What If You Can't Work?
What You Are Actually Covered For

Officers are office holders, not employees, so the sick pay rules are set by the Secretary of State under regulation 28 of the Police Regulations 2003. The determination, Annex K, says a member on sick leave is entitled to full pay for six months in any one year period, and thereafter half pay for six months in any one year period. Paragraph 2 makes it rolling: your entitlement on the first day of absence is what is left after deducting the paid absence in the previous twelve months.

Paragraph 3 lets the chief officer, in a particular case, give full pay to someone entitled only to half pay, or full or half pay to someone with no entitlement, for a specified period that can be extended. That discretion is the only thing that stops the cliff.

Each force publishes its own policy. As an example of how one is written, North Yorkshire Police's procedure (version dated 27 August 2025) says pay reduces automatically at the trigger dates, that it is "expected that only in exceptional circumstances" will discretion be used, and that applications should be made in writing to the line manager. It lists possible exceptional circumstances: illness or injury sustained in the actual execution of duty; life-threatening illness where the extension needed is short; cases where the officer has been referred to a selected medical practitioner about permanent disablement; and absence related to a disability where extending pay would be a reasonable adjustment. It also lists reasons a line manager may decline to support an application, including evidence of default or neglect, unreasonable failure to co-operate with rehabilitation, outside business interests, and hardship being cited.

That is one force. Yours may differ in the criteria, the timescales and who decides, so read your own policy and speak to your Federation representative before the half-pay date, not after. Where an officer is referred to a selected medical practitioner about ill-health retirement, that policy restores pay to full from the date of referral if the officer is then retired; the same arrangement may not exist elsewhere.

Long-term sickness is also a management matter. Unsatisfactory performance and attendance are dealt with under the Police (Performance) Regulations 2020. The Police Federation reports that from 28 May 2025 the procedure was streamlined from three stages to two: the former second stage was removed and the third promoted to become the second. Cases that came to the force's attention before that date stay on the old three-stage process; later cases use the new one. The improvement window before the final stage is within three months, or within twelve months in exceptional circumstances, and appeals go to an appeal manager at the same rank as a second line manager.

Sickness absence is not misconduct, but it can be handled through this procedure, and in the worst case the final stage can lead to dismissal. Dismissal ends your pension entitlements in ways that depend on your scheme and service: read our guide on what happens to your pension if you are dismissed. If you are on a long-term absence, ask your Federation representative how your force is applying the procedure to you, and check any older material you read (including on this site) against the 2025 change.

Being on recuperative or adjusted duties means you are at work, not on sick leave, so the sick pay clock is not running and you are paid your normal pay, subject to the adjusted-duties rule described below. Annex EE, issued in 2015 under regulations 22 and 28A, separates three kinds of limited duty. Recuperative duties are a structured, time-limited route back to full deployment. Adjusted duties apply where workplace adjustments, including reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010, have been made and the officer is attending regularly and working the full hours they are paid for. Management restricted duties are a separate category used where the chief constable has lost confidence in an officer's suitability for a role.

For adjusted duties only, there is a money question. The force must review the arrangement after 12 months, having given you written notice after 9 months that a deduction may follow. If you remain on adjusted duties, the review panel can recommend to the chief officer, or a delegated authority of assistant chief constable rank or above, that the deployment component of the police officer X-factor, set at 8% of pay, is deducted. "Pay" here means the Annex F pay scale rates, not allowances such as London weighting, CRTP, overtime or acting-up payments, so for a constable on £44,544 the deduction would be about £3,564 a year before tax. The chief officer or delegated authority decides, must give one month's notice, and must consider each case individually.

The determination also says the deduction can be waived where the range of roles the officer can be deployed to is not significantly reduced, to avoid manifest unfairness, where the officer is on adjusted duties solely because of an injury sustained by putting themselves in harm's way in the execution of duty, or for another exceptional reason decided locally. If you are referred to a selected medical practitioner about ill-health retirement before or during the review, decisions about pay deductions wait until the outcome is known. Appeals go to the chief officer and are limited to abuse of process or a perverse decision.

The Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 provide a gratuity and an injury pension to an officer who ceases to be a member of a police force and is permanently disabled as a result of an injury received without their own default in the execution of duty. Regulation 6 says an injury counts as received in the execution of duty if you received it on duty or on a journey necessary to report for duty or return home after it, if you would not have received it had you not been known to be a constable, or if the police authority considers it should be treated as one. Regulation 7 defines disablement as inability, caused by infirmity of mind or body, to perform the ordinary duties of a member of the force, and "infirmity" includes a mental disorder. Whether a particular psychological condition is a duty injury is a question of fact and case law, not a label, so take specialist advice before you rely on it. Our stress and PTSD guide covers how mental health cases are handled.

