If you are looking to retire under medical grounds, you will need to contact your employer if you are paying into the Scheme for your active post.  If you are a deferred member, please contact us.

Ill Health Retirement

The Scheme offers protection to members who become too ill to work.

If you meet the two-year vesting qualifying period and have to leave work at any age due to an illness which means you cannot carry out your current job you may be able to have your pension paid immediately as long as you will be permanently unable to do your job until your Normal Pension Age.

What might my benefits be?

You may get your pension and any lump sum without any early retirement reductions, based on your current membership plus an enhancement as shown below.

How much enhancement depends on how likely you are to be able to carry out gainful employment in the future.

The different levels of benefit are:

  • Tier 1 - Unlikely to be capable of undertaking gainful employment before reaching normal pension age
  • Tier 2 - Not entitled to a Tier 1 benefit but is likely to be able to undertake gainful employment before reaching normal pension age

Example

If you reduced your hours due to your ill health immediately prior to your ill health retirement your enhancement can be based on your situation before the reduction of hours.

 

Tier 1 - Unlikely to be capable of undertaking gainful employment before normal pension age

Your pension will be based on your current membership plus an enhancement to replace what you would have built up to your normal pension age, if you had stayed in the Scheme until then.

Tier 2 - Not entitled to a Tier 1 benefit but is likely to be able to undertake gainful employment before reaching normal pension age.

Your pension will be based on your current membership plus 25% of the enhancement to replace what you would have built up to your normal pension age, as if you had stayed in the Scheme until then.

Further examples of ill health retirement

Example 1
Example 2

Example 1

Lisa is about to be retired on ill health. She is aged 45, so has 22 years left to her normal pension age (age 67).

 

There is NO prospect for her obtaining gainful employment before normal pension age

 

She is therefore being retired under Tier 1 conditions.

 

Her benefits will be based on any membership prior to 1 April 2015 plus the value in her pension account with an enhancement to replace the pension she would have built up by age 67.

Example 2

Donna is about to be retired on ill health. She is aged 45, so has 22 years left to her normal pension age (currently age 67).

 

There is NO prospect for her of gainful employment in the short term, but there IS a prospect of gainful employment before her normal pension age.

 

She is therefore being retired under Tier 2 conditions.

 

In this case her enhancement is 25% of the membership she would have built up by her normal pension age of 67.

 

Current membership: 20 years

Membership she would have built up to age 67 had she continued working x 25%: 5.5 years

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