Part time job or retire early

[justtask]

I am a health practitioner and have worked since 1995. Now I work mostly 9-5 because of my disability. My clinical condition is now affecting my hands and work is becoming extremely difficult. It takes a lot longer than normal. My line manger is expecting me to carry on as usual but I am unable to continue working like this and feel shit. I am under the care of neuro team but there is no definitive answer to my disease and I am on constant combination of medicines to control my condition.
I am exhausted and tired and feel low all the time. During this Christmas season I have spent hours sleeping and feel life is not worth living. I am 59 and have 12 and 15 years old . Our mortgage is 209k left and if I go part time it will make things worse for my family financially and no guarantee that part time work will help me. But if I retire early I know I would feel better but burdened financially ( not sure if I can claim my pension before 67). My partner is still working and is 55, works full time but he is not paid well so can only afford to pay the bills and food but not mortgage.
please could you help me make sense of this situation. We started family late and paid for rentals for years so not much equity in our house. My life has come to a standstill and I am unable to get my thoughts together to make any decision. I also know that both of my options are not going to help my family but I guess I am looking for something for myself.

Hi this is a tricky predicament. I was going to say retire but then read how much mortgage you have left to pay and DH can't pay it. Sounds either you'll have to go part-time or downsize / move to a cheaper area to get that mortgage down.

You can't afford you house and need to move to a cheaper area once your 15 year old finishes year 11.
Go part time and your partner can do a couple of shifts a week JustEAt etc or bar work.

Hi OP, I am sorry that you find yourself in this situation.

I am not sure from your post if you are asking whether to choose from three options (stay full time, go part time or retire) or just two (part time or retire).

I would, in your situation first get some advice on the support and adjustments that have to be made legally if you are disabled. Might your condition qualify you for more consideration? Even if not, you sound run down, could you speak to your GP and maybe get some sick leave to recuperate and have a chance to consider things more clearly?

Secondly, I would definitely not retire in your situation at least until you have tried part time first. First of all, your finances sound tight. Secondly I think there is a genuine risk of missing the social interaction and sense of self worth that comes with work. I say this as an early retiree who no longer has the caring responsibilities that were part of my reason for retirement and am now feeling a bit lost without a clear purpose - and I have no financial worries.

Good luck OP.

It sounds like as things currently stand you can't afford to go part time or retire early. You won't be able to claim your state pension for another 8 years.
How long is left on your mortgage? Could you investigate changing careers, doing something you enjoy that wouldn't be so hard on your health?

A family member got medically retired with MS and got a big payout .. is this a possibility?

If you are NHS, when can you claim your work pension? Can you ask the pensions people to run the numbers to see how much you'd be able to get if you retired now? You can normally take it early, but it's actuarially reduced.

Thanks everyone for your replies and I appreciate your responses. I haven’t spoken to my partner yet and I am not sure if I can claim early retirement at this age.Do you think I can email NHS pension directly and check if I qualify ?

Yes, contact the NHS pensions people (NHSBA) and ask for a statement showing what you would get if you retired this year.

At 59 you should be eligible, it's just a question of how it would affect your annuity. That will give you more information to base a decision on.

Oh my goodness, that’s a huge mortgage to still have at 59. How many more years do you have to pay that off?
My son and dil are in their 20s they have a 200k mortgage over 30 years!
I think the best solution is to downsize and clear some of that mortgage, that in itself would be making me ill.
Do you have 40 years of NHS pension? If so, that will be a huge chunk, depending on which one you’re on, you can claim it at 55 or 60. Definitely look into claiming some pension, you can still work part time.

If you cannot do your job because of your illness you may be able to take full pension at 59. Depends on whether it is unfit to do your actual job or unfit to do any job. I would seriously look into it. One of my colleagues retired at 58 on full pension. She had a mental health condition.

If NHS pension. No annuity.

If you retire on I'll health grounds you should get at this age what you would have got at your pension age.

You can get nhs pension early . Depends what scheme you're in but you will lose some by retiring early.
It won't be enough to pay off your mortgage though.

I can not thank you enough for all your advice. I started working in NHS in 1998 and since have worked for different trusts. We bought our flat in 2018 for 250k after paying rents for years so not much equity after estate agent’s fees and other expenses. I feel bit better now so thank you everyone for all your support.

Are you in a union? They can help you navigate this and potentially negotiate ill- health retirement

I'm the meantime, I'd still talk to my boss about can anything be fine to make job easier, ie reasonable adjustments'. And also reducing hours even by a tiny bit might help.

Have you see your company's OH ? What were the recommended reasonable adjustments and have they been carried out.

Have you claimed PIP?

Try for ill health retirement (speak to OH about this)

feel life is not worth living This is such an important thing to address.

Can you take sick leave for a short time whilst you investigate your options?

I am so sorry you have these problems.

Would you be able to do any other kind of work - something less physically tiring? That way you could at least bring in some money without becoming exhausted.

@justtask I’m guessing you are down south London wayish ? 250k for a flat in 2018. Have you considered, or would it be possible to move to a cheaper part of the country to release some small amount of equity? I’m Midlands east coast, 200k can get you a 3 bed semi with garage and garden! Team that with ill health retirement pension and a less tiring few hours a week job ?

I would get advice from CAB about possibly claiming PIP

Maybe think about taking parental leave, it’s unpaid, up to 4 weeks per year for each child under 18. I have started to utilise this to make my working life a bit easier (am full time, 56 with a 14 year old) it has to be /should be taken as full weeks, I would normally take at least a couple of full weeks off anyway out of annual holiday entitlement so I’ve applied to have this as parental leave leaving a good chunk of my paid holiday entitlement to be taken as odd or half days. It’s also a way of seeing if you can manage on a reduced wage without the commitment at first. Details can be found on Gov.UK

1. Definitely contact your pension provider and get an up to date figure for your pension if you take it at 60. faq.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/knowledgebase/category/?articlecategory=General&id=CAT-01674&parentid=
2. Check out the McCloud Remedy you are likely to be affected by this.faq.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/knowledgebase/article/KA-25794/en-us
3. Request an OH referral to help identify reasonable adjustments e.g. longer time to do jobs etc.
4. As pp said also investigate ill health retirement, again the McCloud Remedy may impact the eligibility criteria and pension.
5. Talk to your TU rep they are usually able to provide info about pensions, ill health retirement and McCloud.

Princessglittery thank you for all the information and also for the links.