Home Office wants older police officers to stay on

Police officers approaching retirement are to be offered more money to stay on for a further five years under new Home Office plans to retain experienced staff.

Supporters of the proposals hope they will encourage "Dixon of Dock Greens" – long-serving constables and sergeants in their 50s – to stay on. At present, police in the lower ranks must retire at 55, and many choose to take their pension after 30 years' service. As a result, forces across the country are facing a retirement "timebomb", with many officers due to leave this decade.

Lord Rooker, a Home Office minister, has said in a written Parliamentary answer that the Government is looking at plans to encourage officers to delay retirement. Constables and sergeants would be allowed to take the lump sum normally given on retirement and would also receive a salary greater than their pension to stay on. The Home Office has been impressed by a pilot scheme run by West Midlands Police that is offering officers an extra £9,000 a year to stay. The scheme would pay for itself by reducing the amount spent on recruiting and training new personnel, Government sources said.

"We really want to hold onto those staff who are currently in their early 50s and have invaluable experience to draw on," a source said. "These officers are the real 'Dixon of Dock Greens' of their local community, known to everyone locally, and they often want to stay on if we can make it worth their while."

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, is also keen to halt the exodus, to create the largest-ever police force for England and Wales. Mr Blunkett promised soon after taking office to have at least 130,000 officers in post by the time of the next general election. Numbers over the past year have risen by 1.1 per cent.

In a Parliamentary answer to Lord Janner of Braunstone, Lord Rooker saidfigures for the Metropolitan police showed that 383 officers were due to retire after 30 years' service this year. That figure is expected soar to 661 by 2006 and 687 in 2010. If the pattern is repeated across the country, tens of thousands of officers will leave this decade.

Lord Rooker said a number of options to prevent this were being considered. The regulations let chief constables postpone retirement for ranks up to superintendent, he said. For more senior officers, it was a matter for the police authority. "We will be considering whether changes are required to the power to postpone or whether guidance for forces on the use of the power to extend service is required," he said.