that the police get such massive pensions...

[TakenYears]

....and from the age of 50.

Other public sectar workers get nothing remotely resembling that.

Well said. I couldn't do a PC's job and I am very grateful for those that are prepared to do it. Yes, it's a good pension but they certainly earn it!

Isn't a good pension one of the incentives to join a public service? I'm not saying that all public sector jobs are dangerous/heroic but surely some jobs like dealing with violence and criminals or being on the front line in Afghanistan or going into a burning building to rescue someone are deserving of a good pension?

Don't disagree - but think the value of pension benefits should be included in the pay scales and pay comparatives with other jobs. IE total value of policeman's pay includes pension, travel cards (see above) etc then compare to other jobs.

Police officers put a large anount of their salary into their pension so that is why they get a decent one when they retire.

My father was in the police and I remember when i was about 4/5 years old my mum was crying one night and my dad wasn't home. I woke up when I heard the door opening and sneaked into the living room, my dad was standing there with a huge blood soaked bandage round his hand. It was horrible. He had been attacked by a suspect and his hand was all slashed. He didn't get compensation for being attacked, unlike prisoners who sue for slopping out etc. But once it healed he was back on the beat again. But I can still remember that image nearly 30 years later.

He also had to have plastic surgery after having his finger almost ripped off a few years before he retired.

So as far as i'm concerned he deserves his pension.

As posted above, no public sector worker, or member of a company DB scheme puts in enough to cover the value of the pension - it is additional earnings.

Whether they deserve it is another question, but you cannot compare pay levels without including pensions (and other benefits)

im a pc, and with windsor part II all is set to change anyway - i will get about 20 years in, if im lucky, ( windsor is wanting to put the pensionable age up to 60 and with a yearly fitness test for all officers regardless of their role its unlikely that many police will get their full 35 years in anyway) but i digress, i pay in over 10% of my salary into it and i will get, if i am lucky the equivalent of a part time wage when i retire. The newest police pension requires you to pay in for 35 years, which obviously i wont get in, being 40 and all.

i am slowly starting to dislike my job, the bashing and hate of my role that comes with it, the criticism, and the fact that i never ever feel safe while doing it. If i actually told you how many bobbies are on my team, and what area we cover, you would be shocked. i feel rather brow beaten with only a couple of years in, and that saddens me.

i am a front line response officer and im sick and tired of being the 'big' societies whipping boy.

i didnt join for the pension, in my position i would probably be better joining a private scheme tbh.

in my role i have been threatened with knives several times, with dogs, spat at, i walk straight into the path of danger when most people are walking in the opposite direction, i deal with violence, drunks, fatal RTCs, seen things that are distressing, dealt with the worst society has to offer, and i can tell you now, if i wanted a decent salary or pension this isnt the job,
when all else fails, when people dont know who to call, they call the police. We deal with everything, we are the catch all for a broken society, and that, wears you down - well that and the shifts and the 56 hour working week of course. (and i forgot to mention the cancelled leave at a moments notice, the lack of family time, the lack of work/life balance)

and now the terms and conditions are being picked apart, yet we still have no legal right to strike. Police have had certain protected rights, and for that we gave up any industrial rights, but now, with the loss of those protected rights, i believe that the forthcoming ballot on police strikes will be a unanimous vote in favour of the legal right to strike. Those who criticise must think job is a piece of piss.
i suggest those who want this wonderful job, with the wonderful pension go and try it. You might get the chance if the police ever do go on strike.

Vicar some people are now beginning to realise the value (and un-valuedness) of the police, especially post Windsor the cunt.

I have a pal who is an absolutely embittered dyed-in-the-wool Leftie who's never had a good word to say about the police, and the last time we met up and I told him what's been going on with DP (see my rant above!) he BURST with fury. Said you should all go out on a wildcat strike and let everyone see what life's like without a functioning police force. Serve 'em fucking right, frankly.

?!

I understand that MP's contribute 11.9% and build up a pension of 1/40th of final salary for each year of service. For example, an MP who has served for 20 years will receive a pension of 50% of final salary. It is index-linked.

1/40th is unusually generous

I believe MP's don't usually start at 18 and carry on till 68, so in most cases they will (or should) have pension arrangements from their other jobs before and after being MP's, and from the additional earnings from their other part-time jobs.

