@ James Purnell
Head of the Open Left project
I am 54 and have worked for the past 10 years with Parkinson's disease. I am deliberating whether to leave on early retirement on ill health frounds and may need to apply for ESA in order to have my NI... Show more »I am 54 and have worked for the past 10 years with Parkinson's disease. I am deliberating whether to leave on early retirement on ill health frounds and may need to apply for ESA in order to have my NI contributions paid for my state pension. If I persuade an independent doctor to allow me to leave on the top tier of ill-health pension (ie that I wil not be able to work again) will that be sufficient to be put into the support group? Or would it be a matter of going through the same kind of scrutiny - which seems to me to be a waste of time and money! What is needed is some kind of smartcard or electronic record which records milestones on a progressive disease which will trigger certain entitlements. There must surely be a smoother way to do some of this! Show less »