Pension Information

If you are a retired police officer or police widow you can contact Pensions Branch in writing or by email.  

If you need to report a change of bank account/building society account or change of address this is what you need to do.

Change of Bank Account/Building Society Account

You need to provide the following information:

  • Your full name in capital letters
  • Your pension number (this usually starts with P or R then 8 digits or your police number)
  • Your National Insurance Number
  • Your date of birth
  • The name of your new bank/building society
  • Your sort code (normally 6 digits)
  • Your account number (normally 8 digits)
  • The name the bank/building society account is held in
  • The date you wish to start your police pension to be paid into it

* You need to give Pensions Branch sufficient time to allow for this change if you want the new account to be used for following month’s pension you need to have this change of account with Pensions Branch by 15th of the previous month.

You must sign your letter or if using email print your name on the email and give your home address.

Change of Home Address

You should provide the following information:

  • Your full name in capital letters
  • Your pension number (this usually starts with P or R then 8 digits or your police number)
  • Your National Insurance Number
  • Your date of birth
  • Your current/old address
  • Your new address with full post code
  • You must sign your letter or if using email print your name on the email

It is very important to keep Pensions Branch informed of any change of address as failure to do so, could result in your pension being suspended until you make contact with Pensions Branch.

If you wish to request information from Pensions Branch please note that due to additional work we are currently dealing with, we now have a target of replying within 56 working days.

P60’s will be issued in mid-May and it is important that you keep these safe for your tax return. Pensions Branch cannot issue a second P60 and have to provide these figures in a letter which will take 56 days to reply to your request.

Pensions Branch would be very grateful for your assistance during this time and wish to assure you that they wish to provide the best service they can to all their police customers.

McCloud Remedy Remedial Service Statements

The regulatory timeline for issuing Remedial Service Statements (RSSs) to eligible members of the PSNI Police Pensions schemes was 31st March 2025 and for a number of reasons, which are detailed further below, this date, has not been met.

The RSSs are applicable to police officer pension scheme members who started to receive their pensions between 1st April 2015 and 1st October 2023 and Active Officers who have a deferred choice and are subject to the 2015 Remedy.  In 2015 the government introduced reforms to public service pensions. The steps being taken to remedy those 2015 reforms are known as the 2015 Remedy (McCloud).  An RSS is to help officers decide which benefits they want to take for the remedy period. The RSS will show the pension benefits in both the Final Salary (1988/2006) and CARE (2015) scheme to help officers make a choice. The RSSs are individual to each member and will vary according to individual circumstances.  

As already stated this applies to police officers only. Police staff pensions are held in the Northern Ireland Civil Service Pension Scheme. Staff can refer to the Civil Service Pensions (NI) website for details on the McCloud Remedy and RSSs at: Civil Service Pensions (NI) | Department of Finance.      

The reasons for missing the deadline are as follows:
1.    Information is not available to enable the calculation of a correct RSS for particular classes of members. This will apply to cohorts of members where there has been a transfer/divorce and the Government Actuary Department (GAD) have not finalised the guidance on how to apply the remedy for these cases. Cohorts of members where there has been a club transfer from another public sector pension scheme are also impacted, as the previous scheme need to provide a revised transfer to take account of the remedy  
2.    Accuracy of data. The current data being produced for statements needs to be checked for accuracy and this is currently being worked on
3.    Some technical issues regarding the pensions’ administration system. These are currently being addressed jointly by the PSNI Pensions Team and the administration system contractor.

Some of the reasons outlined above are impacting all public sector pension schemes and consequently numerous police and other public sector pension schemes have not met the 31st March 2025 deadline for issuing RSSs.  There is discretion within the legislation for the Scheme Manager, in our case the NI Policing Board, to extend the timeline beyond 31st March. Discussions have been held with the NI Policing Board regarding the matter, with the decision being taken to use the legislative discretion. Notification has been made to the Pensions Regulator and further updates will be provided to them.  

Further communication will be issued to members outlining an indicative timescale for the issues to be rectified and when it will be expected that RSSs will be issued. It is appreciated that the delay in issuing the RSSs is disappointing, however please be assured that PSNI Pensions Branch are working hard to resolve the issues which are within our control to ensure that members receive their RSSs as soon as possible.

