NHS ill health retirement

AmandaEss

Hi all. I am 31, and have a genetic hypermobility condition that means my hands and arms are becoming weaker and more painful, and have been for around a year. This is a major problem because I’m a dentist. I’m thinking of trying to get ill health retirement, and have two questions you may be able to answer:

1) what do the Tier 1 and Tier 2 pensions mean in practice? From my Total Reward Statement the current value of the 2008 section is £1471 and the 2015 section is £1578. Does that mean I would receive about £3000 a year with Tier 1, or does it mean something else? And how much might Tier 2 be? Nobody can give me an answer so far!

2) If the company I work for (they’re not my employer as dentists are self employed) terminate my contract on health grounds before I’ve applied, can I still apply after that and receive a Tier 1 pension, or would my application then be judged solely on Tier 2 criteria? I have seen some mixed messages about this. 

Thanks in advance!
Amanda

Marcon

AmandaEss said:

Hi all. I am 31, and have a genetic hypermobility condition that means my hands and arms are becoming weaker and more painful, and have been for around a year. This is a major problem because I’m a dentist. I’m thinking of trying to get ill health retirement, and have two questions you may be able to answer:

1) what do the Tier 1 and Tier 2 pensions mean in practice? From my Total Reward Statement the current value of the 2008 section is £1471 and the 2015 section is £1578. Does that mean I would receive about £3000 a year with Tier 1, or does it mean something else? And how much might Tier 2 be? Nobody can give me an answer so far!

2) If the company I work for (they’re not my employer as dentists are self employed) terminate my contract on health grounds before I’ve applied, can I still apply after that and receive a Tier 1 pension, or would my application then be judged solely on Tier 2 criteria? I have seen some mixed messages about this. 

Thanks in advance!
Amanda

Amanda - you say 'nobody can give you an answer so far', but have you actually asked the right people - those responsible for administering the scheme? These factsheets seem to give you most of the answers, although you'd do well to ask the question of the administrators (be prepared to wait for a reply - they are snowed under) and get a precise answer: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2018-04/Key Notes-Ill health-20180409-(V3).pdf and https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2017-05/Ill health retirement tiers and FAQs (05.2017) V8.pdf

AmandaEss

Yes, I’ve phoned the NHS pensions helpline twice and asked two different people. They’ve said ‘read the fact sheets online, we can’t give you any more information’. The fact sheets say ‘Pension will be paid based on Scheme membership built up without reduction. No enhancement to benefits’ but I don’t know what this actually MEANS. 

rnj

Tier 2 is your pension to date plus the pension you would accumulate to normal retirement age. It is the harder one to get and generally only paid if you are terminally ill or cannot work in any capacity ever again.

Tier 1 is more common and is your pe sion accrued to date and not reduced in any way by being in receipt before normal pension age.

AmandaEss

So it means that if I’ve earned about £3000 pension to date then it would be £3000 paid every year?

rnj

Yes, for tier 1 and it will go up with inflation. Also im guessing the TRS is up to march 2019 so may be a year out of date.

AmandaEss

rnj said:

Yes, for tier 1 and it will go up with inflation. Also im guessing the TRS is up to march 2019 so may be a year out of date.

Yes that’s right, incidentally 2019-20 was my highest-earning year, so hopefully it’ll go up by a few hundred...

rnj

You can usually work it out roughly. If i remember its 1/54 x your salary in that tax year (if you worked full year) added to your existing statement value.