Fibromyalgia got me medically retired from civil service

Hi e1..ive had the F word for 7yrs now with anxiety...loved my job for 18yrs for the D.W.P but got made retired last Aug 20. Could no longer sit in absolute agony and work day in day out. The last straw was being wheeled to my desk by colleagues...all u Fibro sufferers working and able to be on a private pension i advice you go for medical retirement...its the best thing that as happened to me and ive just turned 60. Willing to give advice friends.

[Woldsy]

Hi. I'm hoping for the same. Did you need an independent assessment or did they just use common sense?

[Hidden in reply to Woldsy]

Hi. My place of work needed OHS report/Dr Letter/Pip letter..it is a long wait for decision..i applied in march 20 and dec was aug..

[Woldsy in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. I'm speaking to occupational health tomorrow.

[Ejnutz]

As someone else who works for the Civil Service, how straightforward was it to get medically retired. I am barely coping working from home and dread the return to working in the office and warehouse.

[Hidden in reply to Ejnutz]

Hi please see above reply

[Ijo1]

Morning.

Congratulations on your early retirement from DWP, how was the process for you and how long did it take from initial decision to being awarded the retirement package.

Today is actually 12 months to the day since I had my telephone consultation with the independent doctor from my local government pension scheme. It was an awful call and I was very stressed afterwards for a week until I was sent his report which read well in my favour. Not the end of the story as my employer then decided to inform me that even though his report went in my favour that they had the final decision on the award level which took another 8 days, it would have taken longer had I not complained to the union about the whole process.

All came good for me in the end as I was medically retired on the top level at 51 years of age which meant my already 35 year service was enhanced further to normal retirement age at 66.

Please read my previous posts on here from asking advice on early retirement to the actual award. Also the amazing responses to my posts. The people on here are amazing and I wouldn't have got through the whole process without the support provided by them.

I can only suggest research as much as you can, get your doctors and consultants on side for their medical reports and discuss with them what your pension fund requires in any reports particularly wording such as " more likely than not that this person would be able to return to gainful employment". Within your pension scheme you can request information on what is required throught thewhole process. Gather as much information as possible and before any appointments write down all symptoms and how they affect your daily life. You really do have to put the effort in to get a good outcome I found.

Mine was an awful journey but with a great financial outcome, wish I had my health and career to be honest but I am in the lucky position financially that I never have to worry again about my income. I know for many you have both financial and medical worries and I really feel for you.

Take care all and if I can offer any advice or support to anyone going through this please ask.

[moo196]

This is good news for those who work in such places.However a lot of people are unable to consider this as a possibility as a lot of employees don't even qualify for any sick pay, let alone anything more.

Personally my (then) employer granted me 2 weeks of sick pay when I had a stroke several years ago.

[ChristineW18]

Congratulations on getting your pension I hope it helps with your pain. I would love to say I had the same experience with the NHS but I am currently working on an appeal as i have been turned dow for medical retirement. I have lupus, stage 4 kidney disease, with 20% function left, hypertension, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia and I am suffering from work related anxiety and depression. I feel ILike the NHS wants me to be practically dead before they give me a pension (I am 60 in a few months).

[Hidden in reply to ChristineW18]

Oh poor you Christine...dont give up fighting for retirement...to be honest i got through all the myder and stress with the help of my Manager..surely your manager should be offering the support u need

[Ijo1 in reply to ChristineW18]

Hi. Sorry to hear your not having a smooth journey through the retirement process. Have you asked your pension fund for a booklet on the criteria required by the scheme. If you know the rules you can challenge if they are not being stuck to. Believe me this happens and I found that managers and some HR staff were deliberately being unsupportive because they were jealous that I would be accessing my pension early. Had to have quite a severe conversation with the head of HR pointing out the lack of support and how rules were not being followed. Once I was awarded the top level they even worked out my actual pension incorrectly twice to the tune of it would have been underpaid by thousands of pounds. Make sure you know roughly what you are entitled to. Also contact the union if you are a member or speak directly to the pension fund.

Hope this helps.

[ChristineW18 in reply to Ijo1]

Thank you that is helpful advice. We do not have HR or access to Occ Health as I work in GP practice rather than a hospital, I had to pay for my own occupational health assessment. I am in Unison and was thinking of asking for their help with my appeal. I will definitely get in touch with them now.

[Ijo1 in reply to ChristineW18]

I think you should contact unison. Your practice manager should be able to give you information relating to the pension fund itself or a contact number for you to speak to them. Good luck 👍

[ChristineW18 in reply to Ijo1]

Thank you I will follow your advice x

[ChristineW18]

My manager has been good but I work in general practice and we are a covid vaccination centre so everyone is so busy and stressed. I have support from my renal physician and I'm awaiting Pain Clinic appts and have started cognitive behavioural therapy. I will be trying again once I have more evidence to support me. Thank you for sharing your positive experience, it does give me some hope x

[Skylightbluelinen98]

Hi Alshad

I also work for the C/S and finding it very hard to concentrate and sit for 5 days. I ‘m still waiting to be diagnosed with the F word although I have been in pain for 13 + years, any help is appreciated.

[JayCeon]

I'm also "lucky" in Germany that I'm now halving my work time and getting some disablement pay, can reduce these hours a bit due to being severely disabled, and if that doesn't work can/will take my 1000+ hours of overtime, as slowly as possible. That said, overdoing work might be one cause of my fibro.

A part of me still says early retirement would be right for me, I've done enough for this lifetime. But it doesn't make sense to get the overtime paid out and this way I can keep my place of work for a time. (In case of early retirement I'd get 55% instead of 75% pay, so much less than now, and I'd be put in a different place of work, which probably wdn't be good for me, if I tried to start again.)

Even before my diagnosis a neurologist of mine said "You've done everything right" in my career. I wanted to correct "I'm lucky and privileged". He retorted: "No, you knew what you were doing". And he's right. I knew in young years I should never start an own business for any length of time. And I invested 20 years of working a lot, but not earning anything much, even after the first 10 'went wrong', to finally get to a position where my future is safe and secured...