Ill Health Retirement

An officer’s guide to long term sickness and ill health retirement

If you are currently absent from work due to illness, be that physical or mental health, you will be concerned about what the next steps are for you. This guide is aimed to provide you with some of those answers in the easiest way possible. We have tried to avoid referring to specific regulations wherever possible because quite frankly, they will not matter to you right now, you just need to know what is going to happen.

Officers are entitled to receive full pay for the first 6 months of absence and to half pay for a further 6 months. They could then reduce to no pay.

As you approach being absent for 6 months you will receive a letter from HR explaining when you are due to go onto half pay and that should you wish, you can make representations to the Chief officer who makes the decision about pay as to why they should exercise discretion and not put you onto half pay. The Federation can assist you with this. We will provide you with a template to complete and we will also represent your case at the medical review meeting.

The following are when discretion can be exercised favourably by the force:

• The chief officer is satisfied that the officer’s incapacity is directly attributable to an injury or illness that was sustained or contracted in the execution of his or her duty or
• The officer is suffering from an illness which may prove to be terminal or
• The case has been referred to a selected medical practitioner (SMP) to consider if the officer is permanently disabled to carry out the ordinary duties of an officer.
• The force medical advisor (FMA) advises that the absence is related to a disability as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act and the Chief officer considers that it would be a “reasonable adjustment” to extend pay, to allow (further) reasonable adjustments to be made to enable the officer to return to work.

Decisions around pay will be made at regular intervals, normally each month, and the decisions that have been made will be communicated to you in writing by the force.

If you pay into the Lincolnshire Group Insurance scheme there are a couple of benefits that you are entitled to.

The first is that if you normally receive unsociable hours payments but have been absent for any length of time for up to 24 weeks you can claim those unsociable hours back, up to a value of £60 per week.

Should you find that you are put onto half or no pay you will be entitled to claim 20% of scale pay for up to 26 weeks. Whilst this doesn’t cover all your wages it is a big help.

Should you be entitled to claim for this a member of the Federation team will get in touch and provide you with all the necessary information.

Your line manager should be in regular contact with you throughout your period of sickness. They will have completed attendance review meetings with you and discussed ways which may facilitate you getting back to work. If you have not made a successful return to work your line manager may decide that they need to deal with your attendance by way of the unsatisfactory performance procedures. We understand that this can be a daunting thought and as much as we tell people that the procedure is designed to be supportive, no one ever believes us. Should you find yourself in this position please speak to a Federation representative as soon as possible. If you don’t know who can assist, please contact the office and arrangements will be made for you to be contacted.

If it becomes apparent to the force that an officer is unlikely to be able to carry out the ordinary duties of a police officer permanently, they can seek a decision from an SMP as to the officer’s disability and permanence. Similarly, if an officer feels that they are permanently disabled they can ask the force to refer them to the SMP.

The ordinary duties of a police officer are defined as:

• Managing processes and resources using IT
• Patrol/supervising public order
• Incident management, such as traffic and accident management
• Dealing with crime, such as scenes of crime work, interviewing, searching and investigating offences
• Arrest and restraint
• Dealing with procedures such as prosecution procedures, managing case papers and giving evidence

If you are at this point it is most likely that you have already engaged with a Federation representative. We have representatives that are specifically trained to deal with these matters so if the rep that has been assisting you isn’t trained, they will seek support from the most appropriate rep.

HR will write to Occupational Health asking for a referral to the SMP. You will be asked to provide your consent to occupational health obtaining any necessary medical reports, including your GP and consultant records. If you already have copies of these, we advise providing them to occupational health straight away as this is where delays normally occur. An appointment will then be made for you to speak to the FMA. These are normally conducted either by phone or teams, but it may be appropriate to your specific case for you to be seen in person. The FMA will prepare a report for the SMP and send these, along with all your medical records to the SMP. You will be contacted directly by the company that employs SMP’s and an appointment will be made for you. Again, these are normally conducted via Teams. The SMP will ask you lots of questions about your health, what treatments you have had, how effective they have been and if there are any plans for further treatments. They have normally read your notes before the meeting so will have an understanding of why you are there. Officers sometimes find these meetings very stressful so if you want to be supported at the meeting by either a friend, family member or your Fed rep this is allowed, you just need to let the company know before the meeting. Remember this is a medical appointment and there are likely to be little pleasantries!

There are a number of different capabilities that an officer needs to be able to carry out and your ability to do these is assessed by the SMP. They are:

• The ability to run, walk reasonable distances, and stand for reasonable periods
• The ability to exercise reasonable physical force in restraint and retention in custody
• The ability to sit for reasonable periods, to write, read, use the telephone and to use (or learn to use) IT
• The ability to understand, retain and explain facts and procedures
• The ability to evaluate information and to record details
• The ability to make decisions and report situations to others

They will also make an assessment on if you are permanently disabled from carrying out any form of employment or solely from being an officer.

