Claiming occupational pension through ill health

LindsayO

it sounds to me like you meet the requirement. They are saying that you need to be unable to continue in your occupation due to illness or disability. You have a condition that is permenant, and it means you can't do your job. The only thing I can think of, is that they will claim that you could continue in your occupation with lighter duties. what was it that you did? Is there anyway that you could still do some kind of scaled back version of your old job?

dunstonh

The finance act 2004 defines an ill health condition which must be met if an ill health pension is to be paid in any form before normal minimum pension age. That condition is that the scheme administrator has received evidence from a registered medical practitioner that the member is (and will continue to be) incapable of carrying on the members occupation because of physical or mental impairment, and teh member has in fact ceased to carry on the members occupation.

There is nothing to prevent a scheme adopting a stricter definition in its rules. e.g. any occupation rather than own occupation.

You should ask standard life to provide in writing why they are refusing it on the basis of any occupation when their scheme rules say current occupation.

louisram

It clearly states "current occupation".I was a retail manager for the last 13 years and have paid into the plan since joining the company in 1990.I intended to stay with them till retirement age.My consultant has stated i needed to change my job due to limited capability through my disability.I am limited with my walking,standing,sitting and bending.If they think i can return to the occupation?How? I had my contract terminated by a large retail company on the grounds of capability through ill health.If i had a miraculous cure would other retailers employ me as a manager on a full time permanent contract? I think not!!
I have forwarded all the reports,letters etc to the pensions advisory service now to see if they can sort it out.I will keep the thread updated as and when i hear anything.
Thanks for all the comments.

cyclonebri1

So does any of this overide the issue that a pension cannot be paid untill 50 or 55 years of age??

Sorry, a rusty, early retired under IH, 55 year old, with a crap memory. ;)

MikeJones_2

Hi cyclonebri1,

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

So does any of this overide the issue that a pension cannot be paid untill 50 or 55 years of age??

In law, an ill-health provision may be payable at any age - there is no restriction; no minimum age.

Individual Scheme Rules or Policy Conditions may prescribe a minimum age though - so, it's up to each one.

See:
Pension age: I am suffering from ill-health. Can I take my benefits earlier?

Links Permission: HMRC T&Cs: You do not have to ask permission to link directly to pages hosted on this (sic HMRC) site. We do not object to you linking directly to the information that is hosted on our site. However, we do not permit our pages to be loaded into frames on your site. HMRC pages must load into the user's entire window.

Hope that clarifies?

Mike

I work in the field of Pension Education and Pension Guidance in the UK. I am a member of the Specialist Pensions Forum as well as being a Voluntary Adviser for The Pensions Advisory Service. I work with scheme members, employers, trustees, scheme administrators and advisers on most things to do with employer sponsored pension schemes. The views expressed by me in this thread are my personal opinions. You should seek professional advice from an appropriately experienced and qualified adviser. I am not an IFA.

cyclonebri1

MikeJones wrote: »

Hi cyclonebri1,



In law, an ill-health provision may be payable at any age - there is no restriction; no minimum age.

Individual Scheme Rules or Policy Conditions may prescribe a minimum age though - so, it's up to each one.

See:
Pension age: I am suffering from ill-health. Can I take my benefits earlier?

Links Permission: HMRC T&Cs: You do not have to ask permission to link directly to pages hosted on this (sic HMRC) site. We do not object to you linking directly to the information that is hosted on our site. However, we do not permit our pages to be loaded into frames on your site. HMRC pages must load into the user's entire window.

Hope that clarifies?

Mike

I work in the field of Pension Education and Pension Guidance in the UK. I am a member of the Specialist Pensions Forum as well as being a Voluntary Adviser for The Pensions Advisory Service. I work with scheme members, employers, trustees, scheme administrators and advisers on most things to do with employer sponsored pension schemes. The views expressed by me in this thread are my personal opinions. You should seek professional advice from an appropriately experienced and qualified adviser. I am not an IFA.

Thanks Mike, it was 55 in my case,

Cheers

andrea_louise

Hi Louisram,

I am going through exactly the same thing at the moment, I am 37 and have degenerative disc disease in the neck and at L4/5. I had my C5/6 disc replaced in 2008, but the replacement disc is out of alignment, which is trapping the spinal cord! I am awaiting a decision from the IRMP (I paid into LGPS since the age of 18) this friday. The DWP Atos doctor wrote a report which said "this condition will worsen, but slowly and over many years" and My GP's report said that "in his medical opinion he has little confidence that I will ever work again". We omitted to include the spinal consultant, cos his reports to my GP were full of errors, and as he could not even get the surgery correct, I had a total lack of confidence in him!

Good Luck.

louisram

andrea_louise,
Thankyou for your post.I hope you get the right decision,if you don't keep fighting it!!. That's what i intend to do.
Let me know how you get on.

louisram

After sending my case to the pension advisory service I have been granted my ill-health claim.This has been going on since the start of the year,so my advice to anyone starting a similar claim would be contact the advisory service earlier than i did.

bigbigmamamoo

louisram wrote: »

After sending my case to the pension advisory service I have been granted my ill-health claim.This has been going on since the start of the year,so my advice to anyone starting a similar claim would be contact the advisory service earlier than i did.

I am so very pleased for you, that you got this settled and now hopefully have a bit more financial security.