Ford welcomes police pensions announcement

Date published: 19 October 2015

“I welcome the announcement by the Minister of Finance advising that she has secured funding from the Chancellor to meet the cost of pension settlements for retired police officers in Northern Ireland affected by the Pensions Ombudsman’s Determination. It is helpful that my Department is not required to absorb the immediate and considerable cost pressure associated with making payments to those affected by the Milne determination from within existing Departmental budgets.”

“My officials continue to work closely with the Northern Ireland Policing Board, which has responsibility for the administration of the Police pensions scheme in Northern Ireland, to ensure retired police officers who may be affected by this ruling are put in the financial position they ought to be in as soon as possible.

“Given that almost 3000 former officers are affected by the ruling, the calculation of payment interest and tax is a complex process, which is likely to take some time to resolve.”