The “November 2018 | Issue 96” edition of the monthly NARPO magazine contained this full page article by Mark Botham.
Mark is the Managing Director of Botham Solutions which provides training, a health and safety consultancy and advises on matters such as police pensions. He is an ex Yorkshire Police Federation rep of nineteen years and spent ten as chairman of the county branch. He holds a BA Hons, Post Graduate Diploma in Law, Post Graduate Certificate in Law, Post Diploma in Law and Master of Law and currently works for Haven Solicitors.
It is great to see some sound legal advice being published for all officers that have been injured on duty.
Here is his article –
This article has been reproduced by kind permission of Mark Botham and the National Association of Retired Police Officers.
Mark can be contacted via Haven Solicitors – havensolicitors.co.uk
NARPO can be contacted via their website – www.narpo.org
I am a Police pensioner retired on I’ll health pension 1982. I am still receiving treatment for my injuries and still suffer from stress and anxiety. I was more than pleased to read the recent ruling on IOD pensions. At least one part of my life is at last stabilised.
Many thanks to all concerned.
Taffy
Great article which no doubt all SMP’s, legal departments and HR departments will read and take note then they will carry on getting it wrong because they have the attitude “we are the POLICE and we can do what we want. I have a money saving suggestion, carry out reviews and I’ll health retirements in accordance with regulations and current caselaw and you will not suffer humiliation at PMB’s and appeals thereby saving the expense on costly cases.
Or just carry on with your arrogance and bullying tactics and keep on losing in court.
Thanks to the solicitors Mark Lake, Ron Thompson, Mark Botham and Lawrence Davies for their invaluable work in keeping forces on their toes and putting right some serious wrongs.
I’m glad Mr Botham mentioned this ‘PEAMS’ business, I don’t know about anybody else but from day 1 (of me learning about its existence) it just seemed totally inappropriate and wrong.
Mark Botham has worked for me on my case and I have total faith in him. Along with Ron Thompson, they looked after me and got my correct banding reinstated when the SMP unlawfully apportioned me,
I guess the sad fact is that my former police force should never have screwed me in the first place, but they did. Thanks to IODPA, I was introduced to Ron and Mark and I will always be grateful for them looking after me. Without IODPA, I would never have known I should have been placed in band four from the outset.
Great article by Mark Botham and well done to NARPO for now including a whole page to IOD issues. I have waited a while to see this day and am genuinely delighted to read the piece.
Well done to you IODPA for publishing it and showing that the two organisations are working together to bring about change for injured police officers. The time is nearing when forces will be held to account and they will be made to treat their police officers with respect and dignity.
NARPO, Mr Botham and IODPA, it’s a good day.
Yet even more sound legal advice from someone who knows the Regulations, unlike HR departments who “think” they know them.
When the Regulations dont allow for something is when HR step in and try to manipulate an existing Regulation, such as they are trying to do with Regulation 33. They will lose that argument in Court and they know it, which is why in Staffs and Northumbria they have former injured officers being threatened with them using Reg 33 if they dont hand over their medical records, but no cases commenced involving the Reg 33.
Deadlines to produce records have come and gone because of people like Mark Botham, Ron Thompson, and David Lock QC all waiting for them to make the move. Unlike our former forces, these guys actually know what they are doing, and they have the law on our side. More power to the likes of IODPA, Haven Solicitors, and Landmark Chambers who do a great job for IOD pensioners.
I have close family members both serving and retired, I agree totally with the comments of Lawman, it is both worrying and concerning how quickly Police cuts have and still are decimating the Policing of this Country. Unfortunately it is only the dedication and commitment of the serving officers that are keeping things afloat and I applaud each and every one of them. However everyone has breaking points and the thin blue line are facing an increasing hostilities daily. I sincerely hope that they never need the services of IODPA, but in the sad event that they do it is good to see the excellent support and advice offered, by them and there legal teams. Thanks go to Mark Botham for the article in the recent NARPO magazine and NARPO for publishing.
I’m a former injured cop. I think I’ll retrain as a Barrister. You know what I’ll go to court and loose case after case for Police forces and get paid a wedge. Even better I’ll then advise said forces to apeal and get paid twice sounds like a certain SMP always at PMAB based down south in the big smoke.
There is more than enough stress over loosing your job due to serious injury which is often life changing.
Now should you become injured and unable to work you can be assured that will not be supported by your Force but treated as a liability to be avoided or reduced at all costs.
Count on them not to adhere to the Police Injury Regulations, fail to process any application for an Injury award without undue delay leaving you in dire financial straits until they very reluctantly and slowly decide to process your application.
You can expect them to attempt to put their own twisted interpretation on the Injury Regulations and spend thousands of pounds on their own lawyers, Selected Medical Practitioners and additional support staff in an effort to avoid at all costs paying an injury award to what they see it an unnecessary financial burden.
Best of luck if you as a serving Police Officer become seriously injured, you will now need it and most importantly assistance from a group of former Police Officers who were injured on duty and through bitter experience know how to help you fight for what is owed to you. IODPA can and will help you.
As one of those helped by Mark and Ron, I cannot express how grateful I am to them for their very professional support in defence of mine and other Injury on Duty pensioner rights.
Without IODPA signposting me and others to them, plus their help in getting us the Police Federation funding we needed, our loyalty to our former employer, would have been used against us.
The force to which we were so loyal, tried to trick us, threatened us, harrassed us and we would have suffered the unlawful loss of our pensions without their help. Although the ‘battle’ continues, as does the abuse, our former employer now realises, we are not the ‘lambs to the slaughter’, they thought we were. We are protected by people like Mark, Ron and others from their abuses of power.
The Police Federation, Mark, Ron and other Solicitors than IODPA can call upon, have all done us a great service and I for one, will personally always be in their debt.
Some forces fail to honour the covenant, the debt, gratitude and espirit we corps for former injured colleagues. It’s purely accountancy driven policing led by HR.
Problem is they fail to consider the 6 figures paid to the SMP Doctors used. The costs for lost Employment Tribunals, High Court cases, reputations damage.
Serving officers will not put themselves in harm’s way if they see how injured former colleagues are treated.
The only winners are the SMP and the external Barristers.