Citation, commencement, extent and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Police Pensions (Member Contributions) (Amendment and Transitional Provisions) (England and Wales) Regulations 2026 and come into force on 1st April 2026.

(2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales.

(3) In these Regulations, “ the 2015 Regulations ” means the Police Pensions Regulations 2015 ( 2 ).

Amendment of the Police Pensions Regulations 2015

2. The 2015 Regulations are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 8.

Amendment to regulation 2 (interpretation)

3. In regulation 2, in paragraph (1)(3)—

(a)in the definition of “assumed pay”, omit “, except as otherwise provided in Part 10 (contributions),”;

(b)for the definition of “pensionable earnings”, substitute—

““pensionable earnings”, in relation to any period, has the meaning given in regulation 33 (pensionable earnings);”.

Amendment to regulation 33 (pensionable earnings)

4. In regulation 33, omit paragraph (1).

Insertion of regulation 167A (relevant pay)

5. In Part 10 (contributions)(4), at the beginning, insert—

Relevant pay

167A.—(1) For the purpose of determining the rate of member contributions(5) under this Part, the relevant pay of a member (“M”), for a payment of M’s pensionable earnings(6), is—

(a)if one or both of paragraph (2) and paragraph (3) applies to that payment, M’s joining pay;

(b)otherwise, the sum of M’s pensionable earnings for each pay period(7) that ended in the previous scheme year in relation to that payment.

(2) This paragraph applies to a payment of M’s pensionable earnings if M is not, continuously, an active member during the relevant period for that payment.

(3) This paragraph applies to a payment of M’s pensionable earnings if M returned from a long period of leave during the relevant period for that payment.

(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), M’s “joining pay” is the annual rate of pay to which M was entitled on the later of—

(a)the day that M most recently became an active member; and

(b)the day that M most recently returned from a long period of leave.

(5) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), any statutory pay(8) paid to or for M is treated as included within M’s pensionable earnings.

(6) For the purposes of paragraph (4), the “annual rate of pay to which M was entitled” is—

(a)where M is a person in service as a member of a home police force(9), the annual rate of pay to which M was entitled as such a member, no account being taken of any retrospective increase in that rate of pay;

(b)where M is a person in service as a member of a police force in England and Wales other than a home police force(10), the annual rate of pay to which M was entitled under M’s terms and conditions of employment, no account being taken of any retrospective increase in that rate of pay.

(7) In this regulation—

“active member” means a person who—

“long period of leave” means any period lasting for a year or more which is—

“previous scheme year”, in relation to a payment of pensionable earnings, means the scheme year(16) before the scheme year during which falls the end of the pay period to which that payment relates;

“relevant period”, in relation to a payment of pensionable earnings, means the period—

Omission of regulation 168 (amount of pensionable earnings) and regulation 169 (annualised rate of pensionable earnings)

6. Omit regulation 168 and regulation 169.

Amendment to regulation 170 (rate of member contributions)

7. In regulation 170—

(a)in paragraph (1), omit the words from “within” to “33”;

(b)for paragraph (2), substitute—

“(2) The member contributions rate which applies to a payment of pensionable earnings is the percentage, set out in column 2 or 3 of the table(17), corresponding to the relevant pay in column 1 for that payment.”;

(c)omit paragraphs (6) and (7);

(d)for the table after paragraph (7), including the heading(18), substitute—

Amendment to regulation 172 (option to pay member contributions for period of unpaid leave)

8. In regulation 172, in paragraph (7)(19)—

(a)for “payable,” substitute “payable—

(a)any amount of pensionable earnings that the member would have received for the period of unpaid leave is not to be taken into account in determining the member contributions rate;”;

(b)the words from “the annual rate” to the end become sub-paragraph (b) of that paragraph.

Transitional provisions

9.—(1) The amendments made by these Regulations do not apply in relation to any payment of pensionable earnings made for a pay period which begins before 1st April 2026.

(2) The amendments made by these Regulations do not apply in determining, for the purposes of regulation 172(3) of the 2015 Regulations, the rate of contributions that applies to calculate the amount of contributions that would have been payable—

(a)for any period of unpaid leave which ended before 1st April 2026;

(b)in relation to a period of unpaid leave which was ongoing immediately before 1st April 2026, for any pay period during that period of unpaid leave which would, had that unpaid leave not taken place, have begun before 1st April 2026.

(3) In this regulation—

“ pay period ” has the meaning given in regulation 2(1) of the 2015 Regulations;

“ pensionable earnings ” has the meaning given in regulation 33(2) of the 2015 Regulations( 20 );

“ unpaid leave ” means the unpaid leave listed in regulation 172(1) of the 2015 Regulations.