Ill-health Retirement
If you have to leave your local government employment at any age by reason of being permanently incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of that employment because of ill health or infirmity of mind or body, you are entitled to ill health pension benefits.
If you have at least three months membership of the scheme or have transferred pension rights into the LGPS you will receive your pension immediately. Your employer must be satisfied that, because of ill health, you have become permanently incapable of doing your job and they will need to assess, with the help of a qualified occupational medical practitioner, the likelihood of your obtaining gainful employment in the future.
If your employer determines that you have no reasonable prospect of obtaining gainful employment before your normal retirement age your benefits will be calculated using your membership accrued to date plus all of the assumed membership that you would have built up had you remained in your job until the age of 65.
EXAMPLE 1:
Assume a member who is aged 33 with 5 years of membership. It is determine that he has no reasonable prospect of obtaining gainful employment before the age of 65. The membership used to calculate his benefits will be:
Accrued membership: 5 years
Additional membership to 65: 32 years
Total membership: 37 years
If your employer determines that, although you will not obtain gainful employment within a reasonable period of leaving your job but you are likely to obtain gainful employment before your normal retirement age, your benefits will calculated using one quarter of the assumed membership that you would have built up had you remained in your job until the age of 65.
EXAMPLE 2:
Taking the same member as in the above example, the membership now used to calculate benefits would be:
Accrued membership: 5 years
Additional membership (32 x 25%): 8 years
Total membership: 13 years
A third tier of ill health benefit is also available if your employer determines that you cannot currently continue working because of ill health but have a reasonable prospect of obtaining gainful employment within 3 years. In this instance your benefits built up to date in the LGPS will be released without enhancement but you become responsible for informing your employer when you do obtain further gainful employment. In any case, your employer is required to review your circumstances 18 months after the point from which your benefits were brought into payment.
If you were a member of the LGPS on 31st March 2008 and were aged 45 or over at that time, you will receive an enhancement as applied under the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997 if better than the enhancement shown above.
For the purposes of ill-health retirement the regulations define gainful employment as being paid employment for not less than 30 hours in each week for a period of not less than 12 months. A reasonable period is also defined as being 3 years.
It is important to note that the independent registered medical practitioner must be in a position to certify, and must include in his certification, a statement that he has not previously advised, given an opinion on, or otherwise been involved in your case and that he is not acting, and has not at any time acted, as your or your employer's representative.
Regardless of the 85-year rule, your benefits will not be reduced if you have to retire early due to permanent ill health.
