Workplace pension

sunshine1981
sunshine1981 Online Community Member Posts: 251 Empowering
in Work

I’m highly unlikely to be able to do any form of work in the future. I can have this confirmed by medical professionals. I have contributed to a workplace pension for 16 years, I’m 44 this year. Can I take my pension early?

Comments

  • Mary_Scope
    Mary_Scope Posts: 1,787 Scope Online Community Children and Family Specialists

    Hi @sunshine1981

    You can take early medical retirement due to ill health and access your pension that way😊

  • sunshine1981
    sunshine1981 Online Community Member Posts: 251 Empowering

    How do you do that? I'm not working at the moment because my employer couldn't provide reasonable adjustments so I had to leave

  • Mary_Scope
    Mary_Scope Posts: 1,787 Scope Online Community Children and Family Specialists

    Hi again @sunshine1981

    You need to check your workplace pension scheme’s rules as most do allow early access if you're too ill to work which sounds like what you have described. You'll need medical evidence from your GP or other medical professionals to support your claim and then you can apply through your pension provider who will assess your case.

    Here is some more information on early medical retirement due to ill health which goes a bit of more in depth which i hope will be helpful😊

  • sunshine1981
    sunshine1981 Online Community Member Posts: 251 Empowering

    Thank you

  • Bydand
    Bydand Online Community Member Posts: 239 Empowering
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/135551/workplace-pension

    Hi,

    Can I confirm that you have officially and fully left your current employment as you mention this in a later post.

    Usually the earliest you can draw a pension is 55 and I believe this is set to change to 57 so I would doubt that you would have much luck with this, but getting a copy of your workplace pension policy would inform you but I am not hopeful that this is an option for you but I am no expert so hopefully someone else will come along and enlighten us both.

    16 years of employment also isn’t going to be enough for any kind of liveable pension even if you could draw it.

    As for applying for medical I’ll health retirement…..if you have officially left your job then this also isn’t really an option for you as I believe you have to be employed at the time of applying for IHR…..ie, why would the employer pay you an IHR pension if you left of your own accord before fully looking into all your options whilst still employed.

    An application can sometimes be done retrospectively but this would be highly unusual.

    With IHR the normal route would be to apply whilst employed. This would likely be as a result of several months, if not years of sick absences, back to work plans, OH recommendations, reasonable adjustments etc.

    The process is very strict and having a lifelong medical condition is not in itself a guarantee.

    Don’t mean to come across as all doom and gloom, and I would definitely get copies of your work pension policy and read this through thoroughly but by leaving your employment I think you have limited the options available to you.

    You may be able to get more info about this by contacting ACAS

    Good luck moving forward with this

  • sunshine1981
    sunshine1981 Online Community Member Posts: 251 Empowering

    Thanks. Yes I have left my job. I know it's not going to be a lot that's why I wanted draw it now. But if I can't draw it then at least it will be making me some money for later. I don't need the money but because it wasn't going to be a lot I thought I would try and have access to it now. I will look at my policy.

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