Tasmania Police medical retirement
what the Act says, and what you'll be paid

Leaving Tasmania Police on medical grounds involves three separate tracks. The Commissioner decides your employment under the Police Service Act. Your super fund or insurer decides any invalidity, TPD or income protection benefit. If work caused the injury, workers compensation pays weekly payments and medical costs.

Each track uses a different test. The Commissioner asks whether you can perform your police duties. An insurer usually asks whether you can work in any job you're suited to. Workers comp asks whether work caused the injury.

Section 28 sets retirement: compulsory at 65 and voluntary from 55. Section 28(3) adds a medical route at any age: an officer may retire if the Commissioner considers they're unable to perform their duties for a reason in s 29 and agrees in writing.

Section 29(1) lists those reasons: mental illness (within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 2013), any injury, illness or disease, or general physical unfitness. Under s 29(3), the Commissioner can direct you to have a medical examination by a doctor the Commissioner nominates.

Retiring under s 28(3) is something you and the Commissioner agree. Termination under s 29 is something done to you, and the review rights differ.

Section 29(4) gives the Commissioner a ladder of options, and s 29(5) says they must be considered in this order. Section 29(6) requires you to be notified of any action taken.

1. 1

   Counselling

   1

   Support and guidance to address the issue.

2. 2

   Retraining

   2

   Training for different or modified duties.

3. 3

   Reduced pay

   3

   A reduction in salary.

4. 4

   Reassigned duties

   4

   Different duties within your role.

5. 5

   Transfer

   5

   A move to another position or location.

6. 6

   Demotion

   6

   For commissioned officers, by recommendation to the Minister and Governor.

7. 7

   Termination

   7

   The last option on the list. For commissioned officers, by recommendation to the Minister and Governor.

The order matters. If you're facing termination and believe the earlier options weren't properly considered, that's a ground to raise with the Police Association of Tasmania and on review.

Tasmania Police officers are members of the Tasmanian Accumulation Scheme unless they've chosen another complying fund or are in the closed defined benefit scheme, according to our Tasmania data. Under the Public Sector Superannuation Reform Act 2016, the Minister nominates the default fund by Gazette notice (s 20). There's no police-specific provision.

The default fund has changed through mergers. Secondary sources describe a path from Tasplan to Spirit Super, which merged into CareSuper on 1 November 2024. Check your latest statement to see which fund holds your account and what cover you have.

Officers in the Retirement Benefits Fund (RBF) Contributory Scheme, closed to new members from 15 May 1999, have invalidity benefits built into the scheme. Treasury lists interim invalidity, total and permanent incapacity, terminal illness and death cover.

For full-benefit members, total and permanent incapacity pays the usual formula (final average salary × service × benefit multiple) plus a prospective service component: final average salary × years from retirement to 60 (up to 25) × 20%. Limited-benefit members get a smaller prospective component.

Police are covered by the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988: s 4(2) deems officers to be in the service of the Crown. Weekly payments step down over time under s 69B, but Tasmania has a police-specific exception.

Payments don't run forever. Under ss 69B(2E) and 87, the maximum is 9 years if whole person impairment is under 15% or not assessed, 12 years for 15-19%, 20 years for 20-29%, and to pension age for 30% or more. More in our Tasmania Police workers comp guide.

Section 28A of the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act presumes that employment contributed substantially to post-traumatic stress disorder for a worker employed by the Crown or appointed under a State Act, which includes police. The employer has to show evidence to the contrary. It commenced on 4 June 2019.

The presumption helps with the hardest part of a psychological injury claim: proving the link to work. It doesn't decide your medical retirement or insurance claims, which have their own tests, but an accepted workers comp claim is useful evidence for both.

Your leave balances shape the first months of any illness and what you take with you when you go. The Police Service Regulations 2023 and the award set them, as recorded in our Tasmania data.

Note the sick leave rule: it doesn't apply to on-duty injury or illness. Those absences should run through workers compensation instead, which keeps your sick leave for non-work illness. If a work injury has been recorded as sick leave, ask payroll whether it can be re-credited once the claim is accepted.

The long service leave point is the one most likely to cost money. Under the award and the Long Service Leave (State Employees) Act 1994, pro-rata payment from 7 years applies in specified circumstances such as ill-health or retirement. Leaving through s 28(3) on health grounds is more likely to qualify than a plain resignation. Confirm with payroll before you choose a path.

From 55 you can retire voluntarily under s 28, without any medical process. That's simpler, but it may not be the better option if you're unwell. Medical retirement can unlock invalidity benefits and insurance claims that an ordinary retirement doesn't.

If you're 55 or older and unwell, get RBF or fund figures for both routes before you decide. The difference can be large for members with a prospective service component. Our police retirement age guide explains the ages that apply.

1. 1

   Contact the Police Association of Tasmania

   Week 1

   Get advice before you respond to any s 29 letter or medical direction.

2. 2

   Lodge workers comp if work contributed

   Early

   Lodge early. For PTSD, s 28A presumes the work link.

3. 3

   Check your fund's cover

   Early

   Ask your fund for your income protection and TPD cover, the policy wording and claim forms. Note the 90-day waiting period.

4. 4

   Attend the medical examination

   When directed

   If the Commissioner directs an exam under s 29(3), attend and bring your own treating reports.

5. 5

   Decide: agreed retirement or review

   Before deadlines

   Retiring under s 28(3) or challenging a s 29 decision are different paths. Take advice on which protects your benefits.

Don't resign while claims are pending. Resignation needs 30 days' notice under s 27 anyway, and both the RBF booklet and most insurers treat the reason you leave as relevant. See resigning from the police for the wider picture.

The date you receive a decision matters, because review deadlines run from it. Keep envelopes, emails and a simple log of what arrived when.

You can have legal representation in a Police Review Board termination review (s 71). For the RBF, ask Treasury's RBF team which review path applies, as public sector schemes can have their own processes.

A medical exit can mean losing a role, a team and a routine at once. When you're ready, our guide to careers after policing shows where former officers' skills transfer.

For the national picture, see how medical retirement works in every force and police superannuation in Australia.