FOI 307/25

REQUEST

For the past five years: (2020-2025)

 

1. The number of police officers who have started the Ill Health Retirement (IHR) process 
1. (i.e., those referred to Occupational Health for IHR consideration).

 

1. The number of officers who have retired on ill-health grounds as a result of the IHR process.

 

1. The number of officers who have submitted Injury on Duty (IOD) claims under the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006.

 

1. The number of officers whose IOD claims were successful.

 

1. The number of officers whose IOD claims were unsuccessful.

 

1. A breakdown of the IOD banding decisions for successful claims,

1. (bands 1-4 as defined by PIBR 2006)

 

1. A copy of the force’s policy on the IOD process 

1. (not the IHR, sickness, Attendance Management or similar policy, but specifically how the force manages IOD claims after an officer has left).

 

1. The length of time taken to process each IOD claim.

 

1. Average time to process IOD claims. 

 

1. The resources/personnel/team/department allocated to managing IOD claims (including the number of personnel assigned).

 

1. Whether the force conducts any follow-up or impact assessments to understand the long-term effects of the process on officers who have retired due to IOD.

 

1. Please breakdown of the data by borough, district, or department.

 

RESPONSE

 

We consulted with our HR department who have provided the below response to your request.

 

Question 1

 

Please note this data covers those officers who themselves requested to be referred for IHR consideration. The figure in the 1^st table below therefore only relates to individual requests for referral.

 

CALENDAR YEAR	IHR individual request
Jan - Dec 2020	2
Jan - Dec 2021	1
Jan - Dec 2022	0
Jan - Dec 2023	1
Jan - Dec 2024	4
Jan 2025 to date	1

 

Question 2

 

CALENDAR YEAR	IHR
Jan - Dec 2020	6
Jan - Dec 2021	6
Jan - Dec 2022	4
Jan - Dec 2023	1
Jan - Dec 2024	6
Jan 2025 to date	0

 

Question 3, 4 & 5

 

CALENDAR YEAR	IOD requests	Successful	Unsuccessful
Jan - Dec 2020	3	0	0
Jan - Dec 2021	3	2	2
Jan - Dec 2022	4	3	0
Jan - Dec 2023	2	1	2
Jan - Dec 2024	3	2	3
Jan 2025 to date	0	0	0

 

Please note the above figures include all injury on duty awards awarded since January 2020, this does not necessarily mean that they were awarded to those that were ill health retiring or had been ill health retired, former officers are able to make applications regardless of the manner in which they exited South Wales Police. The IOD request figures reflect when the application was submitted; whilst the successful and unsuccessful figures reflect when the final decision was made and therefore does not necessarily correlate with the IOD request figures. There are also cases where the application has been submitted, and the final decision has not yet been made.

Question 6

 

Year	Band 1	Band 2	Band 3	Band 4
Jan - Dec 2020	0	0	0	0
Jan - Dec 2021	1	0	0	1
Jan - Dec 2022	3	0	0	0
Jan - Dec 2023	0	0	0	1
Jan - Dec 2024	0	0	0	1
Jan 2025 to date	0	0	0	0

 

Please note the above figures include all injury on duty awards awarded since January 2020, this does not necessarily mean that they were awarded to those that were ill health retiring or had been ill health retired, former officers are able to make applications regardless of the manner in which they exited South Wales Police. The successful figures reflect when the final decision was made. There are also cases where the application has been submitted, and the final decision has not yet been made.

 

Question 7

 

South Wales Police do not have a policy in relation to Injury on Duty Awards. South Wales Police operates in accordance with the relevant Police Pension Regulations/Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations.

 

Question 8 & 9

 

South Wales Police does not hold the information to answer this part of your request. Under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) we are not obliged to create information in order to comply with a request. We are only able to provide recorded information. Please see below:

 

‘’Information is defined in section 84 of the Act as 'information recorded in any form'. The Act therefore only extends to requests for recorded information. It does not require public authorities to answer questions generally; only if they already hold the answers in recorded form. The Act does not extend to requests for information about policies or their implementation, or the merits or demerits of any proposal or action - unless, of course, the answer to any such request is already held in recorded form."

 

Question 10

 

Injury on duty claims are currently managed by Occupational Health and HR Case Management.

 

Question 11

 

South Wales Police do not currently conduct follow-up or impact assessments.

Question 12

 

Your request for a breakdown by borough/district/department has now been considered and due to the low figures involved I am not obliged to supply the information you have requested.       

 

In relation to your request, the following exemption applies:

 

Section 40(2) - Personal Information

 

Section 40(2) is an absolute class-based exemption and therefore the authority is not required to consider the public interest in disclosure.

 

The Data Protection Act covers processing of personal data about a living individual.  Personal data means data which relate to a living individual who can be identified-

 

1. from those data, or
2. from those data and other information which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller or any other person in respect of the individual.

 

Information will “relate to” a person if it is about them, linked to them, has some biographical significance for them, is used to inform decisions affecting them, has them as its main focus or impacts on them in any way.

 

If we disclosed these details, this would provide significant detail which could identify an individual and would breach the first principle of the Data Protection Act 2018.

 

In accordance with the Act, this letter represents a refusal notice for this part of your request.