Resigning

Hi Nickb,

Thank you for your post. You have said that you are due to retire in October, presumably this us because you have reached state pension age, which then means you will get your pension, with the possibility of additional money via Pension Credit if you are below the allowance for your circumstances?
If the retirement is simply a work retirement, but you are not due for your state pension, then you can of course continue on UC if your circumstances don't otherwise change.
You are wondering about resigning, but since you have already been in long term sick leave, I'm not sure what you mean. If you mean that you want to take early retirement I can't see how this will be a problem, (although any occupational pension you receive is likely to affect the amount of UC .) I suspect that your workplace will have already considered your future and whether you can continue to work, given your poor health. Since October is still a long way away, it seems likely that your work will make a decision before then; this will probably be retirement, but just a few months earlier.
The UC award of LCWRA clearly shows that already you are unable to do any work or work related activity, and DWP will be aware that you haven't been able to work for a very long time. If you are offered retirement a few months early on grounds of poor health this only really tidies up the current situation where technically you are still on the workforce, but you are not actually working.
However you do mention the word 'resigning' which suggests you are offering to give up work. Depending on the circumstances resignation can create sanctions. Why do you need to resign? Could this might put a potential occupational pension at sone risk? Is there a reason why either you can't hang on until your due retirement in October or until your work suggests ill-health retirement a bit earlier? You may wish to take some detailed advice about your employment situation forthcoming retirement and the effect on UC. In addition you may also want to get some calculations on post retirement benefits so you can plan for this. If you haven't already had a state pension forecast, please ring the Pensions Service and ask for this. You will then know your pension amount and can check if this accords with your NI Contributions.
CAB may well be able to assist you.
I hope this helps.
LL26