The police authority refers four questions to a selected medical practitioner: is the person disabled, is it likely to be permanent, is it the result of a duty injury, and what is the degree of disablement. Degree of disablement is determined by the extent to which earning capacity has been affected. You can appeal the report within 28 days, and the pension is reviewable: the authority must consider at suitable intervals whether the degree of disablement has substantially altered, and revise the pension accordingly.

How the guarantee works. The guarantee is a target for your total income. The injury pension is the guarantee less three-quarters of your ordinary or ill-health pension, so the pension and injury pension together equal the guarantee plus a quarter of the pension. It is reduced further by industrial injuries benefits, reduced earnings allowance and similar, and the authority can reduce an award by up to half where you brought about the disablement by your own default.

Worked example (illustrative). A constable on £44,544 with 10 years' service, in the 2015 scheme, retired unfit for police duties only (lower tier) because of a duty injury judged to reduce earning capacity by 26% to 50% (band 2). The guarantee is 50% of pay, £22,272 a year. The lower-tier pension is about £8,055 a year, so the injury pension is about £16,231 and the total is about £24,286 a year, plus a one-off gratuity of 25% of pay (£11,136). Figures are simplified: they use today's pay as final pay and ignore offsets and review.

Total disablement soon after injury. Regulation 12 adds a separate gratuity where you become totally and permanently disabled within 12 months of the injury: the lesser of five times pay or four times your remuneration in the last 12 months plus your pension contributions, less any other injury gratuity paid.

Tax. HMRC's Employment Income Manual says payments from schemes such as those for police and firefighters can be paid tax-free, and that where an officer also receives an ill-health pension from a registered pension scheme the tax-free amount may be reduced with the pension taxed instead. How it applies to an individual award is for HMRC or your pension administrator to confirm; our calculator cautiously treats everything as taxable.

The decision runs in two steps. First, the police pension authority refers questions to a selected medical practitioner: is the member medically unfit for the ordinary duties of a police officer; is that likely to be permanent; is the member medically unfit for any regular employment; and is that likely to be permanent. Second, having received the report, the authority, after considering all the relevant circumstances and any input from you, may require you to retire or may require you to continue to serve. A favourable medical report therefore does not guarantee retirement.

In the 2015 scheme, permanently unfit for police duties but not for any regular employment is the lower tier; permanently unfit for any regular employment is the upper tier. The 2006 scheme draws the same line with a "standard" pension and an "enhanced top-up". The 1987 scheme has a single ill-health pension built into its formula. You can appeal the medical decision within 28 days of receiving the report.

Worked example (illustrative). The same constable, age 38, 10 years' service, 2015 scheme. Lower tier: £44,544 x 10 / 55.3 = about £8,055 a year, about £671 a month after tax. Upper tier: add £44,544 / 55.3 x half of the 22 years to age 60, giving about £16,915 a year, about £1,337 a month after tax. Against the example outgoings of £2,300 a month, the lower tier leaves a gap of about £1,629 a month. Final pay is taken as today's salary and accrued pension is not revalued, so your figure will differ.

Being unable to join the cover. Under regulations 36 to 38 of the 2015 Regulations, a new member can be required to have a medical examination before joining and can be found ineligible for ill-health benefits if the risk is such that the likely cost of cover is more than 50% greater than for a person not identified as a risk. A reduced contribution rate then applies, and eligibility can be re-determined later. If you think this could apply to you, ask your pension administrator.

After you retire: reviews, upgrades and reductions (2015 scheme)

An ill-health pension is not always final. Under regulations 107 to 117 of the 2015 Regulations:

• Lower tier can be reviewed. Before normal pension age, the scheme manager may at any time it decides refer you to a selected medical practitioner to ask whether you are still unfit for police duties. If not, you can be given notice that you may rejoin within three months at a rank no lower than the one you held, and the pension ends at the end of that period or when you rejoin.
• You can move up a tier if you get worse. If your condition deteriorates so that you are permanently unfit for any regular employment, the upper-tier enhancement is payable from the date the scheme manager is notified. That cannot be claimed if the date is more than five years after the lower-tier pension began, unless the condition is a progressive one listed in the regulations. Tell your administrator promptly if your health worsens.
• Upper tier can be reviewed too. At intervals of no less than five years until state pension age. If the doctor finds you no longer unfit for any regular employment, the enhancement ends three months after the report, but the lower-tier pension stays unless a separate review finds you fit for police duties.
• Reduction for own default. The scheme manager can reduce an ill-health pension by up to half if the doctor decides you brought about, or substantially contributed to, your unfitness by your own default. You can appeal.
• Treatment. The pension can be stopped if, after written notices from the doctor and the scheme manager, you wilfully or negligently continue not to receive appropriate medical treatment that would be expected to end your unfitness.

Our ill-health retirement guide and the occupational health guide walk through the referral, evidence and appeal in more detail.