Injury Award or
Ill-Health Retirement?
People talk about 'going out on an injury' as if it were one thing. It is two separate decisions under two sets of regulations, with different tests and different money. Here is how they differ, every way they combine, and what the figures look like side by side.
Independent information, not advice · Sources checked 1 October 2026 · England and Wales unless stated
Often both. Ill-health retirement pays your pension early if you are permanently unfit for police duties, whatever the cause. An injury award adds a gratuity and injury pension after you leave if a duty injury caused permanent disablement, even if you resigned or retired normally. The injury pension is reduced by three-quarters of your police pension, so the two combine rather than double up.
The injury award calculator estimates the ill-health pension for your scheme and tier and the injury award on top, for every band. The police ill-health retirement calculator goes further on the pension side: lower and upper tier (or the 2006 and 1987 equivalents), before and after tax. The protection gap calculator sets the results against your household bills. None of them decides your tier or band.
Two decisions, two sets of regulations
Ill-health retirement is a pension scheme decision. For the 2015 scheme it sits in Parts 6 and 7 of the Police Pensions Regulations 2015; the 1987 and 2006 schemes have their own rules. It asks one main question: are you permanently unfit for the ordinary duties of a police officer? Cause does not matter.
An injury award is made under the separate Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006, which cover officers in all three schemes. It asks: have you left the force, are you permanently disabled, and is that the result of an injury received without your own default in the execution of duty? If so, Schedule 3 pays a gratuity and an injury pension set by the degree of disablement.
Being injured on duty is neither. It is an event that may, or may not, lead to either decision. For what to do after an injury, see injured on duty: step by step. What counts as a duty injury is explained in regulation 6 explained.
Optional, if you want your own figures written up for both routes: the reports below are preparation to take to your Federation rep or solicitor, not a substitute for them. Everything on this page stays free.
Facing medical retirement? Get all three reports
An injury award, an ill-health pension and leaving the service are often one decision. These three reports work out your own figures for each part, ready to take to your Federation representative or a solicitor.
- Injury Award Report£39.99 alone, 6 months
The paid tabs of the injury award calculator: earning capacity, SMP preparation, the medical appeal stages, inflation projections and unlimited AI questions.
- Ill-Health Retirement Report£49.99 alone, 12 months
Your ill-health pension estimate for your scheme, retiring on ill-health grounds against a deferred pension, SMP evidence, the appeal stages and AI questions.
- Pension Exit Report£29.99 alone, 12 months
Your pension if you resign, retire or are dismissed: what you keep, when it is paid, lump sums and what staying on would add. Printable.
No subscription. Secure checkout by Stripe. 14-day refund, no reason needed: refund policy. Estimates and general information, not legal, medical or financial advice. If you are a Federation member, speak to your rep first: the Federation can support members through medical retirement and appeals.
Side by side
| Ill-health retirement | Injury award | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Your police pension paid early because you can no longer do the job | An extra payment because a duty injury caused permanent disablement |
| Main test | Permanently medically unfit for the ordinary duties of a police officer (2015 scheme reg 76, 82) | Ceased to be a member and permanently disabled as a result of an injury received without your own default in the execution of duty (PIBR reg 11) |
| Cause matters? | No: any illness or injury, on or off duty | Yes: the duty injury must have caused or substantially contributed to the disablement (reg 8) |
| While serving? | Decided while you serve; you are retired by the authority | Only after you leave, though the questions can be decided earlier |
| Who decides | SMP decides the medical questions; the authority decides whether to retire you or keep you (reg 82) | SMP decides disablement, permanence, causation and degree; the authority makes the award (reg 30) |
| What it pays | 2015: lower tier = accrued pension, no early payment reduction; upper tier adds an enhancement to normal pension age | One-off gratuity (12.5% to 50% of pay) plus injury pension (guarantee of 15% to 85% of pay less 75% of your police pension) |
| Size depends on | Pension built up, and (upper tier) years to normal pension age | Degree of disablement (lost earning capacity), pay and service |
| Minimum service | 2015: 2 years' qualifying service, unless unfit because of a duty injury (reg 102(2)(b)) | None |
