Medical retirement

[Willowskyblue]

I suffered a serious health event during a major incident at work last year. I have now recovered but am at risk of it happening again and indeed, a further recent incident resulted in me going to A&E as I was experiencing symptoms. The Dr there said I had PTSD and was surprised I had been put in the situation I had given my previous history and experience.
I now feel very vulnerable and at risk at work. I can’t be moved away from the risk as it present everywhere as part of the very nature of the organisation.
I have heard of medical retirement (I’m 61) and want to know other’s experience of this and what is involved. I can’t afford to retire yet otherwise.

Medical retirement policies tend to be quite variable in my experience. Best to look at your organisational policies, your pension arrangements, and your contract and seek legal advice either through your Union or potentially Citizen's Advice might be able to point you in the right direction.

I am not an HR expert but the only people I have had in my teams that have retired early on medical grounds, have had enough in their pension pots to do this. There wasn't a separate pot of money they could access which enabled them to go early. (Public sector pensions though).

Was it an unusual situation that couldn’t have been foreseen, or event such as nurse/social worker/teacher assaulted by a service user? So basically you can’t do your job without coming into contact with service users, but to do so would aggravate your things?
do you have a union? Could you be redeployed?

Thanks @Thingamebobwotsit thats very useful.

Yes as the PP said there isn't usually any 'extra' money to be paid out as such, it's about allowing you access to what you've paid in to your pension pot earlier than usual without penalty, and so the T&Cs around it will be linked to your pension scheme. In the public sector with defined benefit schemes it is usually quite tight/strict criteria as it is a significant cost to the scheme to 'pay out' for more years than anticipated, whereas with a DC scheme it may be less so. With public sector schemes you usually need medical evidence you are permanently incapacitated for work with no reasonable prospect of improvement, which can be tricky with mental health types conditions which fluctuate. If public sector (and some private sector) it's likely your employer will want to fully consider redeployment options to lower risk/ lower stress roles before going down a medical retirement route, is this something you've discussed with them?

The other thing that it may be worth considering although it may be unpalatable is whether you have any financial claim against your employer for personal injury. You would have to prove breach of duty/causation and that the injury wasn't due to your own negligence or failing to follow the employer's policies or not using supplied PPE correctly etc - which of course can be quite challenging/traumatic in itself. Although depending on the nature of your employer if you have a good case they may be prepared to settle out of court. May be worth taking some legal advice on that?

It very much depends on the nature of the risk and the incident you were affected by as to whether your pension could be accessed early with enhancement or without reduction. Do you have a defined benefit pension?

Get in touch with ACAS for free employment advice and or your union if you are in one. Plus what does your pension say because at 61 you may be able to just take it.

Teaching gives an enhanced pension if you are very unwell. You aren’t allowed to volunteer or work if you receive it though.

I'm public sector HR. In our scheme, there are 3 different bands to medical retirement depending on how severe/long term your prognosis is. These effect the amount you get. Top band get the full pension they would have received if they'd stayed at work till retirement age. Lower bands received a percentage of this. It requires a medical by a specialist doctor to determine the band.

I think you need to request a referral to occupational health. They can advise your employers on what adjustments you require, and if those are impossible, the OH report will be needed for ill health retirement.

Bear in mind that if you are capable of any work, not just your current job, any possibility of ill health retirement will be greatly reduced.

This very much depends on the terms of your pension, they are all different. Some will allow you to take your pension now with no hit for taking early. Others will need medical proof that you are unfit for ANY work in order to get it early.
The first step would always be to look at redeployment but it sounds like that wouldn’t work in your situation.

I haven’t heard of anyone getting ill health retirement because something at their work MAY happen which would make a medical condition worse. Those I’ve dealt with have been unable to perform their job tasks due to a their medical condition.

If you haven’t gone through Occ Health then you should have an assessment with them as you will generally need them to state you are unfit for work. I’d also contact HR for the particulars of your pension scheme.

Thank you all for the useful information. The original incident was a one-off and not predictable or avoidable involving the traumatic death of a colleague which I was present at and tried to prevent.
The recent incident arose from a training session, part of which alluded indirectly to what had happened and I hadn’t been warned this would be the case. I was very shocked at my unexpected physical response, as I thought I was now okay about what had happened, hence the A&E Dr saying PTSD.
I can still function at work and am able to do my job but am feeling fearful of any other situations that may impact my healthnegatively and more severely.
I cannot be redeployed within the organisation for various reasons. Given I can function, I think I would be low on the scale for medical retirement.
@NoctuaAthene thanks for this information. I have thought about a claim as although the original incident could not have been foreseen, the handling of it and subsequent actions could have been a lot better.

@Willowskyblue I would be approaching your employer and asking for help with the PTSD since this is due to something that happened at work. Do you have an employee assistance programme?
PTSD is a treatable condition and, tbh, occ health and any pension provider is going to expect you to have had treatment for a condition first of all before considering medical retirement

DH had to retire early at 61 due to having been seriously ill. When he was feeling better The company sent him to an occupational health consultant doctor and he read his notes and said it wasn’t possible for him to go back to work. He was advised not to take his lump sum but to put it into his pension pot.

What sort of organisation do you work for? Medical retirement usually means claiming your DB pension early. Do you work somewhere with a DB pension?

If not, you can actually 'retire' or stop working whenever you please... if you can afford to. You can draw on any DC pensions already. Might your organisation offer some sort of severance payment?

Your state pension cannot be drawn early, (will be 67 for you).

It's permanent health insurance, that will pay out until you can access your pension. It's usually part of your pension, death in service provision, and will pay out if you need to work part time or take on a role that would pay less than you currently earn, because of ill health. As usual people here don't have a scooby about what they are talking about

I really don't know what you're talking about actually. Idk who the OP worked for, but my NHS pension had no PHI built in and I doubt that any other public service pensions do either.

?

Mine isn’t. Mine’s my pension.

And I certainly do know what I'm talking about because I looked into it for myself!

You certainly don’t!

You’re the one who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. In my (local authority) work you can get your pension early through ill health.Top tier means you get an enhanced pension as if you had continued paying in until 67. Second tier you get what you’ve already accumulated now with no enhancement.

For the top tier you have to be deemed incapable of any work until you’re 67, so you must have tried all possible treatments for your condition & no chance of it improving.

I got the the top tier when I got ill health retirement (I worked as a SW for the LA). I didn't know what I was going to get, but I got what I was entitled too. That other person doesnt know what she's/he's on about.

Ah, you are still in work? I'll health retirement is for those unable to do any kind of work and is normally instigated by the employer after long term sick leave. It's not something you can choose to do because your job is difficult for you for health reasons. Mental health conditions can qualify, but you are capable of working...

No it’s not.

My pension had 2 tiers. Higher tier were unable to work, lower tier could still work.

And l instigated the application not my employer.

You can choose to apply if the job becomes too difficult for health reasons. Thats why I and most people get it. And you can get it and work in other industries.

Everything in your post is incorrect.