Notice and the leaving process
Under the Police Regulations 2003 an officer gives one month's written notice, unless the chief officer agrees to a shorter period. In practice forces often accept less when a start date elsewhere requires it, but there is no entitlement to that, so do not resign a new post on the assumption it will be granted.
Before your last day you will normally need to return your warrant card and force property, close outstanding cases and hand over exhibits, complete an exit interview, and confirm a forwarding address for pension correspondence. Ask for written confirmation of your leaving date and your final pensionable pay, because both are needed later and are much harder to obtain once you have left.
Leaving does not end a live conduct matter. Gross misconduct proceedings can continue after an officer resigns or retires, and officers who leave while under investigation can be placed on the advisory list held by the College of Policing.
Retirement options
What you can take, and when, depends on which scheme holds your service. The three schemes are covered in more detail in the pay and pensions guide.
- Ordinary retirement at the scheme's normal pension age, which is 60 in the 2015 scheme and 55 in the 2006 scheme. The 1987 scheme works on service rather than a fixed age, with maximum benefits at thirty years.
- Early retirement from the minimum pension age with an actuarial reduction, which is permanent and can be substantial.
- Deferred benefits if you leave before you can draw a pension. Your benefits stay in the scheme and are revalued until you claim them at the deferred pension age.
Because most serving officers now have service in more than one scheme, the payable date and the amount can differ between the two parts of the same record. A benefit statement showing both is the only reliable way to see the whole picture.
Timing questions worth asking before you resign
- Does leaving a few months later cross a service or age threshold that changes the calculation?
- What does the actuarial reduction cost across the whole of retirement, not just in the first year?
- How does the McCloud choice for service between 2015 and 2022 interact with the date you plan to leave?
- Is there an annual allowance tax charge in the final year, particularly after a promotion or backdated pay award?
Ill health retirement
Ill health retirement is not something an officer can simply apply for. The force refers the case to a selected medical practitioner, who decides whether you are permanently disabled for the ordinary duties of a member of the force. Benefits are tiered according to whether you are also incapable of other regular employment.
Where the disablement was caused by an injury received in the execution of duty, a separate injury award may be payable under the injury benefit regulations, banded by degree of disablement. The two are decided separately and one does not guarantee the other.
The questions put to the medical practitioner shape the outcome, so federation involvement before the referral is made is worth more than an appeal afterwards. Certificates can be appealed to a police medical appeal board within a set time limit.
After you leave
- Representation. Federation membership ends with service. The National Association of Retired Police Officers supports retired officers, including on pension issues.
- Treatment access. The police treatment centres and Flint House continue to accept retired officers who kept up their subscription, subject to their own rules. Check before you cancel any deduction on your final payslip.
- Trauma support. Police Care UK supports veterans of the service as well as serving officers, so leaving does not close that route. See the wellbeing guide.
- References and disclosure. New employers in regulated sectors will ask about conduct history and may require vetting or an SIA licence. Being straightforward about a closed matter causes fewer problems than a gap that emerges at vetting.
Finding work
Policing produces evidence handling, risk assessment, decision making under scrutiny, statement taking, interviewing and case management. Employers value all of it, but rarely recognise it when it is written in police language. Rewrite specialist terms into their civilian equivalent before you send anything out, and lead with outcomes rather than roles.
Places officers commonly look for work:
- Police staff roles within your own or another force, which keep you in the sector without warranted duties.
- Civil Service Jobs, particularly investigation, intelligence, border and regulatory roles.
- Financial crime, insurance investigation, safeguarding and corporate security, where investigative experience transfers directly.
- Job boards aimed at police leavers, including AfterDutyJobs, which lists roles for police, fire, ambulance and armed forces leavers.
If your next role requires a licence, apply early. An SIA licence takes time to issue and a start date can slip while it is processed.
Sources: Police Regulations 2003, Police Pensions Regulations 2015 and the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006. Pension outcomes depend on individual records. Get a benefit statement from your force's pension administrator and, for anything significant, independent financial advice.