Help Please - Ill Health Retirement Advice/ Experience

bufforpington

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Please post exactly what the scheme rules state as the definition of incapacity, or any other rule that relates to IH early retirement.

Debt_Free_Chick,

Here is the information available to members about IHR which I hope may be helpful in responding to my original post:

"Eligibility for benefit
In order to be eligible for a pension on the grounds of
partial or total incapacity you must:
• be under age 65, and
• have completed two years’ active membership in
the scheme at the date it is proposed that the relevant
employment should end, and
• be in the opinion of your employer suffering from
long-term sickness or infirmity.

Medical evidence
The Trustee Company must approve every partial or
total incapacity application. In order to approve an
application, we must be satisfied that you are suffering
from long-term sickness.
The requirement for sickness to be ‘long-term’ means
that, in order to qualify for incapacity benefits,
the incapacity must be determined on the balance of
probabilities to be more likely than not to last for a period
running from the date of the member’s application for
incapacity early retirement benefits, to the
greater of:

(a) five years; or
(b) the period up to the average age at which members
retire from service under that scheme (not
taking into account incapacity cases), as advised by
the scheme from time to time.

We will require a medical report from your doctor to assist
the Trustee Company’s medical advisers in assessing your
fitness to attend work and carry out your duties. You will
therefore be asked by your employer to sign a consent form
to obtain a medical report from your doctor. The contents
of this report will be seen only by the Trustee Company’s
medical advisers and a small number of senior personnel at
the Trustee Company who deal with the administration for
incapacity retirement.

If additional medical information is required, you will be
contacted by the Trustee Company.

Total incapacity
To qualify for a total incapacity pension, you must be
deemed in the long-term to be unable to discharge
the duties of your own job or any other office, post or
employment although it may be acceptable to perform
some very limited duties e.g. marking examination papers
or proof-reading and earn a small fraction of the salary you
would be earning had you not retired. We would consider
10% or less to be a small fraction. This should however be
taken as a rough guide as individual circumstances will be
taken into account. If you do decide to take up employment
then the Trustee Company must be informed immediately
and a judgement will be made as to whether the payment
of your pension will be reduced, suspended or ceased.
If you satisfy the medical evidence and eligibility conditions
for total incapacity, you will be entitled to an unreduced
pension and lump sum effective from the agreed date of
retirement based on the amount of pensionable service you
would have completed by your 65th birthday (subject to a
maximum of 40 years or your actual service at retirement, if
greater) but based on your current pensionable salary.

Partial incapacity
If you do not qualify for a total incapacity pension, you
may qualify for a partial incapacity pension. You will qualify
if you are unable in the long-term to perform your own
job or any similar job, but may be able to undertake some
other level of employment, whether or not such other
employment is available.
If you do not satisfy the conditions for total incapacity
but qualify for a partial incapacity pension, you will
receive an unreduced pension and lump sum based
on your pensionable service calculated at the date of
retirement without enhancement (but not reduced by
an early retirement factor). If, after you have retired your
employment status changes, then the Trustee Company
must be informed immediately and a judgement will be
made as to whether the payment of your pension will be
suspended or ceased.

Duration of pension
An incapacity retirement pension is normally payable for
life but the Trustee Company has discretion to review any
incapacity pension, prior to reaching age 65, to reflect
any changes to the medical condition giving rise to the
incapacity retirement.

Movement between partial/total incapacity

Partial to total incapacity
Members who have retired due to long-term sickness and
have been granted a partial incapacity pension might
subsequently become eligible (with the agreement of
the Trustee Company) for a total incapacity pension if
their condition deteriorates such that they meet the
requirements for total incapacity. The member’s pension
would be recalculated and he or she would receive an
enhanced incapacity pension from the date that the total
incapacity was established.

Total to partial incapacity
If a member’s health improves to such an extent that
he or she is able to return to employment the Trustee
Company may decide that it would be appropriate to pay
the partial incapacity pension instead of a total incapacity
pension. The member’s pension would be recalculated
and he or she would receive a partial incapacity pension
(without enhanced service) from the date that the partial
incapacity was established (please read section entitled
‘Duration of pension’), which may affect the incapacity
pension paid to you.