| Reviews | 2015 lower tier: before normal pension age; upper tier: at intervals of at least 5 years before State Pension age (regs 110, 114) | At suitable intervals for life; only a substantial alteration in the degree of disablement changes it (reg 37) |
| Tax | Taxable pension income | HMRC: injury benefit 'can be paid tax-free' (EIM75900) |
| Appeal | Board of doctors within 28 days of the SMP report (Sch 1) | Board of medical referees within 28 days (reg 31) |
The four combinations
| Combination | When it happens | What you receive |
|---|---|---|
| Ill-health retirement and injury award | Permanently unfit for police duties because of a duty injury | Ill-health pension, plus gratuity and injury pension (less three-quarters of the ill-health pension) |
| Ill-health retirement only | Permanently unfit, but the cause was not a duty injury (or the SMP finds it was not) | Ill-health pension only |
| Injury award only | Left another way (resigned or retired normally) and permanently disabled by a duty injury, then or later | Gratuity and injury pension, less three-quarters of any police pension in payment |
| Neither | Not permanently disabled, or recovered | Sick pay while serving; possibly CICA or a civil claim |
The third row surprises many people. The archived Home Office guidance described injury claims "arising after retirement", including from former officers with no police pension at all, for example because they opted out or took a refund. Where you left before becoming disabled, regulation 11(2) means the injury pension is paid only from the date you became disabled; if that date cannot be ascertained, regulation 7(7) takes it as the date your claim was first made known to the authority.
How they combine in money
Illustrative example, not a real case: £44,544 pay as average pensionable pay, 10 years' service all in the 2015 scheme (for example someone who joined in 2016), retiring at 40, band 2 (minor) disablement. Pensions are from our calculator engine, which simplifies the 2015 scheme (no revaluation, pay held at today's figure). Officers with service before April 2022 in the 1987 or 2006 scheme will have different figures. All figures are before any Schedule 3 paragraph 7 benefit deduction. The after-tax column applies 2026/27 England and Wales income tax to the ill-health pension only, assumes no other taxable income, and treats the injury pension as tax-free (HMRC EIM75900).
| Combination | Ill-health pension | Injury pension | Total a year before tax | Total a year after tax | One-off gratuity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower tier ill-health pension only (no duty injury) | £8,055 | - | £8,055 | £8,055 | - |
| Upper tier ill-health pension only (no duty injury) | £16,110 | - | £16,110 | £15,402 | - |
| Lower tier plus injury award, band 2 | £8,055 | £16,231 | £24,286 | £24,286 | £11,136 |
| Upper tier plus injury award, band 2 | £16,110 | £10,190 | £26,299 | £25,591 | £11,136 |
Four things to notice. First, the injury award always adds something: here £16,231 a year on the lower tier, plus the gratuity. Second, on the upper tier the injury pension is smaller (£10,190 against £16,231) because three-quarters of the bigger pension is deducted. Third, before tax the total is higher on the upper tier by only a quarter of the pension difference: £2,014 a year. Fourth, after tax the gain shrinks to about £1,306 a year, because the extra pension is taxable while the injury pension it replaces is not.
In this example the gain survives because part of the upper tier pension falls within the personal allowance. If you have other taxable income, such as another pension or part-time earnings, more of the extra pension is taxed. For a basic-rate taxpayer each extra £1 of pension is worth about 80p after tax but costs 75p of tax-free injury pension, a gain of about 5p. For a higher-rate taxpayer each extra £1 is worth about 60p after tax and still costs 75p, a loss of about 15p. The quarter rule also only holds while some injury pension is payable: once three-quarters of the pension uses up the whole guarantee, no injury pension is paid (Schedule 3 paragraph 8). This is general arithmetic, not tax advice; check your own position with HMRC or a tax adviser.
For every band and length of service, see the worked examples.
Lower tier or upper tier
The 2015 scheme has two thresholds (regulation 101). Both turn on "regular employment", which regulation 2 defines as employment for an annual average of at least 30 hours a week. So someone who could only work part-time, below that average, is unfit for regular employment in the scheme's sense.
- Lower tier: permanently medically unfit for the ordinary duties of a police officer, but not for any regular employment. You receive your accrued pension without an early payment reduction (regulation 104(2)).
- Upper tier: permanently medically unfit for any regular employment. You receive the lower tier pension plus an enhanced upper tier pension: final pay ÷ 55.3 × half the years from leaving to normal pension age (60), capped at three times the accrued pension with under 5 years' service (regulation 104(4) and (5)).
