Civil Service Injury Benefit Scheme (CSIBS): rules, table and calculator
Last updated · By Mustafa Bilgic · Figures from the Civil Service Injury Benefits Scheme rules, made under the Superannuation Act 1972 and amended up to 2019
This page sets out the CSIBS table, what counts as a qualifying injury, how the allowance and lump sum are worked out, the temporary allowance during sick leave, dependants' benefits and how to apply. The calculator applies the scheme rules to your figures in either situation: after leaving the Civil Service, or while on sick leave.
CSIBS guaranteed minimum income table
The Scheme Medical Adviser assesses how far your earning capacity is impaired, which picks the row. Your length of service, or your reckonable service if that is longer, picks the column. The guaranteed minimum income is a floor: the scheme pays the difference between it and the pensions and benefits taken into account. The lump sum depends only on the impairment and your pensionable earnings.
| Impairment of earning capacity | Less than 5 years | 5 years and over but less than 15 years | 15 years and over but less than 25 years | 25 years and over | Lump sum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slight impairment (more than 10% impaired but not more than 25%) | 15% | 30% | 45% | 60% | One eighth |
| Impairment (more than 25% impaired but not more than 50%) | 40% | 50% | 60% | 70% | One quarter |
| Material impairment (more than 50% impaired but not more than 75%) | 65% | 70% | 75% | 80% | Three eighths |
| Total impairment (more than 75% impaired) | 85% | 85% | 85% | 85% | One half |
Civil Service injury benefit calculator
Annual allowance and lump sum, or temporary allowance
Pensions: any occupational pension paid from public funds, such as a Civil Service ill health pension, valued as rule 1.7 says (an ill health pension commuted under the ill-health commutation rules counts at its value before commutation). Benefits: for example Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit for the injury (without Constant Attendance or Exceptionally Severe Disablement increases), Incapacity Benefit or Employment and Support Allowance.
Who the scheme covers
Part 1 of the scheme covers people serving full-time or part-time in the Civil Service, and the employer pension guide says it applies to most individuals employed in the Civil Service, not just members of the Civil Service pension arrangements. Part 2 extends it to people employed in a civil capacity for the purposes of the government who are not civil servants, and Part 3 to ministers.
What counts as a qualifying injury
Rule 1.3 lists the qualifying conditions. The employer pension guide summarises them as:
- injury or death in the course of official duty, solely attributable to the nature of the duty for injuries on or before 31 March 2003, and wholly or mainly attributable to it for injuries on or after 1 April 2003, including activities reasonably incidental to the duty;
- incapacity or death from an attack while off duty that is directly attributable to being employed by the government;
- incapacity or death from a disease to which the employee was exposed by the nature of their duty;
- for staff recruited in the UK, injury from war, revolution or serious disturbance where they serve abroad, or a medical condition aggravated by service abroad;
- injury or death from a terrorist attack or assault that is not in the course of duty but is directly attributable to employment in the Civil Service.
The guide says benefit is not paid for an injury unrelated to employment or suffered while travelling to and from work, during a main meal break, working at home unless the work is authorised and the injury is attributable to the duty, on special leave, deviating from a duty journey, or at work but not carrying out duties, such as sport, entertainment or giving blood. Rule 1.4 treats a duty journey, such as travel between the normal workplace and a detached duty station, as official duty. An injury wholly or mainly due to, or seriously aggravated by, your own serious and culpable negligence or misconduct is excluded.
When CSIBS pays
Rule 1.6 sets out when benefits can be paid if your earning capacity is impaired because of the injury:
- Leaving before pension age: an annual allowance and a lump sum, based on the Scheme Medical Adviser's assessment of the impairment, your service and your pensionable earnings when service ends.
- On sick leave: a temporary allowance while you receive sick pay or sick pay at pension rate for the injury, or after paid sick leave has run out, if your sick pay, public service pensions and benefits come to less than the guaranteed minimum income for total incapacity, which is 85%.
- Moved to a lower grade: an annual allowance if, because of the injury, you are employed in a lower grade or a different capacity with loss of earnings.
- Retiring later on age grounds: an allowance and lump sum based on the impairment shown at the date of retirement, if nothing but a temporary allowance was paid before.
If you return to work part-time on medical grounds and qualify for the temporary allowance, rule 1.6a changes the guaranteed minimum income to part-time hours divided by full-time hours, plus 85% of the hours you no longer work divided by full-time hours, and counts your actual pay against it. The employer pension guide also notes that people with a qualifying injury may get extended sick leave under the Civil Service Management Code.
How the allowance and lump sum are worked out
Rule 1.7 makes the annual allowance the amount which, added to the benefits taken into account, provides at least the guaranteed minimum income in the table. If those benefits already exceed it, no annual allowance is payable. Three things are taken into account:
- any occupational pension paid from public funds, or to which public funds contributed, valued as the rule sets out: for example an ill health pension commuted under the ill-health commutation rules counts at its value before commutation;
- national insurance benefits for the injury listed in rule 1.8: industrial disablement benefit, sickness benefit, invalidity pension, incapacity benefit, employment and support allowance and any other benefit paid from public funds, but not the Constant Attendance or Exceptionally Severe Disablement increases of disablement pension;
- for someone who opted out of the 1972 Section, a personal pension or state earnings-related pension.