I suppose Policemen are public servants just like MPs are. Maybe there should be a unified scheme for public servants with a standard basic rate for contributions and accruals, with adjustments for arduous jobs.

This is how the government wins . Deride and rule . Pitting people against each other in a race to the bottom. The real question is, why doesn't everyone have a decent pension, not why don't the police have a crap one like everyone else.

This final para of Plom's fine post really does say it all. You could substitute "police" and "pension" with several words tbh. Why doesn't everyone have a decent home, not why don't people in social housing have crap ones...Why doesn't everyone have a decent wage, not why don't teachers have a crap one...and so on and so on.

This government are finding it frighteningly easy to rip off each and every one of us whilst we bicker over child benefit and public pensions. It's tragic.

Hi

Police officers deserve every f*cking penny of the pension they get. They pay for it in deductions, and risk and for doing a hard job in often dreadful, dangerous and harrowing circumstances.

My dad once came home covered in blood, he had sat cradling a fallen colleague who had been run off the road and killed by a so called "joyrider". He dealt with a child murdered by being strangled by piano wire, a child killed by a runaway horse which put it's hoof through a car window. He has been to many post mortems, been the first to confirm the worst news to parents and shared their grief.

I spent not one xmas morning with my dad until he retired (to count his doubloons of course and retire to Portugal)..err no- he is still serving his community and making it safer.

My brother in the army also gets a massive pension.

And police officers deserve every penny too.

I am sure PC Rathband would have enjoyed his pension.....if only he had lived to see it. And that goes for every other poice officer killed or seriously injured in the line of duty too.

The police work damned hard and pay for the pension they get. They are having their terms and conditions eradicated around them and have no legal forum to protest. I worry that one set of public sector workers feel encouraged to criticise another - isn't this the old tactic of divide and conquer??

lumpy i would love that but alas, i have the mother of all chest infections and cant mix it with ABs....

i would just also like to point out that the police pension is now 35 years.
not 30

soon to be obsolete anyway under windsor cos he wants to make the minimum age of claiming it 60.

I think Police earn every penny.

I have only been assaulted twice at work, that was bad enough I could not face being at the risk of assault they are. I would hate a job that involved giving evidence in Court so much. That is not a nice experience.

Anyone who wants their pension should go and do the job.

Isn't the police pension completely funded by the money police pay every month via their pensions? And isn't the rate they pay about 16% of their salary? If so, their pension fund is paid by themselves with some top up from the government, as with council workers etc, but council workers pay between, I guess 3 and 5%.... Not the same as 16%. What other job insists on such a high proportion of their salary going to pension?

So OP, YABU. Plus, I couldn't be a PC - they - wrongly- get treated like crap, the majority work really hard, and they suffer all kinds of shit.

My brother had to leave the force after being beaten up and left for dead on the road side.
Yep he has a good pension, one that he paid a lot into.
Thank God he has.

Otherwise he would have to rely on disabilty benefits.
Then people would really envy him.

MPs pay either 11.9, 7.9, or 5.9% of their salaries .... Their salaries start at £65k ... Be a cabinet minister and it is more than doubled ... Not the same as PCs.

"Isn't the police pension completely funded by the money police pay every month via their pensions?"

No - absolutely NOT. The taxpayers have to contribute a substantial amount towarda it.

Yes, the police deserve incentives and perks for the kind of job they do - but their pensions are DISPROPORTIONATE and unaffordable. As a front line nurse I will get no more than 5k a year. The police get a lump sum and then 25k a year+++. They can retire at 50 - and I retire at 65.

I think that's unfair.

Why don't you join the police then?

"Why don't you join the police then?"

What kind of argument is that??

Are you all police officers?

NO i am not .... But I hate police bashing ....

Cook - I don't reckon much to that argument either,

Unfair is unfair.

You have to remember that police aren't standard employees ... They do not have contracts and can't strike. They don't get perks. What is your problem?

Have you ever thought about why you don't join the police- it's not for everyone. Just look at the examples above of day to day life in the police. Some people are prepared to put up with terrible circumstances on a daily basis because they think they make a difference.
I have worked bloody hard for my pension and contributed to it significantly.
Police bashing threads are beginning to get on my tits quite frankly.