McCloud Remedy Remedial Service Statements – Update April 2026

For those police officer pension scheme members who started to receive their pensions between 1st April 2015 and 1st October 2023, and Active Officers who have a deferred choice and are subject to the 2015 Remedy, please see information below.

The regulatory timeline for issuing Remedial Service Statements (RSSs) to eligible members of the PSNI Police Pensions schemes was 31st March 2025 and for reasons outside the control of the Pension Scheme Administrator, which are detailed further below, this date, was not met.

RSSs are applicable to police officer pension scheme members who started to receive their pensions between 1st April 2015 and 1st October 2023, and Active Officers who have a deferred choice and are subject to the 2015 Remedy.

This notice applies to police officers only. Police staff pensions are held in the Northern Ireland Civil Service Pension Scheme. Staff can refer to the Civil Service Pensions (NI) website for details on the McCloud Remedy and RSSs at: Civil Service Pensions (NI) | Department of Finance.      

  • In 2015, the government introduced reforms to all public service pensions, however, in 2018, a Court of Appeal ruling found that younger members of some public sector pension schemes were unlawfully discriminated against during the transition to new pension arrangements. The McCloud Remedy was therefore put in place to address this discrimination for affected members. 

  • An RSS is to help officers decide which benefits they want to take for the remedy period. The RSS will show the pension benefits in both the Final Salary (1988/2006) and CARE (2015) scheme to help officers make a choice. The RSS is individual to each member and will vary according to individual circumstances.

  • Data Migration - Work remains ongoing in relation to ensuring that all data is fully migrated to the new pension system.  Once a record has been updated, we have to recalculate the pension on the new system based on the rules pre-McCloud and then ensure they match what was paid to you in pension and lump sums when you left. This is a significant operation as Pensioners’ data and payments already made including commutation choices is held in various areas including paper files requiring manual trawls through data, whereas, active members’ data is largely held by Payroll.

    System Issues - Some of the GAD calculators around tax and interest are not working and are back with our new software company. They are currently working on programming to ensure accuracy of our calculations. Some information has not been available to enable the calculation of a correct RSS for particular cohorts of members, for example, where there has been a transfer/divorce.  The Government Actuary Department (GAD) have just finalised the guidance on this, and we are working to interface the calculations into our Pension Admin system to ensure that we can appropriately apply the remedy for these cases.  

    Accuracy of data - The current data being produced for statements needs to be checked for accuracy and this is currently being worked on, as per point 1 we need to check everything that is updated to our system as well all the results.

    Some technical issues - regarding the pensions’ administration system. The PSNI Pensions Team and the administration system contractor are currently addressing these jointly.

    Michael McKeown of Pensions Branch explains more: “Some of the reasons outlined above are impacting all public sector pension schemes in Northern Ireland and consequently numerous other public sector pension schemes have not met the deadline for issuing RSSs.

    “Due to the PSNI’s specific circumstances, we have to carry out all the work in-house. Unlike most Police Forces on the mainland who were able to outsource this work to a specialist third party provider, we had to procure a new pension admin system to enable us to carry out the McCloud Remedy but also administer our Pension functions going forward.

    “There is discretion within the legislation for the Scheme Manager, in our case the NI Policing Board, to extend the timeline. Discussions have been held with the NI Policing Board regarding this matter, with the decision being taken to use the legislative discretion. Notification has been made to the Pensions Regulator and we are keeping them up to date on our progress.  

    “Further communication will be issued to members outlining an indicative timescale for the issuing of RSSs and also how issues are being addressed. I appreciate that the delay in issuing the RSSs is disappointing, however please be assured that PSNI Pensions Branch are working very hard to resolve the issues which are both within and outside our control to ensure that members receive their RSSs as soon as possible.

    “Thank you.”

Contact Pensions Branch

Pensions Branch
Lisnasharragh
42 Montgomery Road
Belfast
BT6 9LD

Phone : 028 9070 0948
Fax: 028 9070 0900
Email: [email protected]