Pension Scheme Sanction Charge Update

The following has been provided by the MPS after London NARPO sent a letter to the Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley asking for this matter to be resolved in a timely fashion and the individuals affected notified. 

 

"An update from the Met about refunding the Scheme Sanction Charge 

 

In a previous post, the Met confirmed it is seeking to refund a number of retired Met officers an additional charge passed onto them when they took their maximum commutation from the 1987 Police Pension Scheme. 

From 2014 until October 2023 the charge – called the Scheme Sanction Charge - was passed onto around 5,500 officers at retirement. When the SSC was first introduced, the Met – like a number of other forces - asked 1987 scheme members taking their maximum commutation to pay. We now believe it was wrong to pass this charge to officers and the cost should have been paid by the Met as the pension administrator. 

We are sorry that a number of former colleagues were incorrectly charged and understand the importance of reimbursing these monies as promptly as we can. Equally we know the delays in getting to the bottom of this have caused frustration. To identify the retired officers impacted requires a trawl of historic pension records covering the last nine years, including some paper records, which takes time. 

 

We will be writing direct to our retired colleagues who are impacted in the next two months to apologise and update them on the timeline to receive their refund. The Met will be refunding the amount originally paid, along with interest. We anticipate refunds starting to be paid from July, alongside normal pension payments. 

 

This work is being given a high priority and we are making as swift progress as possible. If we are able to deliver this quicker than planned, we will. 

 

If you have any questions before you receive your letter please, in the first instance, call our pension administrator – Equiniti – on 0300 123 0828 or contact them by email at enquiries_pensions@equiniti.com. Should this not fully resolve your concern, please contact the Met pensions team by email at HRMailbox-.MetPensionsTeam@met.police.uk. 

 

We are grateful for the continued support from NARPO to help us communicate with retired members. We will issue further updates on progress."