Schedule 3:The Central Police Training and Development Authority Pensions for ACPO staff
321.The secretariat of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) is funded mainly by a Home Office grant provided under section 57(1) of the Police Act 1996. Section 57(1) enables the Secretary of State to make contributions to the provision or maintenance of organisations that promote the efficiency or effectiveness of the police. Members of the secretariat – 17 staff in total - are civilian employees. Initially the posts were filled by members of the civil staff of the Metropolitan Police service on secondment. Those concerned were therefore members of the Metropolitan Civil Staff Superannuation Scheme (the MCSSS), a scheme by analogy to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PSCPS) established under section 15 of the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1967. That scheme was for members of the civil staff of the Metropolitan Police and for other staff for historical reasons paid by the Receiver for the metropolitan police.
322.For the last decade the members of the secretariat have been employees of ACPO rather than members of the civil staff of the Metropolitan Police service. It is therefore unsatisfactory for them to remain as members of the MCSSS. In the longer term it is, in any event, proposed to wind up the MCSSS in the light of the organisational changes made in the Greater London Authority Act 1999. As the terms of the MCSSS are the same as those for the PCSPS a switch to membership of the PCSPS will not result in any change to the pension entitlement of the staff concerned.
323.In the Act, provision is made for members of the ACPO secretariat who are members of the MCSSS (whether as current employees or as previous employees with an entitlement to a deferred MCSSS pension) to transfer to the PCSPS.