POLICE pay deals came under attack last night after a top woman officer retired with a potential £450,000 taxpayer-funded pension bonus.
Sharon Rowe’s pension has been criticised [BPM MEDIA/WEST MIDLANDS POLICE]That promotion increased her annual salary to £140,000 and boosted the amount her pension will have paid out by £456,773 by the time she reaches 82, the average life expectancy for a woman.
That includes a potential tax-free lump sum increase of £83,493.
The revelations have caused a stir within West Midlands Police, which has seen pay freezes and job reductions as the force handles cuts of almost £150million.
hese officers deserve good pensions but the force should have shown more prudence in the way they’re spending taxpayers’ money
Ms Rowe’s retirement after 30 years followed another West Midlands officer having left five months after being promoted to a £100,000-a-year Assistant Chief Constable.
Current rules, which sees pensions based on final salaries, are due to be reformed in the next few months so figures will be calculated on average career earnings.
Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, criticised the system that allows the bumper deals.
He said: “Public sector pensions are already far more generous than most in the private sector could ever hope to achieve, and the irresponsible way in which the police force has allowed these officers’ pensions to spiral is unacceptable.
“These officers deserve good pensions but the force should have shown more prudence in the way they’re spending taxpayers’ money.
“The potential extra cost of these increased pensions is huge.”
Ms Rowe’s final-year salary was a combination of five months at £100,000 as an ACC and seven months at £140,000, working out at an average of £123,331 for the year.
As police pensions are based on two-thirds of an officer’s final-year salary, on her ACC wage she would have got a £66,666 annual pension. But the promotion swelled this to £82,220 – a rise of £15,554 a year.
The vast majority of officers cash in the maximum 25 per cent allowed of their pensions upon retirement – called commutation – to receive a tax-free lump sum but a reduced annual income.
If Ms Rowe cashed in the maximum from her former ACC pension, she could have banked a £357,824 lump sum and a reduced annual pension payment of £50,000.
But her new final year salary means she can now cash in the maximum 25 per cent and receive a £441,317 lump sum – an increase of £83,493. Her annual pension would then be £61,665, up £11,665 on her ACC figure.
Fellow West Midlands senior officer Clive Burgess was promoted to ACC for less than five months before he retired in April. Former Deputy Chief Constable Dave Thompson, speaking about the two promotions, said: “We recognise there was an additional cost to the force but both individuals were selected on the basis of the value they could bring to their roles.”
Ms Rowe joined the Metropolitan Police at 19 and rose through the ranks. She headed policing in the West Midlands for the Olympics, the Papal visit and the 2011 riots.
In this year’s birthday honours list, she was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal, a recognition that left her “delighted and very honoured”.
On her retirement, Chief Constable Chris Sims said: “Sharon has provided a major contribution to policing over 30 years, at local, regional and national level.
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