Obtaining Independent Registered Medical Practitioners (IRMP) opinions during the pandemic

Association of Local Authority Medical Advisers (A L A M A) have confirmed that ill health applications should continue to progress during the pandemic. The following statement has been published on the A L A M A website: 

“During the current COVID-19 crisis, it is important to continue to progress ill health retirement applications. It is also particularly important that assessments remain fair and reasonable, and that should include requesting GP and specialist reports as required. There has never been a requirement for these assessments to be face to face, therefore paperwork reviews, with telephone clarification if needed, is the most appropriate way to progress these. 

If it is not possible to get reports, an assessment should be based on whether reports are likely to influence your decision further, and whether you have enough objective evidence to make an opinion. Opinions should always be ‘on balance of probability’. There will be times when you simply don’t have sufficient objective evidence to support ill health retirement, and you have been unable to get clinical reports. You should suggest that the applicant requests copies of clinical reports direct from their GP.”

You may experience delays in obtaining an IRMP’s opinion about an ill health retirement application or a Tier 3 ill health review. Any delay could affect the date from which an ill health pension is payable, or the date that a Tier 3 pension is upgraded to Tier 2. We've been advised that to help them make their decisions, employers may wish to ask IRMPs to include information in their report about any delays due to Covid-19 that have affected the member’s application. 

Please remember you can only use fund approved IRMPs to provide an opinion for your decision on ill health retirement cases. To obtain the list of the approved IRMPs please contact: pensions@shropshire.gov.uk