Will be of interest to those receiving an Injury Pension :
“We are aware that the position on this matter is varied throughout the country with some Forces deducting ESA and others not deducting it.
ESA is a direct replacement for Incapacity benefit so on first sight one would expect it to be deductible, however Incapacity Benefit is expressly detailed as a ‘relevant benefit’ under Schedule 3 of The Police [Injury Benefit] Regulations 2006; ESA however as it is a new DWP benefit is not so detailed.
In an effort to clarify the situation we recently wrote to the Home Office seeking clarification of the matter. The response we received from the Home Office included the following:
In principle, we believe it would be appropriate to change both the police pension and injury benefit regulations to make ESA deductible.
This obviously leads us to surmise that the Home Office are of the opinion that ESA is not deductible from an Injury Pension at present. The letter also makes it clear that Police Forces are responsible for administering pensions within the regulations and in view of this we suggest that those who are having ESA deducted from their Injury Pension write to their Force in an attempt to clarify the matter and receive back any monies unlawfully deducted.”
We have prepared a template letter for you to use to write to your Force see the website for more at: http://www.narpo.org.uk/index.php/pensions/injury-pensions.html
HAPPY EASTER
Steve Edwards
Deputy Chief Executive
01924 331 251