A RISE in officer retirements is behind a £500,000 overspend on the police pension budget, Lancashire Police Authority was told.

Members of the resources committee heard that the average of 10 retirements a year was expected to see ‘a hump’ in the next two to there years due to the ‘one-off cost of change’.

The force is looking to officer retirements as one of the ways to try and avoid redundancies.