Help with pensions

sheilavw

Thanks for your help everyone. No work wouldn't let him have part time despite GP letter. He is still off , looking for part time . He was thinking of taking the 25% and clearing his bike loan, and putting rest in ISA. So if possible is it recommended to do that, but keep paying the monthly payments and keep rest going? (sorry really know very little about pensions). His other pension which is frozen grows each year so as recommended would leave this one.

jamesd

He can take the 25% tax free lump sum and leave the remaining 75% in the pension, so he doesn't need to pay income tax on it now and it can continue to grow over the long term. Means using something called flexible drawdown that lets you choose when to take the 75%. Not all plans allow this, a transfer to one that does is the way to get it if the current one doesn't allow it.

I'm not particularly keen on using the 25% to repay a bike loan in part just because it would involve selling some of the pension investments while markets are down a bit. Better timing would be waiting until the recovery. Doing it now would probably cost more in lost value than paying the bike loan interest for a while. It's not a particularly bad idea, just not the ideal timing to do it. He could reduce the longer term cost by using the bike payment money he'd save for new pension contributions.

At the moment with markets down for a bit we're in a time when experienced investors try not to be taking out money from investments for spending on things, even paying off loans.

sheilavw

Thanks. May hang on a while with it having dropped and have a rethink if no part time work comes up. He is currently on SSP, so getting a bit of weekly cash and I work full time, so not struggling too much, its just for extras like holidays could do with a bit more. Hopefully after seeing specialist next week will know if needs knee op, or if something that can be sorted with injection/medication and get back to some type of work.Thanks everyone for your help

atush

What did his union say?

It could be his employer is acting unlawfully?

sheilavw

I don't think he spoke to them.People say needs of the business , even though GP recommends part time don't have to accommodate you. He is looking for something else at the moment. Thanks for everyones replies

atush

he has a union, he pays for it.

Why he didnt use it is unfathomable?

"Needs of the business" means nothing legally.

sheilavw

He only recently joined the union, he is currently looking for lighter driving work.

sheilavw

Just an update. Been to see specialist last week, 90% sure the knee pain is coming from the hip. He said virtually no movement in left hip , this will be why gets left buttock pain. He's in a lot of pain and not sleeping due to this. He has a CT scan 17th March then further specialist apt April when we return from our holiday to discuss treatment. He is still getting SSP from work, as I understand they pay this for 26 weeks. Hoping he can get some ESA after this . I think he may end up with operation of some kind so maybe off a while

xylophone

Has he explored the possibility of claiming his old occupational pension on grounds of ill health?