Human Resources

Compulsory Retirement Age

On 1 October 2006 new compulsory retirement ages (CRAs) came into effect for police officers.

These are as follows:

• for a constable, sergeant. inspector or chief inspector, 60 years
• for an officer with any higher rank, 65 years.

The date may be postponed by the chief constable (in the case of an officer at the rank of superintendent or below) or by the police authority (in the case of an officer above the rank of superintendent).  These ages apply to all forces: there are no longer separate CRAs for the Metropolitan Police.

Pension ages and CRAs are separate. The new CRAs will not affect the date at which an officer can retire with a pension under either PPS or NPPS. Officers will not be disadvantaged by the new arrangements if they choose to retire as they expected to at their former CRA.

Please refer to the CRA Objective Justification and the Home Office Circular on CRAs (new window) for more information and guidance. The Equality Impact Assessment for the new CRAs may also be of interest. All three documents are also available via the Downloads section.