Thinking of ill health retirement - active members?
You may receive your pension early if you have to leave your job because of ill health.
- What should I do?
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Contact your employer if you think you may be entitled to receive your pension on ill health grounds.
Your employer must decide if you are entitled to an ill health pension.
There is no age limit, but you must have two years' LGPS membership to qualify for a pension, including any transferred from other pension schemes.
Your pension may be increased depending on how likely it is that you will be able to work before your normal pension age (NPA).
- What to expect:
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1. Your employer's decision
Your employer must decide whether or not you are entitled to an ill health pension. They will arrange a medical examination for you with an independent occupational health doctor. The doctor will complete a certificate giving their medical opinion and your employer will consider this when making their decision whether to award ill health retirement.
To qualify for an ill health pension your employer must determine that:
- you are permanently incapable of carrying out your current job,
- you have a reduced likelihood of being able to take gainful employment before your normal pension age. Gainful employment means work of 30 hours a week for at least a year.
If your employer, following the doctor's opinion, believes that you reduced your hours or grade because of ill health, then your pension will be based on the hours or grade you worked before the reduction.
2. Tier of ill health:
Your employer must also determine the tier of ill health pension. This depends on how likely you are to be capable of gainful employment before your normal pension age. For details of ill health tiers, see: here.
3. If your ill health retirement is agreed, then:
- you will need to complete a retirement declaration form and send this to Pension Services,
- your employer will send us information about your hours and pay,
- your employer will send us a certificate to confirm that your ill health retirement has been agreed and the tier selected,
- if you have AVCs, we will contact your AVC provider and request payment; this may delay your pension - in some cases by around eight weeks.
Once we have all the above documents, it will take around six weeks to start paying your pension. We cannot make any payments before your retirement date. We will write to tell you how much your pension and any lump sum will be.
If you would like to appeal your employer's decision regarding your ill health pension, please write to your employer.