Retired police officer pension sharing

Just wondering - is this worth exploring?
After new pension rules at April 6th 2006 and after the new Pensions Act giving pension sharers new/equal rights - you can generally now take a pension got by sharing on divorce from age 50 - but - BIG BUT- at a proportionately reduced rate,ie a smaller pension than you'd get by waiting until the Normal Retirement Date fixed under the rules for each scheme.
Usually this is a very bad idea - takes years to make up the diff? - but in this invidious sharing a pension in payment "income gap" situation -
at age 50+ braindead, if you could take your share - for the sake of argument 50% of the pension - into payment immediately on divorce,- how much annual income would it give you?
Would it be so reduced as to make the deal unacceptable - you could never catch up on the loss?

If taking your share into payment immediately on divorce is a no-go for you - what happens to your share of the pension sitting in the Police Pension scheme - will it accrue interest?

Is your ex's pension in payment reduced because he took the tax free pension commencement lump sum?

PS NB
Directgov website:
"Changes to pension ages
By April 2010, the minimum age at which you'll be able to take your company or personal pension will have increased from 50 to 55.
However, you may still be able to take your pension before age 55 in certain circumstances, for example if you are unable to work due to ill-health. Your pension administrator will be able to tell you what your scheme allows.

Between 2010 and 2020 the minimum age at which women will be able to get their State Pension will gradually rise from 60 to 65."

I've looked around and been unable to find any confirmation that the Police Pension scheme will or won't pay a divorce/pension credit pension early - on the Penfam website David Salter wrote that the Police Pension scheme was still considering whether to allow early payment of pension credit pensions created on divorce from pensions already in payment.

The Police Scheme's admin. would advise you or your stbx as to current scheme rules.

Braindead wrote:
"Presumably if I go for the pension split, my rights are protected and I will receive an income, independently of him at my age 60, even if he were to die before my age 60
whereas maintenance would cease upon his earlier death?
also, if I were to remarry the maintenace would stop, but the pension fund would remain mine?"
Exactly: all the best reasons for sharing the pension - the only irksome niggle - the pension he "loses" immediately not going to you immediately but locked back into the police pension fund ....[unless of course the rules say you can take early payment and you decide you can do that without too much adverse effect]
If leaving it in the scheme until you're 60 is your only option -
will it be index-linked/revalued upwards when you take your pension and index-linked when being paid to you?

Got fed up of trying to find out if a PPS - ie 1987 police pension - pension credit pension can be taken before age 60 so I asked the Home Office Head of Police Pensions and Retirement Section
Police Finance and Pensions Unit
6th Floor, Fry Building
Home Office
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Tel 020 7035 1880
I asked:
"Can an ex-spouse pension credit member of PPS take his or her pension
into payment from age 50?"
Response"
......any enquiries that you
have about your pension should be addressed to the force's pensions
administrators who will have the relevant details to hand.
Since your enquiry is in general terms, however, I can inform you that
there is no facility for taking a pension credit pension before the age
of 60, which is the normal pension age for the Police Pension Scheme
1987, unless there is a issue of serious ill health involving short life
expectancy, where a lump sum may be payable instead of a pension."

There seems to be no way around the "income gap" unfairness - I thought the new equality given to pension sharers generally under the new Pensions Act would apply universally but I was wrong.

Hi Maggie

Thank you so much for all the helpful info.
It looks like I will have to wait to age 60 for a pension share arrangement. This seems crazy, as he will suffer an immediate drop in his income whilst I have to wait 9 years to receive my share of that 'drop'
Having looked further at the info on this site, would i therefore be better advised to go for an 'pension attachment' I have a very urgent need of income as I currently have none. If I have understood this option correctly, I will receive an immediate payment of x% of his current pension, irrespecive of my age. The drawback being that it would cease upon his death? Which presumably I could insure for?
Any thoughts gratefully received

Could I just point out that with police pensions (and NHS, teachers, the army, the civil service and one other that I can't remember...) there are no capital assets that fund them, so there is no money 'locked away' anywhere. The pensions are paid from current officers pension contributions and the taxpayer...

I understand that. But they aint exactly free are they? We paid 11% of salary into the police scheme, not exactly peanuts is it? Or did it just disappear into a black hole?

You could make the decision not to divorce until you are 60 and get ex to agree paying you a %'age of his pension til them ...but obviously this would carry some risks...but worth considering.