"Permanent" means likely to last until normal pension age or death (regulation 76). If you were retired on the lower tier and get worse, you can ask for a review; the upper tier can be added if the SMP finds you permanently unfit for any regular employment, normally within five years of the lower tier pension becoming payable, with no limit for listed progressive conditions (regulations 112, 113). The injury award band is a separate question: the tiers ask whether you can do regular employment at all; the band asks how much your earning capacity has fallen. ("Band 1 to 4" is shorthand: the regulations set a percentage degree of disablement, which Schedule 3 groups into four ranges from slight to very severe.) For more on the two tiers, see lower tier vs upper tier explained.
Short service: why the duty injury matters
In the 2015 scheme an ill-health pension needs at least 2 years' qualifying service, unless you are permanently unfit "as the result of an injury received without the member's default in the execution of duty" (regulation 102(2)(b)). The injury award has no service requirement at all, though its guarantee is lower with under 5 years' service.
£44,544 pay, 1 year's service, permanently unfit at 24 because of a duty injury, band 3.
- Without a duty injury: no ill-health pension (under 2 years' qualifying service).
- With a duty injury: lower tier pension of £805 a year, because the 2-year condition does not apply.
- Injury award: gratuity £16,704; guarantee 65% = £28,954; injury pension £28,349 a year.
For a short-serving officer the injury award, not the pension, is most of the money.
If you resigned or retired first
- An injury award can still be claimed: regulation 11 covers a person who "ceases or has ceased" to be a member.
- If you were not disabled when you left, the injury pension runs only from when you became disabled (regulation 11(2)), and the SMP must decide permanence as well as causation and degree.
- For a 2015 scheme deferred member, early payment of the deferred pension on health grounds is a separate pension decision with its own SMP questions (regulation 86).
- In Kelly (2021) the officer was retired in 2005 because of his disablement but first claimed in 2016. The Court of Appeal held the injury pension was payable from 2005, and restored the Crown Court's award of interest on the arrears at 3% a year from July 2017, when the authority decided the claim, not from 2005.
Tell the authority in writing that you consider you are permanently disabled by a duty injury and ask it to refer the questions to an SMP. The GMP toolkit we read describes this route for applicants who resigned or retired normally.
Decided together or one after the other?
The regulations allow the injury questions to be referred to the SMP with the ill-health questions or later. A final decision on permanence under the pension regulations binds the injury process (PIBR regulation 30(2)), so the later injury decision usually covers only causation and degree. Practice differs:
- Archived Home Office guidance said an authority could leave the injury question until the officer had been found permanently disabled and retired, and that an officer kept in service would have any injury award considered only on retirement.
- The Surrey and Sussex policy says medical retirement will not be delayed for the injury award; the officer is invited to apply afterwards and a substantiated award is backdated to retirement.
- The GMP toolkit says the process "can run at the same time" as ill-health retirement or follow it.
Ask your force which approach it takes, and how long each step is likely to take. See how long it takes.
The regulation 12 disablement gratuity
Regulation 12 is a separate award for a former officer who, within 12 months of a duty injury, becomes totally and permanently disabled as a result of it. "Totally disabled" means incapable of earning any money in any employment (regulation 7(6)). The gratuity is the lesser of 5 times the annual value of pensionable pay on the last day of service, or four times total remuneration in the last 12 months plus aggregate pension contributions. The SMP is asked whether you are totally disabled, whether it is permanent, whether it results from a duty injury and the date total disablement began (regulation 30(3)).
On our reading, it is reduced by any gratuity already paid under regulation 11 (regulation 22(1)), and the authority must take into account damages or compensation recovered for the same disability, and may withhold or reduce it accordingly (regulation 23), with a written undertaking to tell the authority about any damages or compensation you recover. We have not had our reading of regulations 22 and 23 checked by a lawyer, so if a regulation 12 gratuity is in play, ask a solicitor how they apply to you.
The Home Office consulted in 2021 on whether the 12-month limit treats slowly developing conditions, including mental health conditions, fairly. Its response, published on 22 April 2025, did not change the rule. It said it did not have substantive evidence either way on whether progressive mental health conditions are less likely to meet the 12-month requirement, and that it would run an engagement exercise with stakeholders, medical experts and others to collect focused data and evidence, with the approach to be published "in due course". No timetable was given.
