Medical retirement and pensions paid on grounds of ill health
The arrangements for ill health retirement in the Police Pension Scheme (PPS) are complex and the following can only be a general guide. As you are an active member of the 2015 Police Pension Scheme the ill health pension benefits are paid under these regulations, however it does take into account the benefits accrued in the 1987 scheme. Please refer to the 2015 scheme pages.
Ill-health pension
If you are found by the selected medical practitioner to be permanently disabled for the ordinary duties of a member of the police force, and there are no suitable alternative duties that you could undertake within the police force (taking account of both your disability and capabilities), the police authority will decide whether to retire you on those grounds.
If the police authority decide to retire you, you will be entitled to an immediate ill-health pension and lump sum:
- If you have at least two years’ pensionable service and your retirement is on the grounds of permanent disablement, or
- After any length of service if your retirement is on the grounds of permanent disablement resulting from an injury on duty.
An ill-health pension is calculated in a similar way to an ordinary pension and is then normally enhanced to compensate for the lost opportunity of serving until normal retirement. The enhancements applied are shown in the table below.
The maximum ill-health pension is 40/60 ths and all enhancement is subject to the condition that pensionable service does not exceed what could have been completed by the age of compulsory retirement. In the case of permanent disablement due to an injury on duty, there is a minimum of a year’s award (i.e. 1/60).
| Pensionable Service | Ill-health pension |
| 2 to less than 5 years | 1/60 per year (no enhancement) |
| 5 to 10 years | 2/60 per year |
| 10 to 13 years | 20/60 |
| More than 13 years | 7/60, plus 1/60 for each year up to 20 years’ pensionable service 2/60 for each year over 20 years’ pensionable service |
Ill-health gratuity
An ill-health gratuity is payable if you have less than two years’ pensionable service and are required to retire on grounds of permanent disablement, which was not caused by an injury on duty. The amount of the gratuity will be equal to your total pension contributions.
Review of permanent disablement
If you are medically retired a police authority may, at their discretion and up to the point at which you would have had 25 years’ pensionable service or reached compulsory retirement age, consider whether your disability has ceased – in line with set procedures and taking into account a report from a selected medical practitioner. Where the selected medical practitioner decides that your disablement has ceased, the police authority may offer you an opportunity to rejoin the police force, at the rank previously held. In these circumstances, whether or not you rejoin the force, the authority will terminate the ill-health pension. If you decline to rejoin, your pension will revert to a deferred pension and not come back into payment until you are 60.
Once you have reached the age at which you could have retired, your ill-health pension cannot be cancelled.
Reduction of ill-health award due to your default
Your ill-health award may be reduced by up to a half if you substantially contributed to your permanent disablement by your own default.
Injury award
If, as a result of an injury on duty, you are permanently disabled from performing the ordinary duties of a member of the police force, and you have left the service, you will receive an injury award under the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006. This does not form part of the pension scheme.