After yet another fall at work our gp and ourselves feel it is time for P to medically retire. He has had 50+ falls at work in the last 12 months. Thankfully he has never had any serious injuries just bruising. But his fall this week( on monday) was his worst yet. It was caused by a gait freeze ( he's only ever had 4 gait freezes, he usually falls because of his vertical gaze problem). He thought he had cracked his ribs but thankfully just bruised. But it frightened the life out of him.He also fell down the stairs at home the day before and burst into tears in sheer frustration.
Does anyone have any experience of medical retirement? I have spoken to the psp association and they are going to send someone out to come and talk to us. But in the meantime my head is racing. My husband is 41 yrs of age.He is the main breadwinner. It could be that he can still work but in a safer job. But how do we know if he can still continue in employment? Would he be assessed? Should we be looking into benefits, mortgage cover etc etc?
If only there was a step by step guide book!
He is too young for all this crap.
He looks so well, you wouldnt even realise he had an illness except for his balance and falling and slightly reduced arm swing.
Many thanks x
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Karibu
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I can't really make a comment on whether there is other work he might be able to do.
However if he is looking at medical retirement these notes might help:
In the medical retirement regulations, for whatever plan, will be clauses and conditions set by his companies scheme, or any private pension plan he has. So they are the people to talk to, to find out the regulations.
If he has a private plan they usually need converting to a pension. The private plan is usually an endowment type investment. When he wants to convert it to an actual pension it is valued and the company make an offer as to what they will pay as a pension. The law allows him to take that endowment to any company he wants. Money Supermarket note that the offer from the investment, or original company is usually very low and its important to hunt around a bit.
The other thing is that you will be given a medical form to complete. Make is a poor as possible write everything like smoking and poor lifestyle, make sure you get it down because what they do is calculate life expectancy and if it is short they increase the pension payments.
Whomever else you consider check out Liverpool Victoria they are meant to be good for sickness retirement.
However I really would suggest getting a money advisor onto this one. They will look at the whole mortgage thing too.
Benefits are a lot easier. He would be looking at ESA. However this is all changing to a Universal Credit system.
There used to be mortgage interest payments as apart of that. Probably still are. However the government is in the midst of changing that and I'm not sure quite where they are are at with the change.
Next you will most likely be eligible for Carers Allowance if you don't work.
He might be a little to able to get Personal Independence Payments just yet.
You are probably back to seeing a Personal Finance Advisor.
Jut a word of warning. Try to have at least a couple of months living money in hand. The DWP is horrendously slow with the new benefits and it takes a few weeks to sort out pensions.
Finally don't forget to check if there are pensions from previous employers. I had one I forgot about and though its on the small side that few hundred a month extra makes all the difference.
We have no idea how it works at all. We don't know if Phil retires himself or his company retire him. His employer isnt aware yet that he is even considering retiring. It is a very small company. Only 4 employees. He does have a pension and 2 others from previous employers.
Does medical retirement mean completely retired in any employment? Or just retired from his electrician job?
Will there be an assessor who decides this? He is very able in other ways. So i think he will be deemed too fit to retire and stay at home. He doesnt need any help from me at the moment. At home we just make sure there are no obstacles in his way.
I am very grateful for your response Kevin. Thank you
I'm sorry - I don't know the answers to those questions.
I believe if you take medical retirement you can work elsewhere.
I f he has a neurologist they should, if he asked, write a letter advising on employment. There is no charge for this. Its part of the patient care thing.This could be very handy for DWP benefits. It's a golden letter as it is primary evidence not to be dismissed lightly - even in a Court it holds immense weight.
DWP is a pretty stressful affair if they deem him fit for a different sort of work. He will have to attend sessions for finding work and a certain amount of 'training' as well as attending interviews and submitting proof he is applying for work. Here a letter from the Neurologist (better than one from the GP). Stating that employment is unsafe as he is prone to falling and so is at high risk of injury. (Falling in front of a car or onto sharp corners etc.) It sounds like he has been unbelievably lucky so far.
I merely wrote to my employer stating that I was retiring on medical grounds (almost tongue in cheek) and they accepted it. If his current pension is not directly with his employer he should be able to talk with them about the regulations in complete confidence. But that could be his first question to them.
I'm afraid I've given you the best part of my limited knowledge on this.
I wish I could say more.
I, myself, would start with getting that letter. Then telephone the pension fund.
Do come back - there may well be others here who will be able to help more.
Adding - PSP thrusts us into these areas we have little knowledge about. It can be very stressful. You'll sort it out. Just take one bite at the problem at a time.
Kevin, you are amazing. Thank you so much. You have given me lots to look at and I can get the ball rolling now and hopefully manage a good night sleep tonight. I have been so stressed this week. You have just lifted me immensely. Thank you.
I am located in the USA...Los Angeles, CA....so what I am writing will not be helpful in terms of process, but in terms of human similarities... perhaps.
My son died of PSP at the age of 55years. His means of support was as a musician (bass player) and his day job as a secondary math teacher.
He had only worked as a teacher for 7/8 years when he realized as he could not continue, due to the PSP (which at the time was DX as Parkinson's).
