Ashton, R (on the application of) v Police Medical Appeal Board & Anor

For permanent disablement under the Police Pensions Regulations 1987, “the force” means the particular police force for the area in which the officer is serving when disablement falls to be determined. It does not mean the police service as a whole.

The statutory definitions of “police force”, the local structure of policing, the role of the relevant police authority and the practical consequences of permanent disablement supported that construction. “Ordinary duties” means the full range of duties an officer may ordinarily be required to perform.

The claimant, a Metropolitan Police Service officer, was found medically disabled but not permanently disabled because it was considered that, after treatment, she could work as a police officer in another force. The Police Medical Appeal Board dismissed her appeal, applying R (on the application of Sussex Police Authority) v Beck [2003] EWHC 1361 (Admin), which treated “the force” as the police service generally.

R (Corkindale) v Medical Appeal Board [2006] EWHC 3362 (Admin) had adopted the opposite construction. The central issue was whether situational permanent disablement, relating to inability to perform the ordinary duties of a particular force, falls within Regulation A12.

1. Claim allowed and decision quashed. The Board’s decision of 8 October 2006 was quashed. The court did not determine whether remission to a differently constituted board or further relief was required.
2. Although the wider construction adopted in Beck [2003] EWHC 1361 (Admin) was linguistically possible, it was not preferred.
3. The Police Pensions Regulations 1987 were made under the Police Pensions Act 1976. Under the Interpretation Act 1978, statutory expressions ordinarily retain their statutory meaning in subordinate legislation unless the context requires otherwise. The statutory scheme treats a police force as a force maintained for a particular police area.
4. “The force” in Regulation A12(2) therefore means the force for the area in which the officer was serving when permanent disablement fell to be determined. The relevant deployment needs and pension consequences were those of that particular police authority and force. The possibility of work in another force did not prevent permanent disablement.
5. The court agreed with Corkindale [2006] EWHC 3362 (Admin). Consistently with R v Sussex Police ex p Stewart [2000] ICR 1122, “ordinary duties” means the full range of duties an officer may ordinarily be called upon to perform.
6. Costs followed the event as between the claimant and the interested party. The Board sought no costs. Permission to appeal was refused.

This was a first-instance judicial review in the Administrative Court. The judgment records divergent first-instance decisions in R (on the application of Sussex Police Authority) v Beck [2003] EWHC 1361 (Admin) and R (Corkindale) v Medical Appeal Board [2006] EWHC 3362 (Admin). The claim was allowed, the Board’s decision was quashed and permission to appeal was refused.