a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme. Each year you build up a pension worth 1/55.3 of that year's pensionable pay. Every year you stay in service, your built-up pension is revalued by CPI plus 1.25%. At retirement, all those revalued annual chunks are added together to give your annual pension. It is not based on your final salary — it is the average of your whole career, revalued, which is why early years still matter.
What is my normal pension age in the police pension?
For serving (active) members of PPS 2015, normal pension age is 60 — set by statute: the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 requires police scheme NPA to be 60. You can draw a reduced pension from age 55 (the police scheme is exempt from the April 2028 rise to 57), with a reduction of roughly 4.5% for each year below 60. The catch many officers miss: if you leave the police before drawing your pension, you become a deferred member, and a deferred pension is not payable in full until your State Pension Age (66–68) — up to 8 years later than the age-60 NPA serving officers keep. That active-vs-deferred gap is one of the strongest financial incentives to stay in service.
Can I retire before my normal pension age?
Yes — you can take your PPS 2015 pension from age 55, but it is reduced because it is being paid for longer. The calculator applies an approximate reduction of around 4.5% for each year you retire before your normal pension age. This is an estimate: the actual reductions use Government Actuary's Department (GAD) factor tables, which are not linear and change over time. Always confirm the exact reduction with your force pension team before making decisions.
How much tax-free lump sum can I take from my police pension?
PPS 2015 has no automatic lump sum, but you can commute (give up) some annual pension for tax-free cash at a rate of £12 of lump sum for every £1 of annual pension surrendered. HMRC caps the tax-free lump sum at 25% of the capital value of your benefits, which for a 12:1 factor works out at roughly 4.28 times your annual pension. The calculator shows both the maximum-pension and maximum-lump-sum options.
Does overtime count towards my police pension?
No. Overtime is not pensionable under PPS 2015, so it does not add to your CARE pension and no pension contributions are taken from it. Your pension builds only from your basic pensionable pay and certain pensionable allowances, such as London Weighting for Metropolitan and City of London officers.
Is the police pension worth the contributions?
For almost everyone, yes. You contribute between 12.88% and 14.22% of pensionable pay depending on your salary band, but your force contributes 35.3% on top (the England & Wales employer rate from 1 April 2024) — a guaranteed, inflation-protected income for life that is extremely difficult to replicate privately. Opting out forfeits that employer contribution entirely. The calculator shows your current contribution and the employer top-up.
How much is a police pension after 30 years?
As a rule of thumb, 30 years in PPS 2015 builds an annual pension of roughly 65% of your career-average pensionable pay, in today's money, payable in full at the normal pension age of 60 for serving officers. For an officer averaging £46,000 of pensionable pay that is around £30,000 a year — the in-service revaluation of CPI + 1.25% is why it beats the simple 30/55.3 (54%) sum. Drawing it at 55 instead of 60 applies an actuarial reduction of roughly 4.5% per year early — around a fifth off, for life. And if you leave the service rather than retire from it, your deferred pension is not payable in full until State Pension Age. Use the calculator above to model your own years, pay and retirement age.
How do I calculate my police pension lump sum?
PPS 2015 pays no automatic lump sum — you create one by commutation: giving up £1 of annual pension for £12 of tax-free cash, up to HMRC's cap of 25% of the capital value of your benefits (roughly 4.28 × your annual pension at the 12:1 rate). For example, an officer retiring on £20,000 a year could take up to about £85,000 tax-free by accepting a reduced annual pension of around £12,900. The calculator above shows your maximum-pension and maximum-lump-sum options side by side.
How accurate is this police pension calculator?
It is a guidance estimate, not a formal benefit statement. The CARE maths and the 2026 contribution tiers are accurate, but the result depends on assumptions you cannot know in advance — future inflation, your pay progression, and the exact early-retirement factors at the time you retire. For the most accurate figure, enter your current accrued pension from your annual benefit statement, and ask your force pension team for a personal projection.