Early pension payment - ill health

robyah1245

Hi, I’m new to this forum. I was wondering if I could ask for some advice? Apologies for the long post - I am trying to cover everything, info you may need to give me advice. 

I am 38 and have been paying into a pension since I was 25.
Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer last year and was placed on “active monitoring” (which means I have to wait until I develop B symptoms before I can have treatment) However, they type of cancer I have means it’s highly unlikely I will reach the age of 60.

My husband and I thankfully had critical illness cover which has paid off our mortgage, and a couple of credit cards we had. I still have one last debt (Barclay loan just under £8,000) - would I be able to take some money out of my pension fund to pay this off? 

My husband has a very good job and an excellent pension, and he has been told he will get a substantial amount of money from his parents (inheritance approx to the value of £250,000/£300,000) should anything happen to them. Just sharing this as he has a much bigger pension than me and he won’t need my pension money as much when he gets to retirement age, he can live comfortably on his own pension (even without the aforementioned inheritance)

Would you take a small lump sum of £8000 to pay off the last debt? Or should I leave my pension alone -  continue paying off each month for the next 3 years - knowing it’s uncertain as to when I may have to leave my part time work for treatment? 

Thank you for reading if you got this far.
Rob

xylophone

It is a question of whether your condition is accounted serious enough to permit early access to your pension.

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/taking-your-pension/early-retirement-because-of-illness-sickness-or-disability

Linton

Very sorry to hear of your situation.

Generally you cannot take money from a pension until you are 55 (rising shortly to 57) or have a <1 year life expectancy.  However some pension schemes offer "medical retirement".  The conditions for this seem to be very restrictive. One scheme I read about requires that you are not in work when you claim and have a doctor's certificate to say you will not be capable of work in the future.  This would not appear to be applicable to yourself.

Have you discussed this with your pension provider?  Does your employer offer any ill health scheme?

robyah1245

Thank you for your replies. I have read that link, and I will also talk to my pension provider to see what they say. They can always say no, in which case I will accept that. 

I don’t think my employer has anything in place but I can always check.

Thanks again.