Officers Need Access To Pension Advisors

Police officers who are planning their retirement should have access to specialist pension advisors, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) recently hosted a webinar, ‘The Next Chapter’, offering insights into how officers can transition smoothly into retirement.

Meanwhile South Yorkshire Police Federation is one of only a few Federation branches that runs its own classes for members who are a year or less away from retirement. But Federation Chair Steve Kent said it was limited in the advice it could give on pensions.

He said: “We give a lot of helpful advice at our retirement classes, but we are limited for legal reasons on the advice we can give regarding pensions.

“I think there needs to be a better provision by the force, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the national Federation, to give officers access to proper pensions advisors, because that’s the biggest thing our members are worried about. They can’t get their projections until quite late on before their retirement, and they’ve got no way of planning it.”