Enter your date of birth, when you joined and your pay. See what each part of your pension becomes if you resign on your planned date, when each part is paid, your lump sums and exactly what you give up compared with going later. 1987, 2006, 2015 and McCloud remedy service, England and Wales.
Run through the calculator as at 21 October 2026, with pay growth of 2.5% and CPI of 2%. Invented officers, real rules. Figures are a year, in today's money.
Resigning next month keeps £7,556 a year from State Pension age, 68. Staying a year adds about £973 a year for life. Nothing is paid at 60 either way, because a deferred 2015 pension waits for State Pension age.
Leaving now, the 1987 pension waits until 60. Staying 1.5 years to reach 25 years' service (counting 2015 scheme years) brings it forward to 50: ten years earlier. Over a lifetime that is the biggest number on the page: about £193,905 more paid to age 85.
Leaving now gives a refund of about £4,860. Six more months reaches the 2-year line, keeping a pension of about £1,181 a year for life from State Pension age instead.
Deferred pension needs
Under 2 years
Leave before the earliest retirement point: paid at
Earlier, reduced
Paid straight away if you leave
Lump sum
Increases after leaving
Since 1 April 2022 every serving officer builds new pension in the 2015 scheme, so most people leaving now have a 2015 part and many also have a 1987 or 2006 part. Each part follows its own scheme's rules. In the 1987 scheme, 2015 scheme service counts towards the 25 and 30 years (Police Pensions Regulations 2015, Schedule 4 paragraph 37).
Section 10 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 sets two ages. Normal pension age is 60 for officers who retire from the force. Deferred pension age, for people who leave, is State Pension age (or 65 if higher). Regulation 91 of the 2015 regulations follows that: a deferred member gets their pension at State Pension age.
You can claim from 55 under regulation 96, but the reduction is measured from State Pension age. GAD's original 2015 table for deferred members (Table B) paid 0.492 of the pension at 13 years early, so someone with a State Pension age of 68 claiming at 55 would get about half. GAD has since revised the factors; ask your administrator for a current quote.
If you are 55 or over when you leave, it is different: regulation 90 lets you claim straight away with the smaller reduction for retiring members, measured from 60 (about 20% at exactly 55 under the factors in force from 1 August 2026).
You do not lose your lump sum by leaving. It comes when each part is paid. The 2006 scheme pays an automatic lump sum of 4 times the pension. In the 1987 scheme you can give up to a quarter of the pension for a lump sum at GAD's factor for your age, capped at 2.25 times the pension with under 30 years' service. In the 2015 scheme you get £12 for each £1 of pension given up, up to the GAD maximum.
GAD issued new 1987 commutation factors on 21 May 2026 after HM Treasury raised the discount rate. The Police Federation (West Midlands) says the maximum lump sum fell by roughly 2% to 4% for members commuting from that date. The annual pension is not affected. When the calculator shows a 1987 lump sum, it also shows what the old factors would have given you.
If you were in a police scheme on or before 31 March 2012 with no break of more than 5 years, your service from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022 is remediable service. Deferred members keep the choice: when your benefits are claimed you choose legacy or 2015 scheme benefits for that period, all one way and with no choice the default is legacy (Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022, s.10; SI 2023/831 reg 12).
Leaving early makes the choice matter more, because legacy years can be paid at 50, 60 or 65 while 2015-basis years wait for State Pension age. The calculator values your remedy years both ways and, by default, shows whichever pays more in total to 85. You can switch it.
Refunds. Only under 2 years' qualifying service. You get your own contributions back with the short service refund charge taken off: 20% on the first £20,000 and 50% above (HMRC PTM045000). The calculator estimates it at today's contribution rate for your pay.
Transfers. Moving the pension into a personal pension or SIPP to draw flexibly is not allowed from an unfunded public service scheme (Pension Schemes Act 1993, s.95). A club transfer to another public service scheme may be possible: the 2015 members' guide says you have 12 months after joining a club scheme.
Rejoining. Come back to the 2015 scheme within 5 years and your deferred account is closed and your service treated as continuous (reg 67). See retire and rejoin.
With at least 2 years' qualifying service you keep everything you have built up as a deferred pension. It is not lost. It rises with CPI each April and is paid later: the 2015 scheme part at your State Pension age, a 2006 scheme part at 65 and a 1987 scheme part at 60 (or 50 with 25 years' service). With less than 2 years you get a refund of your own contributions, less tax.
It depends on the scheme. Your 2015 scheme pension is paid at your State Pension age, which is 68 for most officers aged 47 or under today and 67 for those born between 6 March 1961 and 5 April 1977. A 1987 part is paid at 60 (50 if you have 25 years' service). A 2006 part is paid at 65, or from 55 with a reduction. The calculator shows the exact dates from your date of birth.
No. Normal pension age 60 only applies if you retire from the force. If you leave before 55, regulation 91 of the Police Pensions Regulations 2015 pays the deferred pension at State Pension age. You can claim it from 55, but it is then reduced for each year before State Pension age, not before 60.
For a 2015 or 2006 deferred pension, yes, but reduced. For 2015 the reduction is measured from State Pension age, so it is large: GAD's original 2015 table cut a pension claimed at 55 by about half for someone with a State Pension age of 68. A 1987 deferred pension has no early payment option in the guidance we found; it is paid at 60, or 50 with 25 years' service.
No. The lump sum comes when each part is paid. A 2006 deferred pension carries its automatic lump sum of 4 times the pension. A 1987 deferred pension can be commuted for a lump sum when it starts (regulation B7). A deferred 2015 pension can be commuted when it is paid (regulations 91 and 124). The calculator shows the largest lump sum for each part and the age you can take it.
For a 2015 scheme officer on about £48,000, each year adds roughly £868 a year of pension (1/55.3 of pay), so 10 years is roughly £8,700 a year in today's money, paid from State Pension age. Your figure depends on your pay in each year and when you joined; enter your own details for an estimate.
If you are close, it is usually worth checking. Under 2 years you only get your contributions back, less a 20% tax charge on the first £20,000. At 2 years you keep a deferred pension for life instead. The calculator shows the date you reach 2 years and what each option gives you.
Not to one you can draw flexibly. Since 6 April 2015 the Pension Schemes Act 1993, section 95, has not allowed transfers from unfunded public service schemes such as the police schemes to schemes offering flexible benefits. A transfer to another public service scheme through the Public Sector Transfer Club may be possible, usually within 12 months of joining the new scheme.
No. The calculator runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent to us or saved. We count anonymous events such as 'calculator used' with your scheme and broad age band, never your date of birth, pay or pension figures.
PolicePay.co.uk is independent and not affiliated with the Home Office, any force, any pension administrator or the Police Federation. Figures are estimates, not financial advice. Your pension administrator's figures are the ones that count.