Appeals
If your application is rejected, or you are granted partial
incapacity, you may wish to appeal against the decision.
You or your employer can appeal by completing form -
Appeal and sending it in to the Trustee Company with
any new medical evidence not submitted previously.
Once an appeal is received, the Trustee Company will
submit all of the medical evidence received in respect of
your application to the panel of medical advisers. If the
appeal is accepted, confirmation of the acceptance will be
sent to you.

If the panel of medical advisers does not agree to accept the
appeal then all of the medical evidence will be submitted
to an appropriate independent specialist in the illness or
condition from which you are suffering.
The specialist will be asked to make contact with you and
will arrange to meet you, carry out a medical examination
(including taking a medical history) and prepare an
independent medical report. This report together with all
evidence submitted will then be assessed by a member
of the medical panel not involved in the original decision.
After considering the appeal, if the recommendation is
to accept the appeal then we will contact you and your
employer to advise you. Your pension will normally only be
paid from the date when the appeal was accepted
(i.e. the point from which it was established that you were
suffering from partial/total incapacity). It will not be paid
retrospectively to when your case was first submitted.
If however the recommendation is still to reject the case
then a member/employer can appeal again after a further
six months has elapsed and providing new medical
evidence is available. If a member subsequently leaves the
scheme he or she can apply for incapacity retirement as a
deferred member of the scheme. If granted, only service
accrued to the date of leaving the scheme will count
towards the calculation of the retirement benefits.

Re-application
Alternatively, if your application is not approved, you may
make a further application if you or your employer arrange
for an updated medical report to be sent to the medical
adviser. A re-application can only be considered if it is
submitted more than six months after the date that your
previous application was rejected."

The only other point to note is that in the scheme rules with reference to IHR it states:

"13.11 Determinations by the trustee company under this rule
Any determination made by the trustee company under this rule shall be made on the balance of probabilities, having regard to a medical opinion.".

Any further advice would be very welcome.

Thanks
Buff

clemmatis

This may not help much, however

There are various RSI support groups, some of their members might be able to help

The Manchester one was very good on employment issues of various kinds

http://www.gmhazards.org.uk/group.html

The London one was good too

http://www.londonrsisupportgroup.org.uk/

bufforpington

clemmatis wrote: »

This may not help much, however

There are various RSI support groups, some of their members might be able to help

The Manchester one was very good on employment issues of various kinds

The London one was good too

clemmatis,

Thank you for your post and the RSI Group Links. Very useful to know they exist and good to know I am not alone. I will contact them for advice and see if anyone has been through the IHR.

Thanks again
Buff

clemmatis

Hi. No, you are not alone!

There's a Bradford group too

http://www.communigate.co.uk/brad/rsibradford/index.phtml

Debt_Free_Chick

bufforpington wrote: »

Debt_Free_Chick,


Medical evidence
The Trustee Company must approve every partial or
total incapacity application. In order to approve an
application, we must be satisfied that you are suffering
from long-term sickness.
The requirement for sickness to be ‘long-term’ means
that, in order to qualify for incapacity benefits,
the incapacity must be determined on the balance of
probabilities to be more likely than not to last for a period
running from the date of the member’s application for
incapacity early retirement benefits, to the
greater of:

(a) five years; or
(b) the period up to the average age at which members
retire from service under that scheme (not
taking into account incapacity cases), as advised by
the scheme from time to time.

We will require a medical report from your doctor to assist
the Trustee Company’s medical advisers in assessing your
fitness to attend work and carry out your duties. You will
therefore be asked by your employer to sign a consent form
to obtain a medical report from your doctor. The contents
of this report will be seen only by the Trustee Company’s
medical advisers and a small number of senior personnel at
the Trustee Company who deal with the administration for
incapacity retirement.

If additional medical information is required, you will be
contacted by the Trustee Company.

