Do Pension boards have to accept the recommendation of an employer

slightlyconfused1

Hi

I hope someone can help.

My friend has been ill for some time (is now on zero pay) and had a meeting with her work yesterday who said they are going to retire her on medical grounds immediately. She gets so many weeks pay etc and is also expecting to receive her work pension.

Her case has to go to the pension board (she is a local govt employee and the pension board covers a number of councils). She is assuming that she will get her pension automatically and is already making decisions based on this.

Does a pension board alway pay an ill-health pension based on a recommendation from a doctor/ occ health and employer or do they sometimes refuse to pay a pension.

Her employer has no other role for her but the dr report states that she may be able to do some other work in the future.

She is under a lot of financial strain as she has had no wages for a few months and I am worried she will start to spend money in anticipation of a pension that she may have to wait 20 years for (she is in her mid 40's).

Any advice gratefully received. I dont want to upset her by seeming all doom and gloom but I am scared she will get herself in a real mess.

MrRedundant

It varies dependent on the terms and conditions; it is possible that she will not get a full pension and instead only the difference between her earnings at the moment and any new earnings with reasonable expectation of her doing a job she can; or she may find the ill health pension is removed at a time she recovers.

That said some employers have removed these sort of clauses for HMRC and employment law reasons.

slightlyconfused1

Thanks

It sounds like she will get something at least.

I have heard that she would be reassessed every year to see if she is still unable to do her job (we are in the same pension fund - different employers) but didn't realise that her ability to do any work at all would impact on the amount of pension she received.

Oldernotwiser

slightlyconfused1 wrote: »

Thanks

It sounds like she will get something at least.

I have heard that she would be reassessed every year to see if she is still unable to do her job (we are in the same pension fund - different employers) but didn't realise that her ability to do any work at all would impact on the amount of pension she received.

I took ill health retirement from teaching (very similar to the LG scheme) and there were no restrictions on what other work I could do, only on whether I returned to teaching. Neither were there any annual assessments, although that could have changed.

I hope your friend has got her union involved in the negotiations regarding this.

slightlyconfused1

Thanks

She did have union support but to be honest they were not much help. She always seemed more confused after speaking to them. They all keep warning her that it had to go to the pension board and they will decide whether she gets her pension or not. She doesn't seem to think there will be an issue.

I think I am more worried than she is