Going on half pay

Hello Breedy

Thanks for getting in touch with the online community.  My name is Lisa and I am one of the Financial Guides on the Macmillan Support Line.

I have found the following information on the Teachers Pensions website (Ill-health | Life events | Working Life | Teachers' Pensions (teacherspensions.co.uk) which I hope helps you:

Sick leave

• Pensionable sick leave - Should you become ill, you will remain in pensionable service if you are paid at least 50% of the salary you were paid prior to sickness absence, including any statutory sick pay you may receive.
• Non-pensionable sick leave- If you move in to non-pensionable sick leave, and have not reached your Normal Pension Age, you will cease to accrue pension benefits but you will:
  • remain eligible for the "in-service" death grant for one year, provided you left pensionable service because you were incapacitated (unfit to be in an eligible employment, despite appropriate medical treatment)
  • be treated as making "in-service" ill-health retirement application if it’s made within two years of your leaving pensionable service, if you left due to being incapacitated and the reason for the application is the same or a connected injury or illness. In this situation, your application will be considered against the two-tier ill-health criteria. If you remain in a contractual relationship with your employer, even after 2 years, any application made while in the employee and employer relationship will be considered as "in service" if the individual left pensionable service due to incapacity.

For further clarification about how your contributions will affect your own final pension, the scheme helpline will be able to help you and can be contacted on 0345 6066166.

Also, it may help you to know that if at any age you are unable to work due to your ill health; and want to explore your options regarding ill health retirement, we are able to give you further guidance on this. We can also provide guidance on other aspects of your finances, for example mortgages, insurance and estate planning. You can contact the Financial Guidance Team on 0808 808 0000.

I hope this is helpful

Best Wishes

Lisa

Macmillan Financial Guide