advice needed

bobbyblade

worked for n hs for 13 years and i am 65 next may for the last 6 month have been on sick due to stress and depression and have a note till december , i was wondering would i be better off returning to work if fit for the last 4 months or asking to take my pension early .
i have never been good at the money side so thats why I'm asking for help also before i finish we could be in private hands as we are out to tender .

kidmugsy

You might get a response if you can edit the post title to include "NHS".

Sorry I can't help you myself.

xylophone

You are off sick from your NHS job?

You are in the 1995 Scheme?

Was normal pension age not 60 in that part of the scheme?

Have you obtained a state pension forecast?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

TARDIS

Assuming you did not switch into the 2008 or 2015 schemes your 13 years should all be in the 1995 scheme. As Xylophone stated the normal pension age for the latter scheme is 60 so you would not have any actuarial reduction for going early. You will miss out on those extra 4 months worth of pension payments and wages though.

Difficult to say if it is worth working longer as this will depend on how much your pay is, whether you have another increment coming up that could boost your pension etc.

You also need to consider if the existing pension would be sufficient to meet your needs (do you have a recent estimate?) and whether returning to work is likely to exacerbate your depression.

Also bear in mind they recommend you apply three months before your planned retirement date and there are currently problems with the system in that new claims are taking longer to be processed than usual so best have a contingency fund to cover the gap if possible. Please don't let either of these issues make you feel you need to rush into any decision though. If you're still unwell, it might be best to defer the decision if feasible.