West Midlands Police
 

Hi all,

Has anyone out there been in West Midlands Police (UK) and emmigrated??

Is so what did you do with your pension? and did you take a career break or leave???

Ive been told that the only option viable is to freeze it, or get a cash transfer equivalent ( sickening thought as only get a tiny bit of what you paid in)


I guess its similar to most Uk police forces.....any suggestions?

Thanks

Darren :confused:

Re: West Midlands Police
 

Darren,

Can only quote the Derbyshire stance - if you go to work somewhere else ie no going back to college or travelling - you have to resign, your pension is frozen at that point until a) you reach 60 b)you come back and start it again or c) you move it to another pension scheme.

Only downside, which I have had to weigh up given that a and c are not an option, is that when I come back I am on the new pension rate of 9.5% for 35yrs instead of 11% for 30yrs

Your call mate, but I have chosen to freeze it until I return, so what if I lose a few quid in 20 years - you never know I may not return :) Everyone I have spoken to about it has said the same, freeze it and leave as is until I get back and then start it up again plus if I am lucky enough to save some money whilst I'm working away there are always top up schemes I can use when I get back.

Jack :beer:

Re: West Midlands Police
 

Hi

I was in West Midlands Police, based in Coventry for 6 years. I had to resign, as they do not let you do paid work on a career break. I started with SAPOL on 1st Dec 05.

I transfered my pension over as soon as I could, as we decided we are staying in Oz. The value of my pension was worth 83k UK pounds, when it got transfered over in March 06 it was $196K AU dollars. This is completely tax free, I will only pay tax on the interest from this amount, there are conditons for drawing from it before age 55 though. Legislation changed on April 06 so it may be different now. But for me it was a painless exercise. In Oz terms this is alot of money to put in a pension fund.

Hope this helps.

Any other questions I can help with, let me know.

Chris

Re: West Midlands Police
 

I thought this was going to be a thread about joining the West Mids police :p

Re: West Midlands Police
 

No sorry... leaving sounds better to me !