'Medical Retirement' - how does this work please?

[54isanopendoor]

In process of Divorce. STBEX suffers from anxiety & depression. It was a feature throughout our marriage (he could be aggressive & it was difficult to persuade him to seek help) His psychatrist has told the DVLA he cannot drive for a further 3m or drive a public vehicle for 6m (then to be re-assessed). As he has already been signed off this time for 7m & his job entails driving he will likely lose his livlihood. His work suggest that he speaks to his pension about a medical retirement (presumably the Psych would need to provide supporting docs too?).

Obviously it's his job & his business. I suspect it would be for the best as he is unlikely to manage his job medium term yet alone 10 more years until retirement. But the Divorce not yet signed & he says 'things might move quickly'.
My lawyer had suggested more than 50% to me as I am long term Carer for our two disabled young people but this could change everything?

I appreciate that I will need specific legal advice but
does anyone know how 'medical retirement' works in general please?

It does depend on the terms of the insurance / system covering it, but there are different categories. In many you have to be unable to do ANY work to claim medical retirement, not just the role that you currently have. And it usually also means that you must never be able to return to that kind of work - if he might be able to drive in several months they may refuse it anyway, or delay any decision until after that period. Some allow a partial payment if you are deemed to be likley to do some other kind of work, or may review the payments regularly to ensure you are still unfit for work. There really isn't a one size fits all, but in my experience they generally won't pay out in the short term and want absolute certainty that someone can't work in any capacity before they will pay up. Most I have come across have argued for many months or years before getting it. It's possible he might get something, but I wouldn't be depending on it.

It's not a quick process and from my experience there were levels of ill health retirement. I also had to be dismissed from my job first making sure everything was done to the book. So once my years sickness benefits were up I was dismissed then it took 6 months to get a decision on my pension and a further two months for me to start getting payed.
For me there were levels (and I assume this will be company/policy dependent) as well so if you couldn't do your job, I was asked if I could be re deployed within the company eg for your ex could he after treatment do a desk job? Also if I couldn't be redeployed would it be reasonable to say I could work elsewhere. And could I ever work again. Also would I be able to work at anytime before retirement age. I had to see several occupational health doctors then I was seen by an independent doctor. All had to agree not only on what I feasibly could and couldn't do at the time but also how long they expected this to go on for. In my case I got my pension as deemed I would never be capable to work again but my gp said she saw more who didn't get it than did get it. I think you'll need to seek legal advice but also until the process is underway (which might not be till sickness benefits run out) you may not know what will happen.

My limited experience has been that it is generally only achievable in cases with a demonstrably short life expectancy, ie won’t live long on the pension.

@Asdf12345 @Newjumper2023 @Quveas

thank you very much for replying.
can I just ask one more thing?
STBEXH seems to think he will 'get more money'?
surely he would just get his full pension earlier (therefore potentially for longer)?
would it be the pension HCP's who would determine, or his current GP/ Psych?

For me it was an outsourced occupational health team (I was public sector) then an independent doctor chosen by pension provider.
Money wise no I get less than I would have done had I worked till retirement, plus I'd have had the opportunity to work more hours/contributed more as my childcare commitments got less. I was in my 30s though (had paid in from age 21) don't know how much that affected the amount.
He could potentially apply for esa, pip and uc.

It will depend on the rules of his pension scheme/plan, the administrators should be able to let him know the criteria.

The shorter life expectancy question usually applies if someone wants to take a total lump sum rather than regular pension payments, there are tax rules around this.