Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken for civil servants to access the ill health retirement scheme.

The Department recognises the importance of timely access to ill health retirement and there is a process in place to ensure that members, employers, the scheme medical advisor and, where appropriate, the pension scheme administrator, all work together to complete this as quickly as possible.

Whilst there are indicative timelines for various steps, timelines may vary due to the complexity of each case and complex cases may take longer when external parties are also required to contribute to the process.

Employers and members have oversight of progress of their own individual cases and the Cabinet Office continues to monitor the contractual performance of the scheme medical advisor and the pension scheme administrator.