\n The standard motion, aimed at raising awareness to Parliament of an issue says the Scottish Public Pensions Agency has missed its latest September target f<\/a>or issuing Remedial Service Statements and that around 400 cases remain outstanding.\n<\/p>\n \n The motion says parliament should be “concerned\u201d about the continuing delays and calls attention to the need for Scottish ministers to take \u201curgent action\u201d to end what it describes as \u201cthis misery\u201d for officers who spent years serving Scotland’s communities.\n<\/p>\n \n It also says the statements are necessary for retired officers to understand their pension provision. It notes calls from members of the pension scheme and the Scottish Police Federation for ministers to intervene.\n<\/p>\n \n Mr Gallagher said: \u201cWe now hope that Ms McNeill engenders a realisation from the parliament that those who protected Scotland have themselves been left with no protection in their old age. We stood up to every challenge that was thrown at us. It is now time for our Parliamentarians to hopefully repay those endeavours.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n The motion comes after The Herald revealed the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) missed its own latest target for completing the remaining pension statements for retired police officers.\n<\/p>\n \n \n In a letter sent to a retired officer on July 22, the agency said there were fewer than 400 Remediable Service Statements (RSS) still to produce and that completing them was its \u201ctop priority\u201d within the pension remedy work.\n<\/p>\n \n It said it expected to have issued more than 5,000 statements, representing around 97 per cent of retired police members, by the end of July and expected to complete the remaining cases by the end of September.\n<\/p>\n \n Read More:\n<\/p>\n \n That September deadline has now passed, leaving campaigners demanding answers over when the remaining officers will finally receive the information they need.\n<\/p>\n \n The SPPA said in its letter that some cases were more complicated because records needed additional information, processing or checking.\n<\/p>\n \n It also said the calculations used to produce the statements had to be checked by the Government Actuary’s Department before they could be used, while delays had also arisen from policy and technical issues following Scottish Ministers’ decision to write off ill-health overpayments to police scheme members.\n<\/p>\n \n The agency told the retired officer: \u201cIf we do encounter any issues which mean we cannot provide your RSS by the end of September, we will contact you to let you know.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n The wider pension dispute dates back to changes made to public sector pension schemes in 2015.\n<\/p>\n \n A court ruling found that the changes unlawfully discriminated against younger public sector workers because older workers were allowed to remain in their existing pension schemes while younger colleagues were moved into new arrangements.\n<\/p>\n \n Pensioner rights campaigner Martin Gallagher (Image: Martin Gallagher)\n<\/p>\n
SPPA chief Stephen Pathirana is expected to answer to the Scottish Parliament in a future scrutiny session (Image: SPPA)\n<\/p>\n