These promotions are available to new recruits to the Police Service - Student Officers and Staff. Where a member of Police Staff (eg a PCSO) or a "Special" goes on to train as a Student Officer, they are eligible.
The Job will initially keep you on full pay if you are off work through illness or injury, usually for a six month period.
Our Income Protection policy provides permanent cover throughout your service (or reaching age 60) if, under Regulation 28, you are reduced to half pay or no pay. Cover applies regardless of whether this is due to sickness or injury and whether your absence from work is continuous or accumulated. Cover is, however, subject to underwriting at the time you apply for a policy.
The income benefit during the half pay period is 30% of pensionable pay, and this doubles if you go down to no pay. We will also pay an income if you are medically retired for physical (not mental) causes, and are unable to seek suitable alternative work. These benefits are free of tax.
There are also lump sum benefits e.g. one month's pay on being placed on half pay and again on being reduced to no pay, and 6 months' pay on diagnosis of a defined critical illness. See our brochure a list of the 23 critical illness conditions covered. Our specimen policy document gives further details.
The normal premium for this cover is based on Pensionable Salary - 0.5% for males and 0.9% for females - with a 10% non-smoker discount. If you apply during your first 2 months of service, we will provide 6 months' free cover - no premiums are payable in the month we accept your application and the following 6 months (roughly to coincide with your period on the training point of the payscale).
Full premiums apply after the free cover period. For example, the monthly premium is £9.80 for a male non-smoker constable in London (a Pensionable Salary of £26145 on 2007-08 pay scales).
NB The premium limit on STEP is £25 per month.
For fixed term savings plans taken out during your first 2 years of service, we give you a money back guarantee. We normally reserve our rights on the surrender value we pay when these plans are cashed in early, although we always do our best to be fair. Under this promotion, we will not make any deduction from the premiums you have paid us, neither to cover our administrative costs nor to protect us against falls in the stockmarket.
You may take out 2 or more plans, each for a minimum of £10 per month. At any stage in those plans, you can cash in any or all of them for a complete refund. If the normal surrender value is higher, you will receive this higher amount.
NB You can save in this even if you already have a Cash ISA. Normal ISA limits apply.
We will reduce our minimum monthly premium to £20 per month for plans commencing in your first 2 years of service.
Our ISA is invested in the same with profits fund as our fixed term savings plans. This is lower risk than investing 100% in equities, but it is still exposed to some market risk.
We normally make a 1% deduction from ISAs cashed in during the first year, but we will waive this charge for plans taken out in your first 2 years of service.
If we do have to make a deduction to allow for falls in the stockmarket, it will apply to all ISA plans at the relevant durations. (It is an Inland Revenue requirement that Stocks and Shares ISAs are exposed to market risk - otherwise they are deemed to be Cash ISAs.) .
