Education Ill Health Retirement

[FootstoolofDoom]

I work in education in a non-teaching senior role. I recently changed employers from a maintained school to a MAT, and my new employer is part of the same LA pension scheme as my previous one. There was no gap in service.

It looks like I will now need some corrective surgery due to cancer treatment that I had several years ago. I’m not sure how long this will take to recover from as I had problems with recovery from previous surgeries due to the type of cancer I had. My question is that if I have to take extended sick leave to the point where it’s decided that ill health retirement is the best option due to my age, would I qualify as I’m in the same pension scheme with the new employer? Everything I’ve found says two years qualifying period, which I’m nowhere near in this role.

It's continuous service - your terms were protected in the same way had you moved from maintained school A to maintained school B.

Ill health retirement isn't something that's freely awarded, though. But if you've kept up union membership through the period, they'll be best placed to advise you both now for your peace of mind regarding your rights and in the event of it becoming a possibility.

Best of wishes.

Thanks so much! I understand that it may not come to that, and I’m hoping that it doesn’t and that the recovery is better this time. I was worried that I’d messed up by moving if the worst happens.