Access to extra years of pension

Dunedin51

I was paid off through ill health in 2009 but did not get my pension which was deferred as it was considered that my condition my improve and therefore I could not be retired through ill health. I have recently had this reviewed with support from my doctor and received confirmation that I now can access my pension through ill-health. On receipt of my forecast, I noticed that I had not been given any extra years for ill health retirement but only the years I had accrued. I contacted my pension provider and was told that I would have to ask my former employer to change my change my deferment to ill-health. I just received a letter back stating that they are not permitted to do this as my initial termination deferred my pension. This means I lose out in about 6-10 years which makes a considerable difference to my final pension - can anyone advise what I can do and if I am entitled to pursue this further. Any help would be appreciated.

Andy_L

It depends what the scheme rules say.

You say "paid off" which implies some sort of payment, I would think it unlikely that you could get both that payment and an enhanced pension, normally its one or the other

Loughton_Monkey

There are employment laws that govern under what circumstances you can have your employment contract terminated. Not performing the job due to extended ill health would, I am sure, be one of them.

Independent of that, you pension scheme would have its own rules as to whether or not immediate pension is payable on the grounds of ill health. These rules would not necessarily be consistent with the employment rules, and would be expected to be much more stringent.

Seems like you fall between the two.

If you feel it worth it, you would probably have to talk to a solicitor specialising in employment issues. In theory, there could be challenges to both the above two points. But equally, there is a chance that both issues have been correctly and legally handled by your former employer.