{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/police-pensions-member-contributions-amendment-and-transitional-provisions-england-and-wales-regulations-2026/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/police-pensions-member-contributions-amendment-and-transitional-provisions-england-and-wales-regulations-2026/note.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2026/267",
  "legislation_title": "The Police Pensions (Member Contributions) (Amendment and Transitional Provisions) (England and Wales) Regulations 2026",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/police-pensions-member-contributions-amendment-and-transitional-provisions-england-and-wales-regulations-2026",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations)\nThese Regulations amend the Police Pensions Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/445) (“the 2015 Regulations”) in respect of member contributions.\nRegulation 1 makes introductory provision about citation, commencement, extent and interpretation. Regulations 2 to 8 amend the 2015 Regulations. The 2015 Regulations established a career average pension scheme for members of police forces in England and Wales.\nRegulation 170 of the 2015 Regulations sets out how to identify the rate at which an active member of the scheme must contribute to the scheme (the “member contributions rate”) by reference to the member’s annualised pensionable earnings and whether or not they are eligible for the payment of ill-health benefits. There are three earnings bands and different member contribution rates apply to each.\nRegulations 168 and 169 of the 2015 Regulations set out how to identify a member’s annualised pensionable earnings. Regulation 6 revokes regulations 168 and 169. Regulation 5 inserts a new regulation 167A into the 2015 Regulations, which sets out instead how to identify the member’s relevant pay. It sets out two alternative determinants of relevant pay and how to identify which applies in relation to a payment of pensionable earnings.\nRegulation 7 amends regulation 170 of the 2015 Regulations by substituting the table to change the earnings bands and to increase the contribution rates which apply to each band. It also amends regulation 170 so that the member contributions rate is determined by reference to the member’s relevant pay rather than their annualised pensionable earnings, and makes other changes to regulation 170 required as a result of the provisions of regulations 5 and 6 of these Regulations.\nRegulation 172 of the 2015 Regulations provides for an active member who returns to work after unpaid family or sick leave to opt to pay the contributions that would have been payable for the period of leave. Regulation 8 amends regulation 172 of the 2015 Regulations so that deemed pensionable earnings for a period of unpaid leave are not taken into account in identifying the member contributions rate which is applied to calculate the contributions that would have been payable.\nRegulation 33 of the 2015 Regulations sets out the meaning of the term “pensionable earnings”. Regulation 4 amends regulation 33 of the 2015 Regulations to reflect that, as a result of the revocations made by regulation 6, Part 10 of those Regulations no longer gives a different meaning to that term. Regulation 3 amends the definition of “pensionable earnings” to reflect this, and also amends the definition of “assumed pay” to reflect that, again as a result of the revocations made by regulation 6, Part 10 of the 2015 Regulations no longer gives a different meaning to that term.\nRegulation 9(1) makes transitional provision so that member contributions which are to be deducted from pay for pay periods which start before 1st April 2026 are not affected by the amendments made by these Regulations. Regulation 9(2) makes transitional provision for scheme members who opt, under regulation 172 of the 2015 Regulations, to make contributions for unpaid leave which took place wholly or partly before 1st April 2026.\nA full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/267/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T21:04:30.732833+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}