claim Pension early or leave it alone, any advice

Don'tknowanything

Sorry I don't know the first thing about Pensions or how they work any advice Please.
I am 43, I worked for a company for 12 years,( age 17 to 29)When I had my first baby (age 29 )I couldn't return to work from maternity leave due to ill health so they finished me. After a while went onto Incapacity benefit. After about 5 years I tried to claim my pension early but they refused to let me have it. I have now been Incapaciated for 15 years. should I try to claim my pension again or is it best left alone. If I Had been working for the company I would have now been medically retired and think that I would have been given the right to claim my pension.

I also had a letter from the Pension service saying that I should be taking out a private pension but I can't afford to pay anything. Any advice on this also please.


Any advice on anything would be appriciated.

EdInvestor

Aged 50 is usually the earliest you can claim a pension, and it's going up to age 55 by 2010, so it looks like you have a while to wait yet, even if they allowed you to take your pension early - which they possibly wouldn't.