Do I have to resign as soon as I apply for ill health retirement?

[Biomed1]

If I apply for ill health retirement do I need to resign from work as soon as I apply? I work for the NHS and have been off sick since July. Thanks

[desquinn Partner Volunteer FMAUK Trustee]

I would take advice from your union as a first step and be guided from them. If not a member of the Union maybe consider joining. You can also contact CAB and seek their advice.

My guess would be no that you apply and await HR to make a determination and follow their process but really worth getting advice.

[Hidden]

I went through the company medical process and was then offered medical retirement after two years off work and treatment. Ensure that all of your finances are in order and that you can afford to live on your pension. Seek advice from your Union and plan ahead.

[releasethemagic]

Do not resign. If they grant you ill-health retirement, your finishing date will be agreed as part of the process and the pension will kick in the following day. Sick pay will stop on the same day. If you get ill- health, you can use it for an ESA claim or the Universal Credit equivalent so keep any medical reports or letters to help with that. Also try for PIP if you have not already.

More info here rcn.org.uk/get-help/rcn-adv...

[Farmerboy]

Like the other posters seek advice, and do not resign, hand in your notice it's your employer who is making retire early, you may be entitled to holiday money because you where off ill and unable to take any holidays owing plus any redundancy money if this applies.

[Purplebluebell]

Hi, please bare in mind if you get an enhanced pension due to ill health and leave on these grounds my understanding is that you cannot go back and work in the NHS. I went part time to avoid this and took my normal work pension to keep my options open. Please get advice from HR/finance dept/RCN or who ever you belong to.

Good luck!

[Sugarhobbit]

Hi there.

I have been going through this all year since I was sent home 3rd January. It's extremely important you do not resign. There is a process you have to go through. The sickness policy etc. Keeping this post short, your manager should be guiding you through the sickness policy. You should seek advice from HR and your union as well as occupational health . Do not resign.

Best wishes

Sugarhobbit

[stevebran]

Hi Biomed1, so sorry your poor health has led to you needing to retire early.I was diagnosed 5 years ago with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia and fibromyalgia after repeated absences for “flu like symptoms”. I was a Biomedical Scientist working in Cellular Pathology at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, exactly the right place, you would think, to get understanding and the right help. I had to battle against a very sceptical HR and had little help from my Haematologist ( who was insistent that my symptoms were not due to CLL ) or Rheumatologist who I saw only once? Neither offered any treatment advice or remedies for my ongoing and debilitating symptoms of pain, fatigue and poor concentration. I eventually retired early on Tier2 about 16 months ago after years of trying to convince them my symptoms were not all in my head. Needless to say all that had a very negative affect on my mental health.

My advice would be to definitely consider joining a Union, as I found that until I joined Unison instead of being helped I was being taken down the disciplinary route. A very unpleasant experience. The whole process of Early Retirement through Ill Health is kept deliberately obscure and is decided by NHS Pensions, not HR or Trust management who submit the evidence to them and no nothing about how the decision is made. Try searching for information on the process and you will see that very little is available to you.

I have until next August to appeal Tier2 ( reduced pension because they assessed me as being fit enough to do a full time job but not the job I had been doing, when in reality I can’t even stack the dishwasher most days without needing a rest ) but you can only appeal with new evidence and nobody will tell you what form the evidence should take and you can only appeal once.

Bottom line is follow the advice others have given, DO NOT resign no matter how hard they try and definitely join a Union.

Sorry I couldn’t be of any more help and I hope you find more understanding and support from work than I did and that you have plenty at home.

Best of luck

[Hidden in reply to stevebran]

You really need Tier 1 if you will be unable to work (at all) in the future.... do some digging to find out the ‘ill health criteria’ for your pension....

they do vary.... exact wording needed....

also look at the ESA support group criteria.... if you meet their criteria for ‘severe functional disability’ you can use that to bolster your claim....

BE A DETECTIVE and counteract all their arguments with medical proof of fact...

Being chronically ill takes up all your energy....

then you have the additional joy of fighting your employer and then the government....YAY!!!!

Good luck xxxx

[Jules0672 in reply to stevebran]

HiSorry to jump on this post. I’m a community nurse working 30 hr split 2 days on 1 off then 2 on. I have had occurred health input hence the split days, and not doing heavy legs etc. but tbh I’m exhausted coming home to tired to move and in so much pain. I don’t think I can do this anymore, I would like to ask for I’ll health retirement but it states you need robust medical evidence. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia by a rheumatologist back in 2012, since then I ve only seen my GP. Pain clinic referral didn’t come to anything just an offer of meditation. So how will I be able to prove it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I also suffer with Migrains, anaphylaxis unknown cause, IBS, Raynaud’s disease and thyroid nodule.

[stevebran]

Hi, I hope you are still coping one day at a time. I don’t know what to advise you except that support groups and communities such as this one are a wealth of knowledge and compassionate support and can often answer many of your questions (sorry if you know all this, I haven’t read up on your profile). I found you will need all the support you can get if you are hoping to get retirement due to Ill health. I assume you are employed by the NHS so you will need to go through their procedures, which seemed to me to be designed to wear you down and add to your existing burden as a deterrent to continuing. However being a Unison member was very reassuring and gave me access to sound impartial advice. So if you are not already I would definitely consider joining a union.Apart from that you really should do only what’s going to be best for your health, as your health issues are real and cannot be dismissed.

Sorry I can’t offer reassurance but hope you find a way.