MORE than £150 million has been paid out of the policing budget in just seven years to officers under the PSNI injuries pay scheme.
Figures obtained by the Irish News show that from 2007 until 2014 more than £153m was paid out in lump-sum gratuity payments and a monthly pension award to officers who claimed injury while serving in both the RUC and PSNI.
In addition almost £2m was paid out between January 2007 and September 2016 for a private company to carry out the medical assessments.
Details of the pay-outs comes as police chiefs announced cuts of around £20 million from the policing budget because of the failure to establish a budget prior to the collapse of the devolved assembly.
However an industry insider has said that the method used to calculate the Injured On Duty (IOD) payments - averaging £24m annually - is "out of step" with the procedure followed by other UK forces.
The money paid out is in addition to already lucrative Patten reform pensions, when more than £500m was paid out in order to encourage members of the RUC to take early retirement and pave the way for new recruits of which 50 per cent had to be Catholic.
The awards are also separate to payments given to officers who suffered hearing loss during their time in the RUC.
More than £135m of public money was paid out to settle claims by former officers who said their hearing was damaged during the course of their duties, more than £65m, of that was in legal fees.
The Irish News understands that a number of former RUC officers who received Patten, and hearing loss payments also received IOD pensions.
The biggest pay outs occurred in 2014 when more than £25m was paid from the policing budget to 108 officers injured in the line of duty.
The majority of pensions were paid to officers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, during their time in the force, although others were for officers who suffered serious physical injuries.
An insider has told the Irish News the cost of the IOD awards is well above what is paid out by other forces because he believes the method used to calculate payments is not fit for purpose.
Assessments require medical practitioners to make a judgment on what extent the officer's injury or disability will impact their future earning capacity.
This is done by looking at a fictional situation where the average wage for certain jobs is judged against the earning potential of a hypothetical healthy person of the same age and sex.
The officer is then allocated a payment, for either a slight, minor, major or very severe disablement.
This differs from other forces where a set calculation method of earning bands allows medical professionals to accurately work out the estimated loss of earnings.
"Every other UK policing board uses a calculation method to determine percentages disablement. Because that's what the regulations tell us to do," the whistleblower said.
"The regulations are certainly not silent of the matter"
"The bottom line is that the Northern Ireland Policing Board have instructed the medical practitioner to follow an ... indefensible process which is out of step with the statutory, binding pension injury benefit regulations", the expert added.
A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Policing Board said: "Police officers have a legislative entitlement to an injury pension and gratuity where a degree of disablement has been assessed as being directly attributable to injuries sustained in the course of their duties.
"A comprehensive review of the Injury on Duty (IOD) process was completed in November 2014.
"Following this review, the Board is satisfied that the system meets the current legislative requirements and is in line with both case law and Pension Ombudsman’s rulings".
"In the review completed in 2014, a recommendation was made that the Department of Justice and the Board, in consultation with stakeholders, should consider major legislative reform of the current injury award system ( as provided for under the PSNI and PSNI Reserve (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006) and replace it with a much simpler scheme.
"This recommendation is being progressed by the Board with the Department of Justice".
A spokesperson for the PSNI said: "The administration of Injury on Duty Awards is a matter for the Northern Ireland Policing Board".
