Police Pension Remedy figures: FOI release

Information requested

Information regarding the Police 2015 Remedy application by SPPA:

1. As of today's date how many persons who have already retired will be impacted and have to be contacted by SPPA within the 18 month period from 1 October 2023?

2. Regarding retired members to be contacted, what are the current project plans in place by the SPPA particularly around timescales for their RSS documents to be issued? Do the SPPA plan to use the full 18 months or do they plan to do this more promptly?

3. If retired members are to be contacted in tranches, what timescales are planned for these and how many members will be in each tranche? And how will retired members be identified for each tranch ie will those retired for longest be contacted first?

4. What are the SPPAs plans, targets and timescales for delivering the full Remedy (in terms of revised lump sum and monthly payments) to members; once members have formally outlined their decision regarding Remedy options to the SPPA.

Response

1. Approximately 5,100 retired members in scope of Remedy.

2. The SPPA plans to begin the exercise shortly after October 2023. There is some dependency upon a third-party supplier, who provide and support the SPPA’s pension system. The SPPA does not expect to need the full 18 months to complete the exercise, but the timescale provided for in the Police Pensions (Remediable Service) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 reflects the complexity of the exercise.

3. SPPA intends to contact retired members in tranches agreed with stakeholders at the Scottish Police Pension Scheme Advisory Board on 23 March 2023. Priority will be given for those most likely to benefit from a remedy choice. Cohorts have been identified; however, the size and priority of each tranche has not yet been determined or agreed. The minutes from the Scheme Advisory Board meeting noted will be available on the SPPA website at the following link, once they have been approved by the Board: https://pensions.gov.scot/about-us/boards-and-corporate-governance/scheme-advisoryboards/police

4. The SPPA’s intention is to provide the lump sum and monthly payments in accordance with the timescales laid out in the Police Pensions (Remediable Service (Scotland) Regulations 2023, pending the provision of the necessary solution by the third-party supplier of the pension system.

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