Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the present retirement age for police officers; and what is their estimate of how many officers (1) reached that age, and (2) retired during the last 12 months.

The retirement age for police officers depends on their pension scheme. Members of the 1987 Police Pension Scheme can take their pension after thirty years of service. This means that someone joining the scheme at 18 can retire at age 48. The 2006 scheme members’ pension age is 55. And for the 2015 scheme it is 60 years with the option to take it from 55 with actuarial reduction.

The Home Office publishes information on the number of police officers who retire, by Police Force Area, in the annual “Police workforce, England and Wales” statistical bulletin. The latest release was published on 19^th July, and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2018

Table JL4 of the accompanying data tables (see attached) shows the number of police officers who retired in 2017/18.

The Home Office also publishes information on the age of officers, which is grouped into the following categories: Under 26, 26 to 40 years old, 41 to 55 years old, and Over 55 years old. The exact age of the officer is not collected.

Table D5 of the accompanying data tables at the link above shows the number of officers in each of the four age groups, by rank.

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