Human Resources
Back to 1987 Police Pension Scheme (PPS)
Ill-Health Benefits
An ill-health pension is paid if and when the police authority decides to retire you on grounds of ill-health. You must be permanently disabled for the ordinary duties of a member of the force. Ill-health retirement is possible at any age.
An ill-health pension will be paid if an officer has two years’ qualifying service or at any time if their disability is due to an injury without their default in the execution of their duty. An ill-health pension may be reduced by up to a half if the disablement was substantially due to their own default.
An immediate pension and lump sum is payable to any officer at any age who is granted ill-health retirement. There is a single tier of ill-health pension with enhancements of service for most officers – the level of which depends on length of service.
Determining Ill-Health
The level of disability is determined by a doctor who will consider such issues as your ability to:
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run, walk reasonable distances, and stand for reasonable periods;
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exercise reasonable physical force in restraint and retention in custody;
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sit for reasonable periods, to write, read, use the telephone and use (or learn to use) IT;
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make decisions and report situations to others;
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evaluate information and to record details;
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understand, retain and explain facts and procedures.
Even if you are judged to be disabled, it does not automatically follow that you will be granted ill-health retirement. The police force will consider whether there are alternative duties that you could perform and still remain in the service (taking account of your overall capabilities).There are appeal rights against medical decisions.
There are separate arrangements for the payment of injury awards to officers who are permanently disabled as the result of an injury on duty, which are outside the pension scheme.