Deferred members and early payment on health grounds
If you left with a 2015 scheme deferred pension and later become seriously ill, you can ask for early payment on health grounds. The authority must refer the same four questions to an SMP as for a serving officer (regulation 86). A pension paid early on these grounds can be reviewed before State Pension age, at intervals of at least five years, on whether you are still unfit for any regular employment (regulations 116, 117). That is a pension decision; any injury award is separate.
After the decision: reviews and death
- Injury pension reviews. At suitable intervals, on whether the degree of disablement has substantially altered (regulation 37). See reviews explained.
- Ill-health pension reviews (2015). A lower tier pension can be reviewed before normal pension age and cancelled if you are no longer unfit, with an offer to rejoin (regulations 110, 111). An upper tier pension can be reviewed at intervals of at least five years before State Pension age (regulation 114).
- Linked endings. An injury pension ends with the ill-health pension only in specific cases listed in regulation 37(3), as amended by SI 2018/997: where the ill-health pension is terminated under regulation K1(4) of the 1987 regulations, regulation 51(5) or (6) of the 2006 regulations, or regulation 111 or 115 of the 2015 regulations (broadly, being found fit to rejoin, or wilfully or negligently refusing treatment). Regulation 37(4) covers a pension paid early from deferment on health grounds that stops. Losing the upper tier enhancement on a regulation 114 review does not by itself end the injury pension; the lower tier pension continues.
- Death. Where death results from a duty injury, special survivor awards under regulations 13 to 17 may apply. See death in service benefits and survivors and dependants.
The ill-health pension by scheme
The injury award is the same in every scheme. The ill-health pension, which three-quarters of is deducted from the injury pension, is not. These summaries come from our rules file, read from the regulations and the Home Office members' guide on 30 September 2026. Officers with service in more than one scheme, or McCloud remedy choices, should use the administrator's figures. Worked examples for each scheme are in ill-health payouts by scheme.
| Scheme | What it pays | Service condition | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 scheme | Lower tier: accrued pension, no early payment reduction. Upper tier adds final pay / 55.3 x half the years to age 60 (with under 5 years, capped at 3 x accrued pension) | 2 years' qualifying service, or a duty injury | PPR 2015 regs 101 to 104 |
| 2006 scheme | Standard ill-health pension of 1/70 of final pay per year, with a lump sum of 4/70 per year; an enhanced top-up for those unfit for any regular employment adds half the service you would have done to age 55 | See your administrator; our rules file models 2 years or a duty injury | PPR 2006 regs 28 to 31 (our rules file) |
| 1987 scheme | One ill-health award: under 5 years 1/60 per year; 5 to 10 years 2/60 per year; over 10 years 7/60 plus 1/60 a year to 20 and 2/60 a year after, between 20/60 and 40/60 of average pensionable pay, and no more than the ordinary pension you would have had at compulsory retirement age (Part III para 5) | Under 5 years without a duty injury: a gratuity, not a pension | PPR 1987 reg B3, Schedule B Part III (our rules file) |
Illustrative scenarios
Illustrative scenarios, not real cases, showing which route the regulations point to. The SMP and the authority decide real cases.
| Situation | Ill-health retirement? | Injury award? |
|---|---|---|
| Back injury in an arrest; SMP finds permanently unfit for police duties but able to do office work | Possible: lower tier, if the authority retires rather than redeploys | Possible: the band depends on the earnings comparison |
| Heart condition unrelated to duty; permanently unfit for police duties | Possible: lower or upper tier on the medical findings | No: not caused by a duty injury |
| Knee injury on duty years ago; resigned and later became permanently unable to do police duties because of it | No ill-health retirement (already left); a deferred pension may be paid early on health grounds in some cases | Possible: from the date of disablement (regulation 11(2)) |
| Psychological injury from repeated traumatic incidents; unable to sustain any regular work | Possible: upper tier | Possible: the SMP decides causation and degree |
| Injured on duty, fully recovered, back on full duties | No | No: not permanently disabled |
| Under two years' service, permanently unfit because of an assault on duty (2015 scheme) | Possible: the 2-year condition does not apply to duty injuries | Possible: no minimum service |
What to ask, and who to ask
- Have you referred me to an SMP, for which questions, and under which regulations?
