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Met chief quits with £80,000 pension to take up new £120,000 post
Benedict Moore-Bridger20 Jan 2009
A SENIOR Scotland Yard officer is to quit for a Home Office post which will see him collect a combined £200,000-a-year pay and pension package.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alf Hitchcock, 49, is to retire from the Metropolitan Police, gaining an £80,000 pension, then immediately start work as deputy chief constable of a quango at an estimated £120,000 a year.
His new role will see him take charge of part of the National Policing Improvement Agency where he will "mentor" potential chief constables.
The senior officer's package, which will entitle him to another pension when he retires, will far exceed the pay of the officers he is mentoring.
Mr Hitchcock said it was a "one-off" job and told how he had been put off applying for promoted posts because of the pay. "Chief executives of councils usually earn far more than chief constables in charge of policing entire counties," he said. "I joined the Met six years ago because the challenges were more difficult. But, financially, because of the cost of living in London and moving my family, I would have been better off as a chief in a provincial force."
Mr Hitchcock, who joined the Met in 2003 after being with police in Lancashire since 1977, was appointed last summer by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to develop the Tackling Knives Action Programme. He refused to disclose the terms of his new post, but said: "The key motivation is that it is a new job, a one-off national role."
Officers can stay in the police and qualify to collect pay and pension if they retire from one of the Home Office forces and join a force or agency that falls under a different department.
Critics have labelled the practice of officers simultaneously collecting large pensions and salaries as the "gravy beat", which gave a "bad impression" of the police. Peter Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation which represents more than 30,000 officers, said the public would be "shocked" by the news. He said: "I'm not sure this is the best use of public money. Common sense says this isn't right."
It comes after thousands of officers have been forced to take second jobs to supplement their wages. Other officers who have retired and immediately gone into other policing roles include the chief constable of the British Transport Police, Ian Johnston, and his deputy Andy Trotter. They left Scotland Yard and joined the BTP, which is not under Home Office control, entitling them to the "double hat" windfall.
Reader views (12)
I don't object to the job! What I do object to is the idea that this is the best man for the job. And can somebody tell me what they actually do for this ridiculous salary ?
- Duncan Walker, Lucky to live in Thailand, 21/01/2009 07:13
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End Public Sector final salary pensions now and with retroactive effect before they bankrupt the country and cause countrywide rioting!
- Joe, Thornton Heath, UK, 20/01/2009 17:58
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Private Sector workers can only get their Pension at 60, and have to fund it themselves.
A Policeman can collect his at 50 (even if he's paid in 11% from his Taxpayer Funded Salary over the years) and has his Pension topped up by the Taxpayer for the rest of his life - which is extended by 10 years.
(The Taxpayer's Alliance say around 25% of Police Pension is topped up directly by the Taxpayer)
It's basically very unfair.
- Cap, london, 20/01/2009 16:41
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Ahh - poor love, can't manage to live on his current salary, London is an expensive to live, not helped because half its senior police officers are firing off compensation claims in every direction and Council tax payers are picking up the tab. Mind you he does get free travel on all public transport and in his rank will also get a nice top of the range provided car, so with no travel to work costs don't feel too sorry for him. Lets hope the new broom Commissioner will have a clean sweep, perhaps Mr Hitchcock is already mentoring him?
- Keith, Ipswich UK, 20/01/2009 13:06
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If he is still a Police Officer as a Deputy chief Constable, he is not retired. He was employed by the Home Office before while working for the Met and is still working for the Home Office. He has had no change of career. I find it quite offensive that the Government treat the public in this way.
- Paul Bradford, Monflanquin, France, 20/01/2009 12:48
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Why should the police service be any different to any other form of paid employment. Their terms of employment are quiet rigid in that retirement takes place at the completion of 30 years pensionable service or aged 55, whichever is the sooner(since 2006/7 this has been altered for new entrants). MPs, for instance, earn a full Parliamentary pension after only 20 years, and are then free to take their full pension and still seek alternative employment elswhere. Similarly other public sector employees can take their pensions at various times between 50, 55 or 60 then go on to a second paid career outside the sector. Even in private industry where pensions are payable after a specified period or length of service, those who choose to take their pension at the earliest opportunity are fully entitled to seek alternative employment elswhere. No doubt Mr Hitchcock, and others who move onto second careers, will still be paying income tax and NI at the appropriate rates.
- Pat, South of England, 20/01/2009 12:25
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I wish him all the Best of Luck.
- Val, dagenham, 20/01/2009 12:25
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You are missing the point - what other organisation would have a retirement age of 49 - I also work in the public sector and I cannot go until I am 60 (I have already worked 35 years)!
- Derek, London, 20/01/2009 12:24
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Eleven pence was taken out of every pound he earned for thirty years to pay for that pension, now some MP begrudges him taking another job after retirement. Will MP’s promise not to take on employment once they begin to claim their offensively bloated pension?
- Garry, London, 20/01/2009 12:11
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One of the nicer and pragmatic (i.e. 'normal') senior officers in the Met, but still part of that ACPO mindset.
There's nothing wrong with what he's doing, he has paid into the pension scheme and it is his right. However these people can't help themselves can they? They still need to be part of the power.
What did his 'knive tsar' role actually ever produce?
Why couldn't he simply have been seconded in his current salary level. It says more about the rather sinister development, growth and influence of ACPO.
The new Met commissioner will be announced soon too. Don't expect anything new whoever is successful. It will be more of the same again. Remember these people go through the same selection and training procedures and processes. Like selects like. ACPO is no longer just a representative organisation, it is a limited company with very many interests in the provision of policing, public and private. It has too much power and influence and is far too cosy with the current government.
- Ranter, Maidstone, UK, 20/01/2009 11:51
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Change the rules we should not be allowing civil servants to collect pensions at 49. No other sector even in the civil service would allow it not even Teachers
- Duncan, Kent, 20/01/2009 11:31
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Why is it wrong that after someone works for 30 years in a job, working hard to get promoted then upon reaching the retirement age, leaves and takes another job. Mr Hitchcock is only 49 and no doubt has paid handsomely into his police pension, so he is entitled to it. Is he now expected to sit at home smoking a pipe, this new job was not specifically created for him, he no doubt applied, was interviwed and got the job. Good for him.
- Howard, London, UK, 20/01/2009 10:48
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