Ill Health Retirement
Published: 24 September 2021

Stethoscope
Ill Health Retirement is only available to those employees who are members of the local government pension scheme or other relevant pension schemes for example, teacher's pension.
If you feel ill health retirement may apply to you please read the, 'Derbyshire Ill Health Retirement Information', from Derbyshire County Council's Pension Section. This provides guidance for employees and information on what levels of benefit you could be entitled to. You should discuss your thoughts with your manager as soon as possible/during your absence management meeting.
If your manager feels you are eligible for ill health retirement, from the information provided by DCC Pension section, they will:
- Liaise with the Strategic HR provider to discuss your absence and the criteria for ill health retirement.
- If the advice is to refer to Occupational Health for assessment, the manager will tell you they are doing this.
Occupational Health actions:
- Occupational Health will progress the request by gathering reports and evidence from relevant medical practitioners, for example, a hospital consultant. They will forward the evidence to the Independently Registered Medical Practitioner (IRMP) who will provide their opinion. (Please be aware that this stage of the process can take several weeks).
IRMP action:
- The Independently Registered Medical Practitioner (IRMP) will provide their report to Occupational Health who will forward this to your manager. If the IRMP report supports ill health retirement, they will also include an ill health retirement certificate detailing the tier of benefit, 1, 2 or 3.
A hearing will then be arranged. The case information together with the IRMP report and certificate will be presented by the manager to the Chair of the hearing for their decision.
If the IRMP does not support ill health retirement and you remain absent from work your absence will continue to be managed through the attendance management process.