Hi, I'm a new member, Hello everyone.
Has anyone been through the process of applying for ill health retirement from a Local Government job in recent years? We could really use some insight from anyone who has personal experience of this.
Thank you in anticipation of any help.
Hi Ruby, welcome. I haven't been through that I'm afraid but I know the pension advisory service has a website and they help. I'm sorry I might be telling you something you already know or might not be of help.
Anyway welcome 
Angie
Hi Ruby. Please take a look at this site ; it's comprehensive and straightforward and, if you subscribe, there's personal advice available.
Best wishes, Cat. x
Hi Ruby
I was retired from local govt in 2013 - as a result of ME which started in 2010 (my brain injury issues came later).
I don't know what it is you need to know so I will try and give a brief outline of what I remember happening.
Aug 2010 - taken home from work after severe migraine and collapse. Initial attempt to return a few days later aborted. Signed off sick for a few weeks. Attempts to go back over next few weeks similarly aborted.
October 2010 Doctor starts signing me off for a month at a time (unable to mobilise more than a few metres by this point).
After that various OT appointments alongside. Suggestions of perhaps looking for a home-based start to a return to work should things improve. They didn't.
Feb 2011. Down to half pay.
Sep 2011. Sick pay ended. On to ESA and eventually DLA.
2012 Sent by work to a private consultant in London to find out whether in his opinion I would (a) return to my old job or (b) work again. He was non-committal.
2013 interviewed by a private OT consultant for work who said given the severity and duration (a) and (b) were increasingly unlikely. Awarded a third tier (temporary) pension with review in 18 months, based on contributions made in my 20 years service.
2014/15 medical reports sought from my consultants confirmed little progress and 'unlikely to ever be able to hold down any kind of full time role'. Retired on Tier 2 pension - lump sum released and pension payment based on half my full pension (only 20 out of 40 years service).
That was that, at 45. 😕
Still retired. Still unable to hold down full time anything...
So, it was long-winded, painful, loads of assessments and hoops. I think part of the reason I was retired rather than dismissed was that my employers were rather worried they had left a director level post (that had been approved and budgeted for that should have been working alongside me) vacant for 9 months ahead of my collapse. ME has lots of psych overtones in the medical establishment and anyone could have said it was caused by work...so they decided to be extra nice to me. These days with the tiered system they don't usually retire in your 40s unless you have something like paraplegia as the result of an accident - & as you see from the above I only got Tier 2 - there is no movement from 2 to 3. Once it is decided that is it.
Anyway, in that regard I consider myself really very lucky to have got it.
Hope that has been helpful. ☺
Thank you for the responses.
Malalatete, that all sounds very daunting. This is in relation to my husband who had a stroke last year, also has cardiac issues. He was on sick leave for nearly 6 months and returned on a phased return a few months ago but is struggling with fatigue. He has been using some annual leave each week to try to alleviate this but as his phased hours have increased he is struggling more. It's becoming obvious that he is no longer able to do his current full time job which is why he is considering the possibility of ill health retirement. He is 59 so could access his accrued pension but with penalties for early access.
One of the things we're confused by is the 3 tier system. If he was awarded tier 3, that as you say is meant to be temporary and would stop after 3 years and could not then be accessed until normal retirement age (unless upgraded to tier 2). My husband's retirement age is 66 so does that mean if he was given tier 3 he would get the pension for 3 years and then nothing until age 66? It doesn't seem that could be possible given that he could access accrued pension now just by resigning, and tier 3 doesn't give any enhancement.
Did you not have your lump sum released when you were awarded the tier 3? It may be different because you were below age 55.
Everyone seems to say that it's extremely difficult to get medical retirement now. It's difficult to know which is the least traumatic route to take.
Thanks again.
ruby ruby, the reason your husband is struggling is because fatigue is an after effect of a stroke.............its a different fatigue to the one you might feel because youve done too much.
as a stroke survivor, and i hope this will not be removed, it may be an idea if your husband went back to his gp, because he may have returned to work too early.
it may also be worth asking for a blood test to rule out sticky blood
Hi Ruby
Tier 3 is a sort of holding pen, a catch-all - if it looks like you might make a partial recovery over 3 years such that your old or another role would be open to you it enables them to be in a position to hold it for you, and/or offer you another post at any point during that 3 year period if you are up to it. You continue to have regular medical and work reviews to assess this. In my case there were 2 issues - I was never up to any job that was vacant, not even an admin role, (still the same) let alone a 'suitable alternative' (there aren't many director level posts that require very little work - contrary to popular opinion😊); and I had not improved in any way by the end of the 3 year period and the prognosis had firmed up by then into 'unlikely to work in a full time job ever again'.
