38.—(1) A deferred member who, because of ill-health or infirmity of mind or body—
(a)becomes permanently incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of the employment that member was engaged in at the date the member became a deferred member, and
(b)is unlikely to be capable of undertaking gainful employment before normal pension age, or for at least three years, whichever is the sooner,
may ask to receive payment of a retirement pension whatever the member's age.
(2) A request under paragraph (1) must be made in writing to the deferred member's former Scheme employer or appropriate administering authority where the member's former Scheme employer has ceased to be a Scheme employer.
(3) Before determining whether or not to agree to a request under paragraph (1), the deferred member's former Scheme employer, or administering authority, as the case may be, must obtain a certificate from an IRMP as to whether the member is suffering from a condition that renders the member—
(a)permanently incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of the employment the member was engaged in because of ill-health or infirmity of mind or body; and, if so,
(b)whether as a result of that condition the member is unlikely to be capable of undertaking gainful employment before reaching normal pension age, or for at least three years, whichever is the sooner.
(4) A deferred pensioner member who, because of ill-health or infirmity of mind or body, is unlikely to be capable of undertaking gainful employment before normal pension age, may ask to receive payment of a retirement pension at any time before the member's normal pension age.
(5) A request under paragraph (4) must be made to the deferred pensioner member's former Scheme employer, or appropriate administering authority where the member's former Scheme employer has ceased to be a Scheme employer.
(6) Before determining whether to agree to a request under paragraph (4), the deferred pensioner member's former Scheme employer, or administering authority, as the case may be, must obtain a certificate from an IRMP as to whether the member, as a result of ill-health or infirmity of mind or body, is unlikely to be capable of undertaking gainful employment before normal pension age.
(7) If the Scheme employer is not the deferred or deferred pensioner member's appropriate administering authority, it must obtain that authority's consent to the appointment of an IRMP under this regulation.
(8) An IRMP appointed under paragraph (6) may be the same IRMP who provided the first certificate under regulation 36(1) (role of the IRMP).