Total incapacity
To qualify for a total incapacity pension, you must be
deemed in the long-term to be unable to discharge
the duties of your own job or any other office, post or
employment although it may be acceptable to perform
some very limited duties e.g. marking examination papers
or proof-reading and earn a small fraction of the salary you
would be earning had you not retired. We would consider
10% or less to be a small fraction. This should however be
taken as a rough guide as individual circumstances will be
taken into account. If you do decide to take up employment
then the Trustee Company must be informed immediately
and a judgement will be made as to whether the payment
of your pension will be reduced, suspended or ceased.
If you satisfy the medical evidence and eligibility conditions
for total incapacity, you will be entitled to an unreduced
pension and lump sum effective from the agreed date of
retirement based on the amount of pensionable service you
would have completed by your 65th birthday (subject to a
maximum of 40 years or your actual service at retirement, if
greater) but based on your current pensionable salary.

Partial incapacity
If you do not qualify for a total incapacity pension, you
may qualify for a partial incapacity pension. You will qualify
if you are unable in the long-term to perform your own
job or any similar job, but may be able to undertake some
other level of employment, whether or not such other
employment is available.

If you do not satisfy the conditions for total incapacity
but qualify for a partial incapacity pension, you will
receive an unreduced pension and lump sum based
on your pensionable service calculated at the date of
retirement without enhancement (but not reduced by
an early retirement factor). If, after you have retired your
employment status changes, then the Trustee Company
must be informed immediately and a judgement will be
made as to whether the payment of your pension will be
suspended or ceased.

I've put the key points in bold.

Your OP

“(Buff) is highly unlikely ever to return to any form of employment in the foreseeable future” and “I think any form of employment is a totally unachievable goal” along with “I do not think that conventional medicine has any further part to play in (Buff’s) condition and that (Buff) is purely looking at management issues”.

He also confirmed my diagnosis which all professionals I have seen have agreed on: “bilateral non specific work related upper limb disorder”.

The problem here is that this medical opinion is not strong enough, when compared with the scheme requirements. "Foreseeable future" is not the same as "26 years".

Note, that you have to be incapable of doing any work at all - not just your normal job.

I am no medical expert - in fact, no medical experience or training of any description - but given what you've posted here, it doesn't seem as though a medical practitioner is going to write off your prospects of working - in some form - for the next 26 years.

It's the "woolly" prognosis that's the problem. Ideally, you would have a clear consensus from all the medical practitioners involved that you are unlikely to ever work again.

Sorry not to be more positive.

helwarren

I have just retired from lgps on ill health grounds(stage 4) cancer with poor prognosis, although treatment working currently. Only worked1hr a day for 2 years and given full benefits. However am also applying to deferred pensions for benefits. Letter from one asked for letter from gp confirming details and that x meets "this requirement".. gp literally wrote 2 line letter "x has x cancer and thrtefore meets the requirement stated in your letter dated x" - very useful, not. Still waiting to hear.

bufforpington

Debt_Free_Chick

Apologies I haven't been on the board recently, I have been having a particularly bad patch.

Thank you for your reply to my posts. It is helpful to have other perspectives. I agree with what you have posted, it does seem that I need to gain a clearer prognosis and ensure a consensus from all medical professionals (in writing). I have taken advice from my union and hopefully will be able to focus on getting some where with this soon.

With regards to writing off my prospects of working, each of the medical professionals I have seen have advised me that I am not going to be able to return to work in any form, as even if my condition did improve (which they tell me it won't barring a miracle due to the severity of it), returning to work would immediately trigger it again and the best I can hope for is to gain some independence. However getting them to put it in writing is another thing, although this time I am certainly going to give it a much harder push, as it is too important not to.

Thank you for your honest reply, I do appreciate it.
Buff

bufforpington

helwarren

Apologies I haven't been on the board recently, I have been having a particularly bad patch. Thank you for your reply to my post though. I am pleased to hear that you managed to get your IHR from LGPS, that must be a relief. What a good idea to also try and get your deferred benefits too, something I may have to consider too if I don't manage to get IHR through my appeal. How frustrating for you to get such a basic response from your GP with regards your supporting letter request, not what you need! Fingers crossed you managed to get them anyway though.

My excellent GP has just left our practice :-( which I am gutted about as he had all the history of my condition) and I am feeling very apprehensive about seeing new GP and asking for support, as I am going to need something similar to you. I am trying to think positively and keep my fingers crossed it works out okay! And lets hope my previous GP made extensive notes on system!

Best of luck helwarren
Buff