There is no lump sum release at Tier 3, because you are not strictly retired at that point. You are in this holding position whilst they wait and watch to see whether they really need to retire you... I think it dates from the years when once people reached 55 they would suddenly develop a chronic bad back and 'oh dear, I need to be retired with my full pension' - only to be on the golf course the following week 😕.
Tier 3 pays your pension based on a reduced assessment of contributions made to date. Tier 2 is slightly enhanced and takes full account of contributions paid in as well as releasing the lump sum. Tier 1 - full end of service pension plus capital lump sum release - is now usually only awarded, as I was told at the time, when someone is obviously totally incapable of ever carrying out any kind of work ever again - e.g. following a severe brain injury. It is theoretically possible, if I could find a sufficiently supportive employer who would understand my inability to be reliable, that I could do 2 or 3 short shifts most weeks - as long as it wasn't something that needed to be done without errors...so on that basis I didn't and wouldn't qualify for Tier 1. Few do. I stick to occasional voluntary work on Boards and helping out with local stuff connected with my boys when I can. It keeps me occupied. Life is lived in short bursts and much more quietly. There's a lot to be said for it.
There is no easy route through this, unfortunately. Your husband is also protected by Equalities legislation which means the Council are required to protect him and his role and make 'reasonable adjustments' for him, which would include maintaining his hours at a reduced level to fit what would now suit him, unless they can make a business case not to do so (which I doubt, as it would simply involve making 2 part time instead of 1 full time posts). I should warn you that whilst there is an alternative route it is unlikely that early retirement will be offered...
Is your husband a member of Unison or GMB? He mind find their advisors helpful.
Thank you Malalatete, I appreciate you explaining this, we don't know anyone who has been in a similar situation. It's all a bit confusing and at a time when we're both feeling vulnerable.
From what I've read elsewhere there should be a release of the lump sum if you are given Tier 3, at least if you're over 55 and could access your pension anyway. Maybe your case was different as you were younger, I don't know. Also, I haven't seen anything in the literature on the ill health retirement procedure from my husband's employer to suggest that his job or some other job would be offered to him if at some point during the 3 years he was thought to be well enough to fulfill the role. It just seems to say that he would be retired and the pension would be paid for 3 years, or stopped sooner if he took up gainful employment. A bit confusing as he's over 55 so could access the accrued pension anyway.
The pension fund criteria for ill health retirement is saying not able to do current job or any other gainful employment which is classed as 30 hours or more per week for at least 12 months. I don't know how predictions are made for how long stroke fatigue will or can last, but if it was acknowledged that a person is only capable of part time work doesn't that mean thay they meet the criteria? In which case how can the retirement be denied? Sorry if I'm missing the point, so many things going round in my head.
There has been recent restructuring where my husband works and some posts made redundant with people taking voluntary redundancy. We know that there is further restructuring yet with further redundancies likely, of which my husband's post could well be one. However this could take up to a year to come to fruition. My husband is considering approaching management to ask if something could be worked out for him, be it V.R. or business efficiency loss, and lessen the risk of redundancy for other employees. Wishful thinking probably but do you think it's worth asking?
Thanks again for your valued input.
Hi Ruby
Whether he decides to take early retirement or retires on ill health grounds, he won't get his full pension - either way they will deduct the years owing, as you only get full pension if you are retired on Tier 3, for which you have to be deemed to be permanently incapable of work. The other tiers kick in to allow for situations where you can't work in that sort of role ever again (Tier 2) or unlikely to be able to work in that sort of role now but might be able to do something else (less onerous) in the future (Tier 3).
So whichever way he goes, he won't be getting what he would have been getting had he remained in work for another few years, because the system simply doesn't work like that any more. Except in extreme cases it is now geared to you getting out only what you have paid in. Understandable given the pressure on the fund - and in my case, as I got my pension 22 years early and I need money in that fund to keep me until such time as I am well enough to support myself, it's an approach I find I agree with.
So in many ways it will probably be easier and less stressful for your husband to go with either the early retirement or redundancy options, and negotiate with his employer to see which of those will give him the better deal. It might even be that with a redundancy payment he could use that to top up his pension pot and then through the new flexibility rules on pensions draw it down early without a reduction?? Best to get a financial adviser looking at that one though as it's well beyond me!
That's the conclusion we are coming to.
Thanks again and best wishes :o)
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