Commentary on Sections Summary Ill health pensions Section 140: Reviewable ill health pensions
461.This section provides that during an assessment period the Board may review entitlement to ill health pensions paid under the scheme. A person under normal pension age who is entitled to an ill health pension will generally be entitled to a higher level of compensation than a person whose pension is not in payment at the beginning of the assessment period. This section enables the Board to ensure that any ill health pension has been correctly awarded.
462.Subsection (2) provides that the Board may review an ill health pension where:
	the member would be entitled to pension compensation under paragraph 3 of Schedule 7 in respect of that pension;
	the member is under normal pension age at the assessment date; and
	the pension is attributable to the member’s pensionable service under the scheme or another scheme i.e. it is not a survivor’s or dependent’s pension.
463.Subsection (3) provides that the Board can only review an ill health pension under subsection (2) if the original decision made by the trustees or managers to award the ill health pension was made in the three years before the assessment date, or where the member had applied for ill health retirement before the assessment date, and the decision is made after that date.
464.Subsection (4) provides that where, at the assessment date, the trustees or managers have failed to decide applications for ill health retirement then the trustees or managers must decide these applications within a prescribed time. If the trustees or managers fail to do this then they may be subject to a civil penalty under section 10 of the Pensions Act 1995 (civil penalties).
465.Subsection (5) deals with rates where an application for an ill health pension is made on or after the assessment date or is made before that date but not decided in the period mentioned in subsection (3)(b). If, in the absence of this section, the award would be backdated to before the assessment date, this subsection provides that for the purposes of determining any pension compensation the award is treated as taking effect after the decision is made. As a result the person will be treated as an active or deferred member rather than a person in receipt of a pension for the purposes of Schedule 7 (pension compensation).
466.Subsection (6) provides for regulations to prescribe the procedure to be followed in relation to the review of an ill health award under this section. This procedure may, for example, require the Board to notify the scheme member in writing and give reasons for its decision
467.The definitions in section 142 are relevant to this section.