Rule 1.8 fixes these amounts at the relevant date, such as the date of retirement, the date sick pay was reduced or ended, or the date of moving to a lower grade. For part-time staff, pensionable earnings are scaled down by the ratio of hours worked to full-time hours for the guarantee, and may be scaled the same way for the lump sum under rule 1.9. Where an injury is mainly but not wholly attributable to the nature of the duty, rule 1.9a requires the Minister to reduce the benefits, following guidelines agreed with staff representatives.
Reviews, damages and criminal injuries compensation
Under rule 1.10 an annual allowance may be reviewed when your social security benefits change, when re-employment ends or when a public service retirement pension starts. A review because your condition has got worse is only available for injuries before 1 April 2003 (rule 1.10a). If you recover damages for the injury, rule 1.19 lets the Minister take them into account and withhold or reduce the allowance and lump sum. Compensation under a criminal injuries compensation scheme in the UK counts as damages for this purpose, so a payment from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority can reduce CSIBS benefits. The employer pension guide asks employers to tell the administrator if the individual asks them for damages.
Benefits after a death
If a person dies as the direct result of a qualifying injury, rules 1.12 to 1.18 provide allowances for the surviving spouse or civil partner and dependants, topping up any pension they receive. The total of allowances for one death cannot exceed 100% of the person's pensionable earnings, and a widow's allowance is reduced by any industrial death benefit. A lump sum of six months' pensionable earnings, or three months' where death was before 1 January 1986, may be paid to the widow, widower or civil partner, or else to the eligible children, a dependent parent or dependent brothers and sisters, in that order, unless a lump sum was already paid to the person for the injury.
| Beneficiary | Where there is a widow, widower or surviving civil partner | Where there is not |
|---|---|---|
| Widow, widower or surviving civil partner | 45% | not applicable |
| Children in childhood and full-time education, up to four at a time | 10% for each child | 20% for each child |
| Dependent mother or father | 20% | 45% |
| Dependent brothers and sisters in childhood and full-time education, up to four including the children above | 10% for each child | 20% for each child |
| Dependent adult children, brothers and sisters | 20% | 45% |
How to apply
The employer pension guide says you and your employer complete form CSIBS1 and send it to the Scheme Administrator with supporting documents: accident reports or accident book entries, your personal statement, your employer's statement accepting or disputing it, any witness statements, your job description, sickness absence details with the start date of the relevant absence, earlier Scheme Medical Adviser correspondence, and any original medical evidence in a medical in confidence envelope. The administrator decides whether you have a qualifying injury and may take the Scheme Medical Adviser's advice. Employers meet the cost of injury benefits and must tell the administrator within 30 days when an injured member moves to reduced sick pay, is downgraded or leaves. Northern Ireland civil servants have their own Civil Service Injury Benefits Scheme (NI), with application forms published by the Department of Finance.
Worked example
An officer with 12 years of service and full-time pensionable earnings of £32,000 leaves because of a back injury from moving files and furniture as part of an office move, and the Scheme Medical Adviser assesses the impairment of earning capacity at 40%. That is impairment, more than 25% but not more than 50%, and with 12 years of service the guarantee is 50% of earnings, £16,000 a year. An ill health pension of £7,200 and Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit of £3,650 a year are taken into account, so the annual allowance is £5,150, or £429.17 a month. The lump sum is one quarter of earnings, £8,000. These figures are our calculation from the scheme rules.
Sources and methodology
The table and rules were read from the published scheme and its 2019 amendment. The calculator applies rules 1.6(i), 1.6(iii), 1.6a, 1.7 and 1.9, including the part-time scaling, and was tested on every cell of the table, the service boundaries and the part-time return formula. It does not apply the discretionary reduction in rule 1.9a or the lower-grade rule in rule 1.6(iv).
- Civil Service Injury Benefits Scheme rules, Civil Service Pensions (PDF).
- The Civil Service Injury Benefits Scheme (Amendment) Scheme 2019, Cabinet Office, on GOV.UK (PDF).
- Employer pension guide, section 5.10: injury benefits, Civil Service Pensions.
- Civil Service Injury Benefits Scheme (NI), application for a permanent injury award, Department of Finance (NI).
Frequently asked questions
How much is Civil Service injury benefit?
It tops your income up to a guaranteed minimum of 15% to 85% of pensionable earnings, depending on the impairment of your earning capacity and your length of service, after counting public service pensions and certain benefits. A lump sum of one eighth to one half of earnings can be paid if your service ends before pension age.
What are the CSIBS criteria?
You must be in the Civil Service or employed for the government, and have an injury or disease that meets rule 1.3, broadly one wholly or mainly attributable to the nature of your official duty, which impairs your earning capacity by more than 10%.
How do I claim Civil Service injury benefit?
You and your employer complete form CSIBS1 and send it to the Scheme Administrator with accident reports, statements, your job description, absence details and medical evidence. The administrator decides, and may ask the Scheme Medical Adviser.
Is commuting covered by CSIBS?
No. An injury on the journey between home and your normal workplace is not treated as an injury in the course of duty, but a duty journey, such as travel to a detached duty station, is.
Does CICA compensation affect CSIBS?
Yes. Rule 1.19 treats compensation under a UK criminal injuries compensation scheme as damages, which the Minister takes into account and can use to withhold or reduce CSIBS benefits.
Can a CSIBS award be reviewed if my condition gets worse?
Only for injuries before 1 April 2003. For later injuries, rule 1.10a removes the review for deterioration, but an award can still be reviewed when benefits change, re-employment ends or a pension starts.