Human Resources
Ill-Health Retirement & Injury Awards
Ill-Health Retirement is mainly concerned with ill-health and injury awards.
Ill-Health Retirement
An officer who retires on ill-health grounds receives a pension that is similar to the pension that the length of service would attract upon normal retirement. It may be enhanced in relation to his or her length of service to compensate to some degree for the years that he or she is unable to serve as a result of his or her ill-health. For more specific information about ill-health benefits please see the page for either the 1987 pension scheme or 2006 pension scheme as appropriate, or alternatively contact your pensions administrator.
Since the mid 1990s there has been a growing awareness of the need for better management of ill-health retirement in the police, with some forces making particular progress in this area. The spread of good practice was given a specific impetus by two seminars organised by the Home Office and ACPO in 1997 and 1998 and by the publication in December 1997 of the HMIC thematic report on sickness absence management 'Lost Time'. The HMIC report set forces a target of reducing ill-health retirement, which had been running at a level of half the overall figure for retirements, to 33% of retirements by 1999/2000. This target was achieved.
Following 'Lost Time', a Treasury-led Review of Ill Health Retirement in the public sector was completed in June 2000. One of the recommendations accepted by Ministers was for Service Delivery Agreements, agreed in the 2000 Spending Review, to set employers a target to reduce ill-health retirement by 2005 to levels consistent with or better than those achieved at the time by the best quartile of employers. The Treasury review also required us to adopt a different form of performance indicator: medical retirements as a proportion of force strength, which would give a more reliable measure, since force strength remains steadier from year to year.
In accordance with the SDA, the National Policing Plan for 2003-2006 confirmed a target of 6.5 ill-health retirements per 1,000 officers by 2005-06. In support of achieving that target the Police Negotiating Board agreed in January 2003 joint guidance on the management of ill-health.
Exclusion from Ill-Health Benefits
This applies to individuals applying to join a police force whose pensions costs are likely to be disproportionately high due to their risk of early retirement on the grounds of ill-health. Although they are excluded from all ill-health benefits under the Police Pension Scheme, the pension contributions of this excluded group are reduced.
Injury awards
An officer receives an injury award where he or she has ceased to be a member of a police force and is permanently disabled as a result of an injury received without his or her own default in the execution of his or her duty. The award consists of a gratuity and a pension, both of which are related to the loss of earning capacity of the officer. The pension element is based on a minimum income guarantee, which is set against certain other benefits including ¾ of any ill-health pension.
A Police Authority must review an injury pension from time to time. This is because the injury pension is linked to the loss of earning capacity, which may vary with changing circumstances. However, although the actual amount paid may change, the injury pension cannot be removed entirely and so is payable for life.
The current ongoing work on an Injury Award Review consultation document is part of a wider programme, led by the Treasury, of reviews of public service injury benefits. The current review follows a similar series of reviews of by the major public service pension schemes into their ill-health retirement arrangements. This will determine whether the current system of considering injury awards places too great a burden on doctors and whether it would be helpful to all concerned if there were a clearer division of responsibilities between the police authority and its selected medical practitioner (SMP) in their respective roles when considering whether to grant an injury award.
Medical Appeal Boards
Any medical decision taken by the force medical adviser (FMA) or SMP on behalf of a police authority may be the subject of appeal by an officer at a Police Medical Appeal Board. This includes decisions on ill-health and injury awards. The Police Medical Appeal Board Guidance provides information which is of use to appeal board members, FMA/SMPs, Police Authorities, police officers and their representatives.
