Factors Guidance Hub

This guidance is provided for the Scottish Public Pension Agency (SPPA) as scheme manager of the police pension schemes in Scotland.

The Police Pensions Regulations 1987 (the Regulations) state that a member entitled to an ordinary, short service, ill-health or deferred pension may commute a portion of their pension for a lump sum. Additionally, the Regulations state that a pension credit member may commute a portion of their pension.

The lump sum is the actuarial equivalent of the commuted portion of pension at the date of retirement, calculated from tables prepared by the Scheme Actuary.

The purpose of this note is to provide the tables for commutation of pension to lump sum in the Police Pension Scheme 1987 (Scotland).

This note should not be used for any purpose other than to determine the commutation factor that should be applied to the amount of pension commuted to provide a lump sum in the Police Pension Scheme 1987 (Scotland).

For example:

This guidance does not apply to exchange of lump sum for additional annual pension in the Police Pension Scheme 2006 (Scotland).
This guidance does not apply to the commutation of pension for lump sum in the Police Pension Scheme 2015 (Scotland).
This guidance does not apply to the trivial commutation of pension under regulations B8 and E4(3) of the Regulations, regulation 38 of the Police Pensions (Scotland) Regulations 2007 and regulation 193 of the Police Pensions Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
This guidance does not cover the calculation of the capitalised value of benefits for the purpose of determining death gratuities under regulation E3 of the Regulations, regulation 45 of the Police Pensions (Scotland) Regulations 2007 and regulation 156 of the Police Pensions Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
This guidance does not cover officers in England and Wales or Northern Ireland. These officers are covered under separate guidance.

This note only covers the actuarial principles around the calculation and application of commutation factors. Any legal advice in this area should be sought from an appropriately qualified person or source.

The following changes have been made when reviewing this guidance:

Important information around the expected audience for the guidance, use of the guidance, review of factors, compliance and limitations applies across all sets of guidance. Rather than being repeated in each set of guidance, this can now be found on the scheme home page. It is important to read this information alongside the guidance.
Calculation methodology: No changes have been made to the calculation methodology.
Examples: There are no examples in this guidance. Worked examples, using the calculation methodology, can be found in prior versions of the guidance (though please note that these use historic factors).
Factor tables: The "Factor Tables" tab contains the names of the tables that are referenced in the calculation methodology. The tables of factors themselves can be found in the most recently published "Consolidated Factors Workbook" which is available by clicking the "Download current Consolidated Factors Workbook" button on the scheme's home page.
Assumptions: The key assumptions underlying the factors in each note are contained in the Consolidated Factors Workbook.
Regulations: The regulations that require the production of the actuarial factors and/or guidance that is the subject of this note are summarised in the "Regulations" tab.

On 21st February 2022, SPPA confirmed the removal of a restriction that was formerly set out in the Regulations. This provision had restricted members with less than 30 years' service who were retiring with an ordinary pension under the age of 55 to commute a maximum of 2.25 times their annual pension at retirement. Since 1 April 2022, all officers who are entitled to an ordinary pension are able to commute up to the maximum of 25% of their pension.

The factors for ages under 48.5 are only applicable for members retiring in ill-health. In the rare event that a member wishes to commute pension on retirement in normal health before the age of 48.5 please refer the case to GAD.