ill health retirement

[Enigma54]

Has anyone been through this process recently? How long did it take? I’ve been off work for 8 months now
( cancer and treatment). I work as support staff in a school.

I have no end date to treatment and the current regime isn’t working anyway.

I’m having regular meetings with my Head and there is a meeting scheduled for the end of this term, with my union rep and HR, where they will want an update.

I’m considering requesting IHR in the new year.

I dont know about schools but a relative of mine took an IHR from local government. She was entitled to 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay and had to work through that before her retirement became complete. She was mid 40s. After a couple of years she moved to a different area and went into an completely different career but obviously kept her IH pension. I suspect the terms would be a lot less generous now.

Thanks.
Yes I’m nearing the end of my half pay.
Will see what HR say at the end of the year. They can keep my job open without pay, for an indefinite period of time.

I know for teachers you have to gather a lot of evidence to say you are unable to do your job and will be unable to do it in the future after all medical avenues have been undertaken e.g treatment, medication, rehabilitation etc. You need documentation from consultants, occupational health, GP etc.

Its very difficult to get.

Oh lord, I thought it would be difficult. Many NHS workers on the secondary breast cancer fb sites, have all been successful. I will have to see what my latest scan report shows and seek advice from my union rep I think. I’ve a few weeks yet to see how the land lies.

OP are you claiming ESA to top up your half pay?

@Rainbow1901I have just put a claim in for ESA, yes. It’s contribution based.

OP, you should apply for PIP too.

There are different rules for different pension schemes. Is it LGPS?

To qualify for ill health retirement in the LGPS you need to be certified as being permanently incapable of carrying out your current job, which means until state pension age. So if you are likely to recover enough in the future to be able to do your job again, even if that’s not for several years, you might not qualify for ill health retirement. It’s always worth exploring and obviously I don’t know anything about your treatments etc but it is a high bar to qualify for it.

I’m sorry you’re going through this.

Thanks, I applied for PIP last year for my metastic breast cancer. This new cancer is a different ball game and if I can’t get ill health retirement, I will be dismissed on medical grounds or forced to resign, which will leave my pension frozen to where it is now? Maybe they could keep me on the “ books” with zero pay, so DP can receive the death in service payments. I don’t know.

I've heard retirement through ill health is almost unheard of these days.

Yes LGPS. It’s a 3 tier system. Only tier 1 pays the amount of pension I would receive at 67.

Yes that’s how I understand the process to work too. I am just aware that my absence is long term now and decisions need to be made.

I've been through the process and got tier 1 for cancer. Have you met the occupational health doctor? The OH doctor will be the one writing the report that decides whether you qualify, based on what your own doctors put in reports. It would be helpful to establish a relationship with the occupational health doctor so he or she understands your health challenges. How old are you? It's easier to qualify if you're older.
Don't resign if you're thinking of going through this process! It can be stressful because the decision is out of your hands once you apply.

I found it easy. I got ill heath retirement at the being of the year. I worked for a LA and got tier 1 - I worked there for 27 yrs. The only thing I was thinking about, is if/ when the cancer is gone - well, you could work again. I don't know how that would play out.

Anyone know if I can work again 5 - 10 hours a week. I'm bored shitless.

@GreatTheCat yes you can, once a Tier 1 ill health pension is in payment there’s no rules on working again. However if you did work for a local authority again there can sometimes be rules about how much you can earn before your pension is affected - unlikely to be an issue if you’re only working 5-10 hours per week but worth being aware of. You can check with the fund that pays your pension - ask them what their policy on abatement is.

Is there any chance they make your position redundant? DH was made redundant over age 55 (school support staff) so got his full LGPS pension paid from then on. Does that get you to the same place financially?

Good point. I’m not actually sure. Im speaking to my union rep next week, so will ask the question.

@Enigma54 it’s good you have a union rep. I was medically retired (NHS) and the process is long and pretty stressful, but my union rep was amazing and knew what the process was supposed to look like. Unfortunately the HR person was hopeless, made mistakes, didn’t understand what needed doing, delayed sending things back eetc so having a union rep is essential. In my case the NHS Pension scheme has a rigorous process to assess if you meet the requirements for IHT including an assessment by occupational health and supportive statements from my consultant. From initial application for IHT to actually retiring was just under 10 months, and that was with regular chasing up of HR. It sounds like IHT is the appropriate next step for you but obviously your employer and pension provider have to agree. Good luck!

@Jumpeduppantry thanks for sharing. Yes will sound things out with the Union rep next week. I think it’s the right next step, given the situation I am In. Hopefully things will go smoothly!

He would not have got a full pension. He would have received an unreduced pension. These are not the same thing. Only in a tier one ill health is the pension made up the normal retirement age.

What is the difference? He gets an unreduced pension for an extra 10-11 years (v normal pension age) which increases with inflation. How is that practically different as a matter of interest, specifically wrt OP’s situation?

Husband has just got his IHR. It’s taken about 4 years of which he has three times taken six month sick leave. The actual process took about a year and a half. Lots of paperwork and waiting.

All said and done they have been really good and given him his pension as if he has worked to 65.

That’s good, I’m glad he finally got his IHR ( 4 years is a long time though). How old is he ( if you don’t mind me asking?)

If he was made redundant at age 56, he would have got the pension he had accrued to age 56 paid without early retirement reductions. However no additional years are added (unless they have a very generous employer but it’s unheard of now).

If someone gets tier 1 ill health at age 56, they get the pension they have accrued to age 56, plus the additional years they would have accrued to their state pension age, and then that is all paid without early retirement reductions. So the ill health pension is much more generous because you get the additional years added on which you don’t get on being made redundant.