He worked for the Los Angeles Unified School System. He applied for DISABILITY....lots of forms to be filled out and many hoops to jump through, and many months before the decision was handed down. It was granted and we both believe it was a WISE DECISION. It greatly reduced my son's stress. He suffered a great deal of anxiety, as most PSP do. He stopped working FEb, 2016 and died May 4, 2017, but he expressed many times gratitude for his decision and for having been granted DISABILITY.
Good luck...whatever the decision it will be the correct one.
Hi M, I I am so glad your son received disability....It took Bruce two years to get it but it did help us in that it was our only income. It was hand to mouth but you know , whether you are at 5,000 or 50,000 , one can still be living hand to mouth .....and be happy or miserable....choices and a little bit of support goes a long way.... However I don't have a job or any (financial) support so I'm just living on my choices right now.....
You know when read or hear something and it reminds you that maybe thing are not so bad in your world.
I'm so very sorry to hear of how young your husband is.I'm from canada so I'm not much help in the financial situation.I know here we have a disability pension until the age of 65, lots of paper work. The biggest thing I can tell you is don't take NO for the answer and don't be afraid to stand on a few desk along the way.
You are in for a long battle and you could not of found a better place then here.
my husband had to finish work last year aged 56 he has CBD, like yourselves he knew when the time was right for him to finish work.
They could hv retired D on ill health or a polite way to finish them on ill health which would mean he could claim for any benifits.
Put a claim in for PIP straight away as you will definatly get it. ESA kicks in straight away. lots of forms and phone calls. PSP association were fantastic sending someone from DWP to help.
I know exactly how you are feeling its such a worry how you will manage. hope you get it all sorted xx
My husband also has CBD. He had to stop working at the age of 60 and filed for disability. I don't know how we would have managed without that.
My husband suffers from severe anxiety and makes home life very hard for our family. We have tried counseling but it isn't working for us. Do you have any suggestions?
I don't know what stage he is in. He moves and talks very slowly. He can't walk without walker or he falls. His left is worse than right but is having difficulty with right now also. Can't do fine motor activites anymore. Walks like he is very old. He has some incontinence because he can't get to the bathroom in time.
He sleeps most of the day. I don't know if it is fatigue or depression.
Some great advice has been shared. Sorry that I have nothing further to add on the financial side.
But in terms of general life - an Occupational Therapy assessment maybe helpful in terms of keeping your husband upright! Grab handles etc a fresh pair of eyes can be really helpful - your GP can refer or the Neurologist.
Final suggestion once you have evidence on paper of disability apply for a Blue Badge this will keep you both active. I wished we had applied early earlier than we did!!
Sending a big hug - keep us posted and hope you can get the ball rolling on this.
Just to add to Kevin's comment about presenting the worst possible picture for getting a pension annuity. PSP is a life-limiting disease. It cannot be much worse than that (in this particular case).
Hi - I took early retirement on medical grounds from the civil service a year ago at the age of 52. I can try and give you advice - as well as info regarding benefits etc as I used to work for DWP - And yes, even I got my PIP stopped !!!!
Does the DWP assess whether a person is able to work? My husband isnt safe to continue in his current job but may be deemed too able to retire from work completely. Do they send an assessor out?
No they would only get involved from a benefit claim point of view. The route to ill health retirement is a long and sometimes tiring one. I had to demonstrate that there were no other jobs I could do effectively for the business. I had an independent GP review and an occupational assessment. All in all, the whole process took about 7 months. Is he claiming P.I.P ?
whatever else you do I suggest you get your husband a U step IIwalker It is designed specificly for Parkingson's patients and others with balance problems.
It might help him stay at his current job longer or at least help him get around, even at home more safely. they are expensive but here in the U.S. they are covered by medicare or many private insurance. Perhaps they are covered where you are too?
Hi, I am desperately sad to hear of your dear husband’s diagnosis and at such an early age, also of his impending medical retirement. I have no experience regarding the complexities of the aspects of medical retirement as my father, who had PSP, was much older and had been retired for many years. However, each patient is completely different in what symptoms they experience and the order in which they appear. My dad fell too on many occasions injuring his head, face and nose. He experienced double vision too from early on. If he had been of working age I doubt if he would have been able to adopt a new career as we found that his ability to absorb new information and learn new tasks was severely compromised and his eyesight meant that he couldn’t read or perform simple tasks safely. Also the practicalities and safety of travelling to work alone would need to be considered by anyone assessing him for fitness to work. Also due to the unpredictability of PSP any assessment could be invalid almost as soon as it is made unfortunately. My dad had to give up driving when he was diagnosed as his eyesight and reflexes were poor. Any changes need to be reported to the DVLA so it would mean using public transport in that scenario. I’m sorry I don’t mean to sound negative but this is my experience of my dad’s PSP. Kind Regards Ruth x
I seem to be following in your husbands footsteps, I am 41 years old and recently diagnosed with PSP and struggling with the same issues regarding disability and coping with this diagnosis. I was curious about the Datscan results for your husband, I had a Datscan done and it came back normal although I have been diagnosed with PSP, did your husbands diagnosis include a positive Datscan or was it normal?
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