Deferred members
Overview
You may get requests for a deferred ill-health pension from:
- former employees
- active employees who have opted out of the LGPS
- employees who are current members but also have a deferred pension.
As the former employer, you must assess the member’s ability to perform their previous role with an independent registered medical practitioner (IMRP).
Deferred members follow a process like active ones, but only get unenhanced deferred benefits. Use the right certificate based on when the member left the LGPS.
If a member is in active employment, and/or holds a separate deferred benefit, handle each benefit separately. Employers must make their own decisions for relevant employment.
You can find an overview of the ill-health process for deferred and active members in our flowchart.
Detailed guidance
Employers must get the opinion of an IMRP, who’s been pre-approved by the Pension Fund before referring the member for assessment. The criteria for paying a deferred pension for ill-health are simpler than for an active member. A deferred member can only get unenhanced benefits. So, you don’t need to decide which tier of pension to apply.
If the IMRP signs the certificate to say that the deferred member meets the medical requirements, then awarding the member their deferred benefits as a pension is straight forward.
You can find more information on making ill-health decisions and processing a referral to an IMRP on our ill health resources page. Specifically:
- Guidance note 2: Processing an ill-health pension case
- Guidance note 4: Ill-health deferred benefits into payment.