- Will the injury award questions be considered now or after the ill-health decision?
- Which scheme or schemes will my ill-health pension come from, and what is the estimate for each tier?
- What records of my injury do you hold, and can I have copies?
Your Federation or staff association representative can help with the process; a solicitor who handles police pensions with disputes about causation or banding; the pension administrator with figures. For money decisions that follow, such as commutation, see the commutation calculator; commutation does not change the injury pension deduction (Schedule 3 paragraph 6(2)).
What people get wrong
- "I have to choose one route." They are separate decisions and can both apply.
- "Ill-health retirement means the injury was on duty." Cause is irrelevant to ill-health retirement and must be decided separately for an award.
- "If I resign I lose any injury award." Regulation 11 covers anyone who has ceased to be a member.
- "The upper tier makes the injury award worthless." It shrinks the injury pension, but the injury pension does not disappear unless three-quarters of your pension uses up the whole guarantee, and the gratuity is unaffected. Before tax the total is a little higher; after tax the gain is smaller and, for a higher-rate taxpayer, can be negative.
- "Under two years' service means nothing." A duty injury removes the 2-year condition for a 2015 ill-health pension, and the injury award has no minimum service.
- "Once retired, it is settled." Both the ill-health pension and the injury pension can be reviewed.
What we could not verify
- 1987 and 2006 scheme ill-health detail. This page sets out the 2015 scheme's tiers. The older schemes are summarised on the ill-health retirement guide; your administrator holds your figures.
- Force practice on timing. We read two forces' documents; others may differ.
- Dismissal. Whether a dismissed former officer can receive an injury award depends on the facts, including forfeiture rules and any reduction for default. We did not set out those rules here; take advice.
- Tax. HMRC says injury benefit can be tax-free; it does not settle individual cases.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an injury award and ill-health retirement?
Ill-health retirement pays your police pension early because you are permanently unfit for police duties, for any reason. An injury award is an extra gratuity and injury pension for a former officer whose permanent disablement was caused by a duty injury. They are decided under different regulations and you can have either, both or neither.
Can I get both ill-health retirement and an injury award?
Yes, if your permanent unfitness was caused by a duty injury. The injury pension is reduced by three-quarters of your ill-health pension, so while any injury pension is payable your yearly total before tax is the injury award guarantee plus a quarter of your pension, plus the one-off gratuity.
Can I get an injury award without being ill-health retired?
Yes. Regulation 11 applies to anyone who has ceased to be a member of a force and is permanently disabled by a duty injury, including officers who resigned or retired normally. If you left before becoming disabled, the injury pension is not paid for any period before you became disabled (regulation 11(2)).
Can I be ill-health retired without an injury award?
Yes. If your condition was not caused by a duty injury, or the SMP finds it was not, you can still be retired on ill-health grounds and receive the ill-health pension, but no injury award.
Is the upper tier better if I also get an injury award?
Before tax, your total is higher on the upper tier by only a quarter of the extra pension, because three-quarters of the extra is deducted from the injury pension (while some injury pension is still payable). After tax the gain is smaller, because the ill-health pension is taxable and the injury pension is tax-free (HMRC EIM75900). A basic-rate taxpayer keeps about 80p of each extra £1 of pension but loses 75p of injury pension; a higher-rate taxpayer keeps about 60p and so ends up worse off. The tier is decided by the SMP on the medical test, not chosen.
Do I need two years' service for ill-health retirement?
In the 2015 scheme you need at least two years' qualifying service, unless you are permanently medically unfit as the result of an injury received without your own default in the execution of duty (regulation 102(2)(b)). The injury award itself has no minimum service.
Does a duty injury mean I will be ill-health retired?
No. The test is permanent unfitness for the ordinary duties of a police officer, judged on the basis that you receive normal appropriate treatment. Someone injured on duty who recovers, or can return on adjusted duties, does not meet it. And even if the SMP finds permanent unfitness, the authority may require you to keep serving in a role you can do (regulation 82).
I retired years ago and never claimed. Is it too late?
The regulations set no time limit for claiming an injury award. In Kelly (2021) the Court of Appeal held that a former officer is entitled to an award whether or not he has claimed, and that where he was retired because of the disablement the injury pension is payable from retirement. Interest is a separate question: in Kelly it ran only from July 2017, when the authority decided the claim. Evidence becomes harder to gather as time passes.