At the time of your appointment the SMP will not normally give an indication of whether they think you are permanently disabled; they will tell you that they will prepare a report and that you and the force will be provided with a copy of that report.

You will get the SMP report directly from the SMP company, at the same time as the force. At this point you will only receive one part of the report which addresses if you are permanently disabled. The force will receive another part which details which of the above capabilities the SMP believes you are permanently disabled from carrying out and if they think that there are any reasonable adjustments that the force could put in place in order to retain you as an officer.

If you do not agree with the SMP report, you have 28 days to lodge an appeal which should include the grounds for appeal.

Once the force has received the reports from the SMP they will get in touch with your Head of Department who will then prepare a report for the DCC, who is the ultimate decision maker about if you will be medically retired. The Head of Department report will cover the following:

• Confirmation that they have seen Part 1 and 2 of the SMP report
• Assessment of suitability and aptitude for retention
• Assessment of posts available and the scope to retain them
• If the officer is involved in any UPP or pending misconduct proceedings
• A recommendation as to whether the officer should be retained

At this point you will receive the second part of the SMP report as well as the Head of Department report. You have 28 days to respond. We do encourage you to put your thoughts forward about if you wish to be retained or retired as it is important that the DCC knows how you are feeling. They then have 28 days to make the decision as to if you should be retained or required to retire. If you are to be retired, you will be given 28 days’ notice. If the decision is made to retain a comprehensive risk assessment will be carried out and it will be down to the force to find you a role that caters for your adjustments.

Officers who are entering into the ill health process will be keen to know what their financial future looks like. Fed reps are NOT pension or financial advisers and we are unable to give you an estimate of what you may get as there are so many different variables with the different pension schemes and the ongoing pension remedy.

Unfortunately, the pension provider, XPS, will not provide you with any pension forecast for if you were to be retired. They will only provide figures at the point the DCC has made the decision that you will be medically retired.

There are 2 tiers to the pension, and you will be entitled to either the lower or upper tier, dependant on the extent of your disability.

Lower tier – if assessed as permanently disabled from ordinary duties but not for regular employment

Upper tier – if assessed as permanently disabled from both police and regular employment (30 hours per week until the age of 60)

For further information on pensions please visit our dedicated page on the website HERE

An injury on duty award can only be applied for once you have retired. Your permanent disability has to be wholly or at least to a substantial extent, as a result of an injury on duty in order to qualify, including whilst travelling to or from work.

This is another process that goes to the SMP. If you are fortunate enough, it may be that the original SMP is available and able to prepare a report without the need for you to have another appointment, but this isn’t guaranteed so be prepared for a further appointment.

The SMP is asked to report on the following matters

• Whether the disablement is the result of an injury received in the execution of duty
• The degree of the persons disablement

There are 4 different bands of award and the amount that you get is calculated as minimum income guarantee. When eligible for an injury award there are 2 elements, a one off gratuity and then a monthly injury pension. The band that you will be put into will depend on your level of disablement.

Below is a table which explains the percentage of your average pensionable pay you will receive dependent on your band

The amount that is awarded is also calculated by taking into account 75% of the police pension as well as 100% of some welfare benefits including industrial injuries benefits and employment support allowance. It is important to note that even if you are not in receipt of welfare benefits, if you are entitled to them, they will be deducted so make sure you claim.

If you are entitled to an injury award it will be back dated to the date of your retirement.

Total disablement

There is provision for if an officer becomes totally and permanently disabled as a result of a duty injury within 12 months of receiving the injury that they are entitled to a one off lump sum of either 5 years average pensionable pay or 4 years total renumeration, whichever is the lower. This award is made in very few cases and is subject to stringent conditions.

There are a number of charities and organisations where assistance can be sought whilst going through the ill health process.

Police Care UK – Have a buddy system in place where the charity will pair you up with a former officer who has themselves been through the process.

IODPA – Injury On Duty Pensioners Association – If you are likely to be awarded an injury on duty award you are eligible to join whilst going through the process. They have some very good articles but I would urge some caution at the blogs as people often talk about particular SMP’s and it is important to remember that everyone’s experience is different.

Emergency Lounge - police pension calculator, commutation, ill health, injury on duty I must stress that this is by no means an accurate calculation of your entitlements but can give a very rough idea so you may wish to consider having a look.

If you are ill health retired and are a member of the Childrens Charity you may be able to access grants and awards for your children www.thepolicechildrenscharity.org