early retirement working for local council

[Guest user]

thanks for your advice, i contacted our HR service and apparently i will be entitled to my full pension which i would have got had i been able to work to pension age, good news for me, not being terminally ill obviously but at least if you have some finance behind you you are able to enjoy the time you have left without having money worries.

Thanks again and best wishes to you all x

[aliceblue]

Hi Katiebelu, are you in a trade union? if you are I would really recommend getting in touch with them to go through all your options. If not CAB or financial adviser. Moneymadeclear (google them), may possibly be able to help, but I'm not sure if they give generic rather than individual advice.

Pension teams, or pension administrator should be able to talk you through your options, but are not able to give advice. They should be able to give you an estimate. For a quick estimate the following link might help http://www.lgps.org.uk/lge/core/ - not sure if this is for the whole of Great Britain, or just covers England.

(or Local Government Pension Scheme site - just google and it is first one up).

There are different arrangements for ill-health retirement to early retirement. For ill-health retirement an occupational health doctor would need to confirm that you are unable to work, even with adjustments, but it could be worth exploring. It's complicated now by having different levels of ill-health and different levels of ill-health retirement payments. For early retirement there is an additional cost to the employer to allow you to go early, and it is only from age 55 onwards. You need approval from your employer, in my experience, it is normally linked to a cost-cutting job reduction scheme (like voluntary severance).

Hope this helps, and hope you're able to get some advice/answers soon.

Love Alice xxx

[thistle]

I also work for a local council. Are you thinking of early retirement or ill health retirement?

I am supposed to retire in August (normal retirement). I have had a pension statement from the local government pension scheme for this year up to 2010.

This is just their normal annual statement.

Can you contact them direct for a forecast? I know if people apply for early retirement, it is the local council who contact the pension company directly and ask you not to contact them individually while the process in going on.

If your pension scheme has a web page there is sometimes a pension benefits calculator on the site, which can give you an idea of what you are due.

Hope this is some help.

Love and take care
Thistle

[Guest user]

Anyone any advice or been through the process - I started of with BC 5 years ago, since then have developed secondaries in the liver, lungs, spine, hips, and then later in the brain. I am thinking of taking early retirement, I have been with the Council over 25 years but no one can commit to give me a pension forecast