Will my force consider the injury award at the same time as ill-health retirement?
It depends on the force. The regulations allow either. The Surrey and Sussex policy says it will not consider the injury award at the same time as medical retirement where further enquiries are needed, and backdates a substantiated award to retirement. Ask your force.
What is the regulation 12 disablement gratuity?
A separate, larger lump sum where a duty injury leaves you totally and permanently disabled (unable to earn any money in any employment) within 12 months: the lesser of 5 times pensionable pay or four times 12 months' total remuneration plus contributions, on our reading of regulations 22 and 23 reduced by any regulation 11 gratuity paid and by damages or compensation for the same disability (check this with a solicitor). The Home Office kept the 12-month rule after consultation, in April 2025.
Which route pays more?
They are not alternatives: an injury award is paid on top of any pension. For the same officer, ill-health retirement plus an injury award always pays at least as much as ill-health retirement alone. Our injury award calculator shows the combinations for your pay and service.
Sources and how we checked them
Every factual claim on this page was written from the sources below, read on 1 October 2026. Rules and figures change, so check the source for the date you are reading this. Where we could not confirm something from an official or independent source, the page says so rather than guessing. Spotted something out of date? See our corrections policy.
- Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006, regulations 6 to 12 (legislation.gov.uk, as made) — execution of duty, disablement, causation, injury award after leaving (11), disablement gratuity (12) (accessed 1 October 2026)
- Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/932), regulations 6 to 14 and 17, Schedule 3 (police officer's injury award) — Schedule 3 table and the three-quarters pension offset; percentages checked 30 September 2026 (accessed 1 October 2026)
- SI 2018/997, regulations 8 to 22 — injury benefit rules applied to 2015 scheme members (accessed 1 October 2026)
- Police Pensions Regulations 2015, Part 6 (revised) — medical unfitness (74), permanence (75, 76), referral and retire-or-retain (81 to 84), deferred members (85, 86) (accessed 1 October 2026)
- Police Pensions Regulations 2015, regulations 101 to 104 — tiers, entitlement (2 years or duty injury), payment from retirement, amounts (accessed 1 October 2026)
- Police Pensions Regulations 2015, regulations 110 to 117 — reviews, upgrade to upper tier within 5 years, cancellation (accessed 1 October 2026)
- R (Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police) v Kelly [2021] EWCA Civ 1699 — entitlement independent of a claim; injury pension from retirement where retired for the disablement; Crown Court interest of 3% a year from July 2017 restored (accessed 1 October 2026)
- Home Office: Guidance on medical appeals, section 2 (archived 2022) — injury questions referred with or after the permanence questions; records to keep for a later claim. Withdrawn (accessed 1 October 2026)
- Surrey Police and Sussex Police: Medical Retirement Policy 542/2025 — injury award considered separately from medical retirement; backdating (accessed 1 October 2026)
- Home Office: the 12-month rule in regulation 12, government response (22 April 2025) — rule kept; further engagement planned (accessed 1 October 2026)
- HMRC Employment Income Manual EIM75900 (injury benefit schemes, including police and firefighters) — tax: injury benefit can be tax-free; pension taxable (accessed 1 October 2026)
- Police Pensions Regulations 2015, regulation 2 (interpretation) — 'regular employment': an annual average of at least 30 hours a week (accessed 1 October 2026)
- The Police and Firefighters' Pensions (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/997), regulation 20 — amends PIBR regulation 37(3) and (4): the injury pension ends with an ill-health pension terminated under 2015 regs 111 or 115, or an early-paid pension stopped under reg 116 (accessed 1 October 2026)
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Disclaimer
PolicePay.co.uk is an independent reference site. This page is general information, not legal, medical or financial advice, and the outcome of any injury award or ill-health retirement decision turns on the medical evidence and the facts of the individual case. Decisions are made by the police pension authority, selected medical practitioners and appeal boards, and the regulations are amended from time to time. Speak to your Police Federation representative or a solicitor about your own case, and your pension administrator about your figures. If you are struggling, speak to your GP or one of the services listed on our support directory; if you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999. Details apply to England and Wales unless stated. Details are as checked on 1 October 2026.