Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on the number of medical and injury awards to staff of raising the pension age of prison officers and other frontline uniformed staff.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Prison officers are highly valued public servants, who do an important job protecting the public and keeping prisoners safe. The Justice Secretary recently met the POA to discuss their concerns.

Public sector pension schemes have been reformed to rebalance taxpayer and member contributions in the short term, and to ensure that costs are sustainable and fair in the long term.

An Equalities Assessment for the Alpha pension age change is available on gov.uk. The change eventually moves normal pension age to 68, and was introduced in the context of generally improving life expectancy. The higher normal pension age of 68 does not take effect until 2042, and of 67 not until 2025.