Police injury Pensions.
This Website has been created to promote contact and information flow between those
retired police officers with an injury-
It is not intended to offer specific legal advice, nor subvert any lawful procedures or legal authority. The information available is provided in good faith merely to enhance understanding and therefore must be accepted in that context, as no responsibility or liability will be accepted for actions subsequently undertaken by individuals or organisations.
It is apparent that the introduction of HOC/46/2004 (see link on Information page) has dramatically increased the disparity between individual forces with regard to the manner in which IOD pension reviews are conducted and assessed, creating a veritable lottery for those affected, based primarily on nothing more than which force they decided to join.
A state of affairs now exists that cannot be tolerated and which must be addressed at the highest level to achieve equitable treatment nationally, in line with the original conditions and procedures accepted by all (retiree’s and authorities alike) at the time of retirement.
There is no doubt that HOC46/2004 is merely advice, a fact confirmed by the Home Office themselves (see extract from letter on the information page) and therefore the retrospective implementation of age related triggers would appear to be fundamentally unlawful, as there is no, nor has there ever been, provision for such actions within any of the relevant regulations.
In spite of this some forces continue to insist that HOC46/2004 is mandatory and that they have no choice but to implement it to the letter. However this is clearly wrong as Police Authorities are granted very wide discretion within the regulations, in relation to how and when they conduct IOD pension reviews, and can even decide not to review at all if they so desire.
The obvious conclusion therefore is that those forces still adopting the ‘it’s mandatory’ style of approach are reviewing along those lines purely because they choose to, for whatever reason, as it is certainly not because they have to.
To their credit the majority of forces have so far rejected the Home Office advice, in favour of maintaining the integrity of the established and universally accepted interpretation of the procedures laid down in the original regulations. By taking this enlightened approach they have guaranteed the welfare and long term financial security of those they have a duty to protect, many of whom, by the very nature of their circumstances, are seriously impaired, frightened and vulnerable.
However, with the increased burdens now placed on all forces with regard to budget restraints, funding shortfalls and enforced savings targets, it is feared that more and more forces will in time be left with no choice but to adopt a more hard line approach to injury pension reviews, as this tactic appears potentially very lucrative on paper and involves an easy target.
The message, to those as yet unaffected, is therefore simple and very clear;
‘These money saving measures have already been applied in some forces, other forces are introducing them now and your force will no doubt be considering them in the future’.
Please use this site and the information it contains to your advantage, but also assist others by registering your comments and suggestions in the Members Section. Your views and experiences are important and will surely encourage others to both learn and contribute, in the hope that a fair and satisfactory conclusion can eventually be achieved nationwide.
Author EH