Devon and Cornwall police officers who were offered compulsory retirement will accuse the force of age discrimination at an employment tribunal. Along with a number of other forces, Devon and Cornwall police has required a number of police officers to retire in response to widespread funding cuts.

Now a number of the officers who have been compulsory retired have brought proceedings for indirect age discrimination and test cases on this issue, involving five English forces are going to be heard in February and March.

A spokesman for the force, which is empowered to bring the redundancies under rule A19 of the Police Pensions Regulations 1987, said: "These steps were taken in order to maintain and improve police services in Devon and Cornwall.

"Under Regulation A19, only officers who have already qualified for a full, two-thirds pension can be required to retire in this way.

"Devon and Cornwall Police has at all times acted in accordance with legal advice and is vigorously defending the claims.

"A number of officers also made a separate claim against the force that it had failed to properly consult with them prior to relying on A19 to compulsory retire them from the service.

"This claim has already been turned down by an employment tribunal in a separate hearing."

Article from This Is The West Country