Ill Health Retirement in Local Government Pension Scheme

Everyday living
1

Hello

Information on Ill Health Retirement in the Local Government Pension Scheme is sadly lacking, I am 45 years with Multiple Sclerosis and I have yet to have a diagnosis into what MS type I have got, the symptons I have got is crushing fatigue and balance problems as well as problems with walking.

Work is getting tougher, cuts in staff and more work, now in our team of six one person has been out on maternity leave and is not due back until next February when she comes back she is talking about just working in term time, another one of the team has just gone part time, having every other Friday and Monday off, another one in the team has just got another job and starts that at the end of February so from a team of six we will just have three persons left in our very small team.

I feel I really do need some help, I cannot afford to go off on ill health but I am going to end up going off with stress if I am going on for much longer, nobody seems to care and all my manager seems to think of is seeing how much more work she can get out of me.

HELP.

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Hello there. Sorry to hear that you’re not getting much support from work.

If you work for local government, what reviews and support has HR given you? Any employee assistance style program, surely they should have broken out support for you. This sounds like terrible management of your condition :frowning:

With hope it gets better x

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hi emerald

i had to leave the teachers pension fund because i started working for surestart

when surestart ended my role was absorbed into the education dept at wigan.

my pension is with greater manchester pension fund.

i was off sick for a year because i had an adverse reaction to the lumbar puncture.

my manager was quite unpleasant with me and every time i rang in sick she would sigh as if she thought i was making it up.

however my lovely neuro (who i love deeply) advised me to avoid stress. i told him that i was hoping for medical retirement so he put it in the letter to my gp (copied to me) that in his opinion i would not be able to work for much longer.

once occupational health got involved things moved fairly quickly.

to be honest, i really wouldnt have been able to work so although my pension pays the bills, i still miss my salary.

good luck with whatever you decide to do

carole x

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Hello hun.

I sympathise with you…having to do the work of several others, especially when you feel less than well enough to cope.

As Carole said, my manager was also quite unpleasant and impatient with me, when I could no longer be the workhorse she was. We were a super team before i became ill.

I never imagined life without work, as I loved my well paid job so much.

But my condition took over and I couldnt continue to do any job. I had spasms, bladder and bowel problems and severe fatigue to cope with. Plus I was falling all over the place, due to foot drop/flop.

I went on the sick for a week…that week became 2 weeks.then a month…then 3 months…a doctor appointed by work, saw me and decided I was not fit to do the job I was employed to do. There were no vacancies suitable. So we agreed I would leave on ill health grounds. I was given double retirement benefits of a large lump sum and a reasonable pension.

I couldn`t imagine we would cope with our reduced income, but with benefits we did. My hubby took early retirement from his well paid job, to become my full time carer, as my condition progressed rapidly.

There`s no point working yoursdelf into the ground hun, honestly you will manage better than you think…we did.

Look after yourself.

luv Pollx

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I think the chances of being offered ill health retirement are slim to none while your still working.

It is usually only offered after a period of absence has elapsed. If your employer thinks that you are unable to perform your current duties AND they are unable to offer alternative employment, they may finish your employment and pass the decison to your Pension administrators to decide whether they will grant you access to a pension and also decide what level pension you should receive. This will depend on their determining whether you will be capable of ‘gainful’ employment (30 hrs per week for 12 months) within 3 years, after 3+ years or not before you reach 65.

Neil

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Thank you to all that have put your comments to my post your support is good I did feel quite downcast with Neil’s comment, the trouble with Ill health retirement the way it is at the moment is that because it is expensive, the employers only consider the cost that they would have and not the employee who is struggling with their job and health like I am at the moment.

They would rather the person strugles on with their health and job because of the expense of illl health retirement to the employer robbing that employee of an decent life and their dignity.

Please see the below comment on Money saving expert forum regarding ill health retirement

Not4coping
Old04-11-2008, 11:04 PM

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Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 8
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CAE wrote:

The decision for ill health retirement is not down to the employer, but is a medical decision certified by by an Independent specially qualified doctor.

This is incorrect! It is the Scheme employer’s decision.

The Regulations require that, before making that decision, the employer must obtain a Certificate of Permanant Incapacity from a suitably qualified, independent occupational health practitioner.

The doctor merely provides a medical opinion. It is for the employer to then decide taking into account all the evidence including other medical opinion and non-medical matters (eg occupational factors) whether or not the scheme member is eligible.

There are several Determinations on the website of the Pensions Ombudsman that makes this quite clear. Many, many employers have been unfairly and illegally hiding behind a doctors opinion for many many years.

I believe the unions are (finally) getting to grips with this scandal. But much too late for many employees.

I think the above forum comment from the moneysaving expert forum says it all especiallly the bottom two paragraphs especially where it says that many, many employers have been unfairly and illegally hiding behind a doctors opinion for many many years.

I am 45 years old now and I do not think in my present health condition with the MS and my terrible situation at work that I can continue on till I am 66, that is the age that I am supposed to get my state pension.

Trisha

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Hi Trisha

I also work for local goverment I haven’t got very far with my HR they didn’t seam to have any answers for me I wrote to my pension administrator they sent me a load of jargon with didn’t make much sense think I’m going to make an appointment to see them have you been referred to your OH department I see mine every 12 months its worth getting refered then they keep notes out how your MS is progressing and its the OH doctor that has the say on if your fit to work…

What I’d like is something in writing saying how much I’d get if I had to retire due to ill health and I expect you would too then we could work out if we could afford to.

Sue xxx

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Hello Sue

Yes, I would like something in writing saying how much I’d get if I had to reture due to ill health then I like you could work out if I could afford to go out on ill health.

I have been seeing my OH department since being diagnosed with MS in 2003, but I am scared about asking them as I am worried about just being got rid of first without any ill health pension, because of all the cuts. I am a Police Staff employee in the Local Government Pension Scheme.

I like you wrote to my Pension Adminstrator (well I e-mailed him actually) but all I got was a 10 line e-mail basically saying about there was three tier to the Ill Health Pension Scheme. I think HR and these pensions adminstrators do not want to explain to much to us about it because they do not want us to know about how to go about applying for it or getting any information, I do not know whether I am right or wrong but I seriously think they are deliberately keeping us in the dark about it, to avoid paying out on the Ill Health Pension Scheme.

Trisha xxx

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