Early retirement

About 2 months after John finished, they announced a huge redundancy programme. That's just the luck of the draw and he at least had the benefit of not being there while everyone was stressing about it. Considering who you work for, it might be worth asking HR about the possibility of Early Leavers enhancement; there wasn't a redundancy programme when I left the LA but I asked them to make me an offer and they did because they were desperate to make the books balance. Bradford has just done the same for a friend of mine on the basis that she was a top of the scale employee who could be replaced by a new entrant on different Ts & Cs. 

I might be jumping in without the full info but there is an NHS Sickness Retirement Leaflet dated Oct 2016 that gives 2 tiers of sickness early retirement.   See the link below.

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2017-05/Ill%20health%20retirement%20tiers%20and%20FAQs%20%2805.2017%29%20V8.pdf

Also I'd think it can depend how you approach it and who you approach, as making a decision can sometimes depend on the support you have, e.g your boss, and the attitude of the person making the decision.  Although some can be hard nosed.

As someone else has said you need to know your outgoings and what you can manage on.  I don't know how the NHS scheme works but with my pension I took less because my wife gets half if she outlasts me.  If it has 100% inflation proofing which it might have then that can be helpful.   If the NHS agree it might help in getting something from an insurance company if you have any insurance, especially for a mortgage.

Also I know several people in the NHS who are in their early 60s retired and went back doing 1 or 2 days a week.  Taking sick pension might be different but if you're in a scarce skills job it shouldn't be too difficult if you are capable of it.   Hope that helps.

Edited by member 09 Jan 2019 at 23:53  | Reason: Not specified

As far as budgeting for retirement I used Martyn Lewis’s budgeting spreadsheet and my financial adviser got me to complete a budget sheet plus a big ticket spend sheet too.

Very useful to see a way forward.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/content/dam/mse/documents/guides/budget_planner.xls

Bill

Are you in a union?  It might be worthwhile talking to them about the sorts of reasonable adjustments your employer has offered in the past and under what circumstances.  It would be good to be armed with this knowledge before meeting occupational welfare.  My occupational health advisor has taken a cautious approach with me and my employers have never questioned his recommendations.

I'm currently doing 7 hours per day, 2 short of the normal 9.  I'm also exempt from my boarding school evening and weekend duties but am hoping to resume these in the summer term.  At one stage, I was doing 4 hours per day and not coping very well with that owing to fatigue.  I wasn't sure if that was post-SRT fatigue, bicalutimide fatigue or a combination of both.  I also had the symptoms of radiation proctitis so never wanted to be far from a toilet.

At the moment, the fatigue is manageable, but getting out of bed in the morning is a real issue.  I wake up thinking about when I can go back to bed again, even if I have slept well, which I usually do.  I've also become forgetful and lacking in focus and concentration.  I blame bicalutimide for that, but maybe I'm wrong.  I stop bicalutimide in August and hope that will be the end of all these issues.

Ulsterman

Bill

I'd ask the union for advice.  I know that in education in various schools in which I have worked, people have been on reduced hours with no reduction in pay.  It is probably down to policy in each organisation.

Ulsterman

Something to consider if thinking of buying  an annuity is how long it will take to get your money back. A couple of years ago some quotes I got it would take 23 years to get back the money you used to buy the annuity.

Thanks Chris

That’s ridiculous - I could forgive a really small company for not knowing their duties under the Equality Act but a school should bloody well know better (or should have asked their HR provider).

These might help:

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/documents/cancerinfo/reasonableadjustmentsguide.pdf

http://m.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5847

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/multipage-guide/reasonable-adjustments-practice

https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2018/10/Proving-Disability-and-Reasonable-Adjustments-Oct2018.pdf

While an employer might be able to argue that it is reasonable to reduce pay if a worker is permanently moving to part time work, I think they would struggle to defend reducing pay for a temporary change in hours during treatment, or for flexible working. Maintained schools would not be taken to a tribunal; it would be the local authority that would have to defend themselves and as large employers, they would not be able to cite cost as a barrier to reasonable adjustment.

If you are members of the NEU, NASUWT, NAHT, ASCL or similar, I have always found their convenors, reps and solicitors excellent in these circumstances.

Edited by moderator 12 Jul 2023 at 17:34  | Reason: to activate hyperlinks