Pension administrators regret the delays but insist they will meet a legal deadline to issue financial advice on the payments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Mrs Hodkinson was a Nightingale police officer, a front-line responder helping victims of sexual assault, with Greater Manchester Police, when breast cancer forced her to take retirement early in 2018, aged 48.<\/p>\n
She discovered she was owed potentially thousands of pounds in extra pension, after courts ruled protections from change for older workers, but not for younger workers like herself, were discriminatory. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me feel angry really,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing a police officer is a very difficult job. The pension is the thing that keeps many officers working.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, the pension administrators tasked with making the complicated calculations say they are sympathetic and will speed up the process now they have received government advice on tax and interest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Greater Manchester Police<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nSam Hodkinson helped victims of sexual assault as a front-line responder<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n\n
Changes to the value of public sector pensions were made by the government in 2014. <\/p>\n
Workers within 10 years of retirement were offered more favourable terms than younger workers. The government is committed to rectifying this and some police officers will benefit.<\/p>\n
Figures vary, but more than 32,000 police officers are due to receive statements by March 2025 to help them choose whether to stay in the current scheme or revert to the old one. <\/p>\n
The missing pension payments dating between 2015 and 2022 could be worth up to \u00a345,000, or about \u00a3600 a month. Firefighters, judges and NHS workers are also included.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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However, many police officers did not realise that there would be a delay in getting the boosted pension and have had to take second jobs or have fallen into debt.<\/p>\n
Because of her ill health, Mrs Hodkinson is unable to take on another job and worries her cancer may return.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy fear is that heaven forbid the cancer comes back and that I don\u2019t live to see the benefit of the extra money from the police pension,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Last week, the Home Affairs Select Committee heard evidence about the delays. <\/p>\n
The police co-ordinator for this issue – the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council – and the pension administrator XPS, reassured MPs and campaigners that they will keep to the 31 March 2025 deadline.<\/p>\n
XPS, has so far issued just 252 of more than 32,000 pension statements, but says it can now employ technology to speed up the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll police officers deserve the dignity of a secure retirement, and we understand the frustration and concern these delays have caused,\u201d XPS told BBC News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n