Scottish NHS Pensions: Ill
Health Retirement Briefing No.174 Nov 2007
Introduction
This briefing highlights the proposed changes to
the ill health retirement benefits of NHS Pension Scheme in Scotland.
The Scottish Pension Review Group (SPensiR), comprising a partnership
group with representatives from NHS employers, trade unions, professional
organisations and the Scottish Government including SPPA, have
endorsed the proposals which form the basis of this consultation.
The Current Scheme Arrangements
Ill-health retirement benefits are an integral part
of the NHS Pension Scheme. The current NHS Pension Scheme, like
most occupational pension schemes, provides earlier access to
pension benefits to compensate individual members who because
of ill-health are permanently incapable of carrying out their
duties and have to prematurely end their occupation.
The principle is that the enhancement should help
to compensate for loss of further opportunity for pension accrual,
which has been prematurely curtailed through ill-health. This
is why the Scheme's Regulations insist on the measure of permanence,
i.e. permanently incapable of efficiently discharging the duties
of that employment.
Access to ill-health retirement provisions are dependant
on a minimum 2 years membership of the scheme while the amount
of extra membership awarded is dependant on length of membership
and age at retirement.
The Proposals
SPensiR propose the creation of tiered arrangements
for the determination of ill-health retirement benefits, recognising
the different levels of benefits for members should be dependent
on the severity of their condition and the likelihood of them
being able to work again.
This is shown in the table below:
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Lower Tier
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Unable to do own job
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Accrued service without any actuarial reduction; no enhancement
provided
|
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Upper Tier
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Unable to carry out any regular employment
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In addition to the lower-tier award, members will receive
an enhancement of two-thirds prospective service
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The new scheme would allow movement between the
two tiers, dependant on a medical assessment. There is still some
clarification needed on the definitions used to specify issues
such as 'regular employment'.
Consultation
The consultation paper seeks the views of respondents.
The full list of questions are printed below.
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Question 1.
Do you support the creation of a tiered approach for
the determination of ill-health benefits?
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yes/no
|
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Question 2.
Do you agree with the proposed definition for the lower-tier?
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yes/no
|
|
Question 3.
Do you agree with the proposed definition for the upper-tier?
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yes/no
|
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Question 4.
Do you support the proposed level of benefits in the
lower-tier?
|
yes/no
|
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Question 5.
Do you support the proposed level of benefits in the
upper-tier?
|
yes/no
|
|
Question 6.
Do you support the minimum enhancement of 4 years in
the upper-tier?
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yes/no
|
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Question 7.
Do you support a review of entitlements based on the
Lower Earnings Limit for members receiving upper-tier
awards?
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yes/no
|
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Question 8.
Do you agree that the medical advisor should be able
to defer a decision on awarding the upper-tier in appropriate
cases?
|
yes/no
|
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Question 9.
Do you agree that if a member requests that the review
be brought forward they should forego the opportunity
for a further review, other than through the appeals process?
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yes/no
|
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Question 10.
Do you agree that there should be a "one-off"
opportunity for members to return to employment knowing
that they could regain their upper-tier benefit if subsequently
they were unable to work during the first 12 months of
starting work?
|
yes/no
|
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Question 11.
Do you support the proposed method of calculating benefits
for terminal illness?
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yes/no
|
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Question 12.
Do you support the proposed method of calculating benefits
for death in service?
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yes/no
|
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Question 13.
Do you support the proposed method of calculating benefits
for Deferred Benefit members?
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yes/no
|
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Question 14.
Do you agree that lower-tier benefits should be paid
to deferred members?
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yes/no
|
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Question 15.
Any other comments?
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Action for Branches
UNISON Scotland will be submitting a response to
the consultation on ill health retirement and would encourage
members to forward any relevant information they may have to Willie
Duffy by 13th Dec 2007.
Further Information
UNISON Scotland
www.unison-scotland.org.uk
SPPA NHS Pension Reforms
www.sppa.gov.uk/pension_reform/nhs.htm
Contacts list:
Willie Duffy
w.duffy@unison.co.uk
Kenny MacLaren
k.maclaren@unison.co.uk
Dave Watson
d.watson@unison.co.uk
@ The P&I Team
14 West Campbell St
Glasgow G26RX
Tel 0845 355 0845
Fax 0141-307 2572
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