FOI 1138-2024/25 Ill Health Retirement

Request
For the past five years: (2020-2025)

Q1. 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).

Q2. The number of officers who have retired on ill-health grounds as a result of the IHR process. 

Q3. The number of officers who have submitted Injury on Duty (IOD) claims under the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006.

Q4. The number of officers whose IOD claims were successful.

Q5. The number of officers whose IOD claims were unsuccessful.

Q6. A breakdown of the IOD banding decisions for successful claims,

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

 Q7. 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 afteran officer has left).

Q8. The length of time taken to process each IOD claim.

Q9. Average time to process IOD claims. 

Q10. The resources/personnel/team/department allocated to managing IOD claims (including the number of personnel assigned).

Q11. 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. 

Q12. Please breakdown of the data by borough, district, or department.

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police.

I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.  

Decision
I have today decided to disclose the following information to you.

Q1 – 6. Please see the table below in response to Questions 1-6 of your request.

Q7-9. No information held.

Q10. There are 4 Senior People Advisors within the People Services team that undertake IOD cases, but the proportion of time spent on IODs is not held.

Q11. No.

Q12. I am exempting the departmental breakdown of this data pursuant to Section 40(2) – Personal Information to ensure anonymity for those involved in each case. Please see the below exemption explanation.

Exemption Explanation

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies. 

Section 40 – Personal Information
Where an individual can be identified by such data, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

Section 40(2) is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair (DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1)).

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.  In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned. 

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to your request.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.