Second letter of teachers ill health pension already to go...

[shazzad]

I have been very lucky this time to have some help from a friend to prepare my second letter of appeal for my teachers ill health pension. We have this time drafted a letter with medical evidence that meets the specific criteria scheme. I also have two more medical conditions asthma and B12 defiency! all keeping fibromyalgia, depression, osteoarthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome and mild malaise in good company.....As apparently even though fibromyalgia makes me feel ill, dead beat and in lots of pain, this condition alone is not accepted for ill health retirement! So fingers crossed everyone as i am losing the will to fight on and on and on with it all. xxx

[NordicNavajo]

Hi

I was pensioned off after an assessment from an independant pension assessor (insurance GP) sent by my then employer local government. I had 7 years service and had bought into the pension foolishly thinking if I were ever unlucky enough to be ill health retired it would cover me like an insurance policy. It was after called a final salary pension. After fighting them on their impractical policy and threatening to take them to tribunal if they didnt stop sitting on the fence ie either kick in my pension OR allow me back to work....... i eventually got them to pension me off. After a week the shock arrived. I was employed as a business analyst part time and on a reasonable salary, I wished to remain in employment but was refused to be allowed as too sick..... and my pension is a grand sum of just under £2,000 per year. Shock horror and disgust. I will never pay in to another worthless pension again.... and due to health conditions will probably never be employed again. I think they call it up the creek without a paddle? To add insult to injury I will have to fight all over again in 3 years time as local govt pensions for ill health are re examined every 3 years unless the assessor can say you will deffinately never be well enough to work again. My employment and ill health experience has left me scarred and I am now anti anything to do with govt, I would never ever again give my energy to an organisation that has such little regard for social and health care and human rights, self worth etc. I worked in health and social care!

Hope you find a happy end to your fight and find what you need.

My fingers are crossed for you NN

[shazzad in reply to NordicNavajo]

Hi, how frustrating for you, you are so right, i wouldnt pay into a pension again either. Like you i wont be employable again either unless a miracle cure is found! thank you for your supportive message xxx

[Cappa]

I worked for NHS for 20+years,finished on Ill health grounds-and they have still to this day,refused to pay my pension out.i finished work in 2001 and still fighting.Think this is because of my age.Hope you have better luck.x

[shazzad]

Thank you for your reply, i think that age is against me too, its so frustrating even when you get dismissed on the grounds of ill health! and that your employer stipulates they do not foresee you tsaching in the future..grrr makes me mad. Anyway the fight continues. xxx

[Ckb66]

Yesterday I just received news that my appeal for my IHR pension from teaching was successful. My condition, whilst not Fibromyalgia, is a physical one. I have several degenerative spinal conditions and last June had a second spinal op. I could not believe I had to appeal as I had masses of medical info going back to 1992 showing the very start of my conditions. I 'bought' my medical records, submitted everything that related to my spine. In addition I was successful in claiming mobility PIP at enhanced, so I put that statement in as well. The biggest issues I had were related to time. The time it took to get to surgery, the time TP expected me to wait to see if I would recover and the fact my sick pay ran out completely. My consultant report was actually in the end the key. He was too short in the first instance, once I paid his fee, he wrote a more detailed report. I challenged their reasons for dismissing my application, they said I was to have epidural injections and see pain management again. No medic had ever offered this, when I pointed this out they stopped saying it. It has taken me six months to appeal, I took a year to collect the evidence in the first place...their tick list of MRI, Physio, etc. Good luck, but I would say at every point it is about the volume of detail you need that all say the same thing. I found my union less than useless, telling me it was almost impossible to win an appeal. It isn't, but I wouldn't rely on them, they were always out of the office.

In addition to all of this my employer had years of my contributions missing for my pension. That had to be fixed because it meant something big because of the changes in the teachers pension. I also was constantly told my NPA was 67, it is for anything after April 2015, but everything before that is NOA of 60. As I started teaching in 1988, that was the majority and for IHR they consider either the next 17 years or the next 10 years...makes a difference. Yet again, I had to challenge that. My union just referred me to a solicitor team.

Good luck. It is terrible you need luck when you have paid so much into a pension that has changed so much over the years, not for the better. You need to remember it is your contributions you need to access, nothing for 'free', just part of your contract agreement.