Employers' Guide
Section 8 - Ill Health Retirement
Contents
1. General background 2. The application process 3. After the decision by the DCSF Medical Advisers 4. Other information1. General background
You and your occupational health advisers must look at ways of helping members to remain in or return to work, e.g. re-deployment, part time working or a transfer to a post with less responsibility, or consider other workplace adjustments, before concluding that ill-health retirement may be appropriate.
Where a teacher is under normal retirement age and applies for ill-health benefits the ill health application form and medical evidence form should be completed and returned to TP. Both forms must be submitted together.
In order for the application to be valid, the declaration on the application form must be signed and dated by the applicant and the certification must be completed by you.
All applications and supporting medical evidence will be assessed by the Medical Advisors appointed by the DCSF. Where they judge that the teacher is permanently unfit to teach TP will ask you to complete a form to provide service and salary details.
Ill health benefits can be granted by the Secretary of State to the DCSF if he is satisfied that the applicant has become permanently incapable of any teaching until normal retirement age (i.e age 60 or 65). There are 2 different levels of benefits that can be awarded:
- Total Incapacity Benefits (TIB) and
- Partial Incapacity Benefits (PIB).
TIB is awarded if the member is assessed as being unable to undertake any type of gainful employment. PIB is awarded if the member is assessed as being permanently unable to teach but can do other work. If the member is awarded TIB their service will be enhanced but if they receive PIB it will not be enhanced. Provided the member applies within 6 months of either leaving pensionable employment or ceasing the payment of “Combined contributions” (old regulation C9 – Current Added Years) or Additional Contributions for Reservists (C10) on grounds of incapacity, the application will be considered under the TIB criteria. If the member has been on a period of sick leave, maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or a career break which immediately followed a period of pensionable employment, the application must be made before the sick leave or period of absence ends. If the member does not apply for ill health benefits within these timescales, an application for ill health benefits can still be made but the service used will not be enhanced and the deferred (or past) member has to meet the TIB criteria i.e. the past member must be unable to undertake any gainful employment.
Benefits cannot be awarded to a member who has been barred for misconduct or who is under investigation by the DCSF with a view to barring. If, after the investigation is complete, the member is not subsequently barred, then an application will be considered.
The member must not have applied for phased retirement, premature retirement or actuarially reduced benefits in respect of the same period of employment. However, if phased retirement, premature retirement benefits or actuarially reduced benefits have been awarded in respect of an earlier period of service and the member subsequently taken up further employment in pensionable teaching service and later suffers a subsequent breakdown in health, the member is eligible to apply for ill health benefits.
In all circumstances the member must have completed the appropriate qualifying periods.
Back to the top2. The application process
An application for ill health benefits must be submitted to TP through the employer, unless the applicant left teaching employment more than 12 months ago. In such case, the form should be submitted direct to TP.
Where the medical evidence form has been completed by a specialist or GP, it should be sent to your Occupational Health Adviser, along with any supporting reports or correspondence. The application must be assessed by the employer's Occupational Health Adviser for completeness.
If the view of the Occupational Health Adviser is that the application does not contain enough medical information to enable the DCSF Medical Adviser to make a recommendation, the applicant must be given the opportunity to consider what more could be provided. Ultimately, it is for the applicant to decide what is included.
When a condition is severe enough to warrant ill health retirement, whether this be a psychiatric or physical complaint, it is not unreasonable to expect that the applicant should have had the benefit of a specialist opinion. It would greatly help in the consideration of the application, if the medical information is provided by a specialist. If this is not possible, or the applicant has not been referred to a specialist, then the form should be completed by the applicant's GP or your occupational health physician. Copies of all specialist reports or hospital correspondence relating to the present illness(s) should, however, be included.
All applications for ill health retirement will be considered on the basis of the medical information submitted with the application. It will not be possible for TP to obtain such reports on the applicant's behalf at a later date.
Back to the top3. After the decision of the DCSF Medical Advisers
You and the member will be notified by letter of the Medical Adviser’s decision. Where the application has been accepted, and the member is still actively teaching then you should arrange for this to cease with immediate effect. Details of the member's pensionable service should be supplied from the date you last made your annual return to the last day of pensionable service.
Where the application is rejected members have the right to appeal against this decision and should follow the appeal process, details of which are sent to the member on rejection.
Irrespective of the Medical Advisers decision you can claim re-imbursement of £50 for each case until the end of December 2007, via TP, to contribute towards the costs of occupational health and medical advice. Funding will cease from 1 January 2008.
Back to the top4. Other information
Conversion (Commutation) – If the member is seriously ill and having followed this application process, the DCSF Medical Advisor concludes that life expectancy is less than a year, the member may request that the retirement pension be converted to a lump sum payment if the member requests it. This would be equal to five times the annual pension.
Short service incapacity grant – Where a teacher is under 75 and has to leave pensionable employment through ill-health but does not have sufficient service to qualify for ill health benefits, a short service incapacity grant may become payable. As with an ill health application both forms should be completed. An application cannot be processed until both forms are received in TP.
Re-employment – Where a member has been accepted as unfit for teaching and subsequentlyreturns to teaching for even 1 day after the award of ill health benefits this will result in the immediate cessation of pension payments. You must be satisfied that a person who has retired for reasons of ill health is medically fit to resume teaching.
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