The following is an extract from a letter received from Head of PP&IR (reprinted with permission) which clarifies the Force and DPF’s present position in respect of Government proposals to raise the retirement age in the public service from 60 to 65. It is of course Federation policy to oppose any moves to raise retirement age for MDP Officers.
“I submitted a paper to the Deputy Director HR Operations in the MOD last September putting forward the MDP position on age retirement and the various reasons why it would not be appropriate to raise the retirement age for MDP officers from aged 60. In light of your letter of 22 April and the information provided to (Member, name removed) by the MOD Pay & Pensions Agency (PPA), I have spoken with HR Ops to establish the current position on this matter. I have been reassured that the question of future age retirement for existing and new civil/public servants (including of course MDP officers) is still very much an ongoing debate between individual Government Departments and the Cabinet Office and that formal consultation with the relevant Trades Unions/Staff Associations has not been initiated let alone completed. The Centre of the MOD is very much aware of the MDP position (i.e. that we would not wish to see the retirement age for our officers raise from aged 60) and this has/will be part of the Department’s formal response to the Government proposals.
There is a great deal more discussion to be had over the coming months on this issue across Government Department’s and I am confident that the MDP position (and that of other specialist employment groups) will be robustly put forward as more details emerge.”
