When you reach state pension age, you will be notified by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and awarded your pension accordingly.
The DWP then has a responsibility to notify HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), who then notify your Police Pension Provider; this will be Durham Constabulary for those who received their Police Pay and subsequent Police Pension from them.
State Pension is a taxable income, but not taxed at source, and the purpose of HMRC’s notification of your State Pension is to facilitate the adjustment of your Tax Code, in order to ensure that you are paying the correct amount of Income Tax.
Notification between these various bodies usually takes around 2 months. You will also notice a slight reduction in your Police Pension as per Police Pension Regulations.
It has come to our attention that HMRC has, in some cases, delayed notification to Police Pension Providers, resulting in a number of retired police officers having increased tax deductions from their Police Pension. HMRC may well come to some arrangement for the ‘back tax’ to be spread over a number of months, rather than taking the increased and unexpected deductions over a short period of time.
If you are due to qualify for your state pension, once received, it may be advisable to contact HMRC and request that prompt notification of such made to your Police Pension Provider. Hopefully this will prevent you being in arrears with them and your income tax is proportionally distributed throughout the tax year.