One of the front-runners for the top job in British policing threatened High Court action in pursuit of a pension payment in addition to his six-figure chief constable’s salary, The Times has learnt.

Sir Norman Bettison, police chief of West Yorkshire, became embroiled in a legal dispute with another force where he was previously chief constable in an attempt to secure a pay-and-pension package of about £240,000.

The disclosure, as rank-and-file officers are fighting to claw back £200 cut by ministers from their wage deal, will damage his prospects of succeeding Sir Ian Blair as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

MPs expressed concern over “double hatting” by senior officers this week after The Times revealed that the Chief Constable of British Transport Police (BTP) was paid £260,000 in salary and pension after retiring and then returning to work.

It has now emerged that three of the six officers on the senior command team at BTP are “retired” policemen who collected their pensions and then took up new posts. They are able to do so because BTP is not a Home Office police force and not part of the same pension scheme.

Keith Vaz, MP, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, has asked the Home Secretary to examine the practice of senior officers receiving both salary and pension. He said: “It is clear that the practice is more widespread that we had imagined.”

Sir Norman, 51, became eligible for a pension when he retired as Chief Constable of Merseyside in 2004 to become chief executive of Centrex, the national police training organisation.

Although a key part of the policing structure, Centrex was a private sector organisation. On joining it, Sir Norman, who had 30 years’ police service, became entitled to an annual pension estimated by The Times at £88,000 – two thirds of his £134,000 salary when he left Merseyside. But in January Sir Norman returned to regular policing as Chief Constable of West Yorkshire on a salary of £153,000.

Merseyside Police Authority reacted by halting his pension payments. His return to policing and the future of his pension were on the agenda at closed meetings of the authority in January and February.

Sir Norman instructed lawyers to seek the reinstatement of his pension, and the dispute has been fought out behind the scenes. It was settled recently without going to court. A spokesman for Merseyside Police Authority said: “There has been a dispute and it has been resolved.”

West Yorkshire Police confirmed that the dispute had been concluded. A spokesman said: “Sir Norman Bettison receives a salary for being Chief Constable of West Yorkshire police and is not in receipt of any pension.”

A source close to the case told The Times: “The issue of his pension arose when Sir Norman was negotiating his package with West Yorkshire a year ago. Once he returned to service as a police officer, Merseyside decided that it was no longer required to pay his pension. He asked the authority to continue paying it, they refused and it got into legal machinations.

“Sir Norman told the authority he was considering requesting a judicial review of the refusal to reinstate his pension. The whole thing rumbled on for almost 12 months.”

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said that individual officers’ pension arrangements were “a private matter”.

He added: “Police officers, unlike many public sector workers, pay into their pension fund at a rate of 11 per cent, and serve up to 30 years in an intensely difficult job protecting the public. “

Police forces pay £2 billion in pensions each year, with the taxpayer paying about 75 per cent. This compares with total police spending of £10.57 billion last year, excluding pensions.

Public sector pensions are the envy of workers in the private sector, and police packages are the cream of the crop. Officers can retire after 30 years of service on a pension of two thirds of their final salary. Officers who joined at 18 can look forward to retiring with full salaries at 48. Officers accrue pension rights at a rate of one 60th of final salary for every year of service for the first 20 years, and one 30th after that.

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