Reform of ill-health retirement of police in England and Wales: impact on pension liabilities and the role of local finance

We examine ill-health retirement of police officers in England and Wales between 2002-3 and 2009-10. Differences in ill-health retirement rates across forces are statistically related to area-specific stresses of policing and force-specific differences in human resources policies. Reforms to police pensions plans- in particular a shift in the incidence of financing ill-health retirement from central government to local police authorities- impacted on the level of ill-health retirement, especially among forces with above-average rates of retirement. We find that residual differences in post-2006 ill-health retirement rates across forces are related to their differential capacities to raise revenue from local property taxes. We quantify the impact of these reforms on overal pension plan liabilities.