Jessie Hewitson is a veteran money journalist and editor, and financial agony aunt for The i Paper .

David Wilson, a reader who is 65 and based in Newtonabbey, writes

In 2013 I lost my job with the Northern Ireland Civil Service after 36 years because of my mental health. I applied for medical retirement but was refused. I met the severity criteria, but was told I couldn’t prove the illness would be permanent.

My health never improved, and years later, as I approached 60, I reapplied with new medical evidence. I was granted an ill-health pension from 2018, but my request to have it backdated to 2013 went unanswered — and has since been firmly ruled out by the Department.

My GP later told me that back in 2013 it would have taken a “crystal ball” to predict the course of my illness.

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