HELP!! WORK ARE TRYING TO GET RID OF ME

Hi Mrs Boop,

Cannot give benefit advice in the same way as the mods can, but I just wanted to give you some moral support. There is life after ill health retirement although it is frightening when you're going through it. I was med retired after teaching for nearly 24 yrs and paid off. Am claiming DLA and ESA. I have multiple sclerosis. You'll be amazed at how you'll cope if your employers decide to retire you. Good luck and think of your health. You will cope, even though it must be a worry at the moment. You'll come through it x

It is fine getting medically retired in 1999, but did not get a pension.
Plese ensure if you get medically retired you get a retirement pension from work to supplement your ESA/DLA etc, remembering these benefits reduce your ESA monies and will in time be removed altogether if you receive a ill health pension/retirement pension.

Thank you to Bro58, Cossack and pusscatsmum for your kind words and advice.

I have my final meeting on wednesday my union rep is attending.

I think what they will say is that they will go back to my schools and advise them to dismiss me on ill health grounds.

i need to speak to my union rep and let him know that i am not happy with some of the things that have gone on whilst i have been on the sick and possibly put a claim in as they have harrassed me and not treated me the some as other employees. i shall also mention that i think i am still covered under the dda and ask for medical retirement on these grounds.

We will see anyway.

Thanks to everyone, i will keep you updated as it may help someone in the future who goes through the same thing.

Hi mrsboop
I'm so sorry to read about your health problems & the difficulties you are having with your employer. It's bad enough being ill let alone going through the sickness absence process. As others have already posted it is very important to get good advice before agreeing to anything & I do hope your union rep is doing this. From your post it seems you are due to have a final formal sickness absence meeting tomorrow? Whatever the outcome you have the right to an appeal hearing, which will buy you some time to sit down with your union rep & consider your options.

Like pusscat I have been through the sickness absence process with a local authority, I was a senior manager, & also put my trust in my local union rep & branch, believing them to be well informed about ill health/disability & employment law etc. As it turned out my trust that they could & would do their job was completely misplaced as they were totally incompetent & negligent to the point that their handling of my case completely undermined my otherwise strong case for unfair dismissal. I was eventually successful in getting my ill-health (ME/CFS) pension, but only because I did it all myself. I would hate anyone else to have to go through a similar experience.

I will be thinking of you especially tomorrow & willing you the best possible outcome. I would be very happy to share my experience - tips etc not legal advice - with you by email if this is is ok with B&W as it does not come under benefits & would be a very long post.

Pusscat - you can make a request any time to the LA for early access to your pension on the grounds of ill-health. You would have to be seen by the LA's occupational health physician who would give an opinion to the LA. who in turn would make a decision. Be advised s/he would ask for a report/s from your GP & depending on the illness/disability you have, s/he might also defer giving an opinion until you had undertaken any recognised treatment/intervention if you haven't already done so. Eg for ME/CFS, it would be CBT &/or GET. You can submit to the OHP any supporting evidence of your own as you would for claiming ESA, DLA, PIP. I included a copy of my ESA claim form with its 50+ pages of additional information, GP letters etc, the ESA85A medical report form & the DWP decision - support group. A useful document re LGPS can be found at www.lgpsregs.org/index.php/dclg-publications/dclg-stat-guidance

Best wishes & good luck to you both.

mayflower

Hiya, Mayflower,
Many thanks for the reply.
I did go thru all those routes with my LA along with Occ Health who recommended retirement due to ill health.
The pension was not forthcoming as I had only been in employment with them since 1996, 6 months prior to the accident at work, a motorcycle accident, and finally released in 1999.
They along with the useless Union rep stated I had not been there long enough for a full pension. I get just over £100 a month from the LA, as they along with the DWP who had a meeting with Human Resources decided going on IB along with DLA and the monies from IIB would suffice. At the time it all seemed good, however with the changes going on and to come this is all not suitable. I did contact the LA to discuss the matter but to no avail.
I too do not wish for others to take the wrong route as myself and realise if I was stronger and not in so much pain etc at the time maybe my actions would have been different and I would not be in this dire position now.

Hi All,

Just came back to give everyone an up date.

Well work did get rid of me!! retired on ill health, i shall get tier 3 which is the lowest tier, I think it wll be worth about £30 a week. will i have to notify ESA if i get this, i havent heard yet but the lady on the telephone told me how much my pension was worth and also said i could have a lump sum, i am assuming that this per year not the whole amount.

i am still really angry about the way i was treated and harrassed by HR, not sure if i can do anything about this

I was finished on thursday 16th July as school broke up on the 17th. I went to the Rheumatology appointment that work would not wait for me to go to on the 6th of August and was finally diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.

i then attend hospital on the 7th of August again work would not wait, and had facet joint injections. The first 2 days were great very little pain, but now 2 weeks on and my pain is worse than before especially in my legs, i get cramp after cramp its killing me.

I think i can tell my pension that i have had this procedure and the diagnosis for reconsideration not sure if anyone has any help that would be great.

i am going to apply for pip and any info would be great for this as well, will they look at my claim for ESA because i got it without a f2f assessment and was put straight into support group thanks to you guys!!!!

i would appreciate any help or advice