The Home Office has taken another step towards settling the police  pensions dsipute that is set to land the government with a multi-billion pound compensation bill.

In an update to members, the Police Federation revealed that officials at the Home Office have set out guidance in relation to Immediate Detriment Pensions Cases.

The department is focusing on officers who are due to retire this year, including due to ill-health and are impacted by the McCloud Sargeant judgement. The end-date of their service has made them a priority.

When the government changed the retirement benefits for officers in 2015 it created an illegal transition group which was ruled to be discriminatory. This was based on the argument that officers joined the service expecting the same pension arrangements as their predecessors and an industrial tribunal ruled they had been discriminated against. Some of those officers are coming up to retirement this year so the government will have to move them back to the old terms.

The Home Office is also currently negotiating with the Federation and Police Superintendents’ Association on the compensation that the affected officers are entitled to.

The guidance sent to the Police Federation sets out how members can be treated as if they were in their original legacy schemes giving individuals the option of the scheme they choose.

It is being assessed by the Federation’s pensions advisers and the legal team representing members for the compensation claim. The details and next steps by the Fed will be issued to its members once this has finished.

The Federation said in its statement: “We are still in the process of working through what is being proposed along with the implications for our membership.”

But it added: “Our position remains unchanged: members should remain on their existing/legacy pensions where this does not cause them a detriment.”