Police Pension Scheme ill retirement inquiries: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for the following information:

Under the Freedom of Information Act, I am requesting access to information regarding how the figures for ill health retirements have been calculated.

I am seeking the following information :-

1) Exactly how have ill health retirement figures been calculated since the inception of the 2015 Care Scheme?

2) What guidance has been provided to you by the Government/DWP in this respect?

3) When were you made aware of an error in how you were calculating ill health retirement figures?

4) What subsequent guidance have you received regarding ill health retirement calculations from the Government/DWP?

Response

Following a clarification request issued on 23 December 2025, you have confirmed the information requested is in relation to transitional members of The Police Pension Scheme 1987 (PPS 1987). The following response is in reference to such members:

1) When the PPS 2015 was introduced from 1 April 2015, transitional regulations were provided for specific members that have transitioned from the PPS 1987 to the Police Pension Scheme (Scotland) 2015 (PPS 2015) and subsequently retired on Ill-Health grounds. These regulations provide for an Ill- Health underpin calculation which is essentially a “better of” calculation and is set out in Part 6 of Schedule 4 of The Police Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2015. A "better of" calculation is where a beneficiary receives the more favourable outcome from two or more different calculation methods.

In February 2025, it was found that guidance issued in 2015 in support of the Regulations had erroneously set out examples using an incorrect salary reference in the underpin which led to certain cases processed between 2015 and 2025 being calculated incorrectly. The guidance set out the underpin calculation methodology using the final salary figure at the member’s retirement date, rather than the correct value at the scheme closing date.

2) When the 2015 Police Pension Scheme was introduced, the Home Office gave pension scheme administrators across the UK (including the SPPA) administrative guidance. Unfortunately the examples in this guidance did not adequately reflect the use of the salary at closing date as set out in legislation. The examples in this guide have now been withdrawn by the Home Office.

3) February 2025

4) No subsequent guidance has been recieved.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.