ray2gill

Hi Georgina,

As far as I am aware you cannot transfer a state pension, only private pensions can be transfered and then only to special approved funds (calls QPRS is think).

Gilian

TinaB

Georgine,
I was in a similar situation when I first came to Australia. I decided it probably wasn't worth it anyway because I would lose about 20% of it in the process to the UK fund. You should be able to claim it here though, at retirement. I am claiming my teachers' pension and this should be sent, indexed, as long as the pension fund receives form IPC SU 1131 from the International Pension Centre - you have to request this. The "British Pensions in Australia" organisation are very helpful. Worth contacting them.

Ex Aucklander

Well I would like to add my tuppence worth. I was born in UK but lived in Australia for 32 years of working life. On leaving Australia to return to UK I was told by Centrelink (Australia) that England would pay my Old Age Pension because Australia paid OLP to all retirees moving to Australia from UK. However on enquiring about this in UK I was firmly told I could not expect to get any Old Age Pension from UK government as I required 44 years UK stamps. On asking how I could possibly have them when I lived for most of my life in Australia they just reiterated they would not give me a British pension.
I think the UK's attitude stinks. Many years before my Mother came to live with me in Australia. (Because my Father only paid into the Pension scheme for 6 years from 1948 when it was introduced until 1954) she only received a small partial British age pension, yet the Australian Government made up the difference so she received the full Australian Pension. Later she returned to the UK & she continued to receive her Australian after moving back for a further 2 years To her dying day she never stopped singing the praises of the Australian people. She was very bitter in how she had been treated by the Uk government in spite of living in the UK for almost 60 years she said the foreigners who arrived in England were treated better than her.

Craig822

mmm sounds like a good reason to leave the place if you ask me

donovandenese

Income tax is variable depending how much you earn. National insurance contributions are not. Even those who earn below the tax free thresholds have to pay national insurance contributions.
Everyone who has paid NI contributions throughout their life should get the full indexed state pension - irrespective of where they reside.
NI also covers free health care, winter fuel allowances etc - a retiree living in oz for example therefore already loses out on the free healthcare entitlement, winter fuel allowances etc - saving the government money - so why should they lose out again by not having their pensions indexed?

donovandenese

[QUOTE=Aucklander;6102815]Well I would like to add my tuppence worth. I was born in UK but lived in Australia for 32 years of working life. On leaving Australia to return to UK I was told by Centrelink (Australia) that England would pay my Old Age Pension because Australia paid OLP to all retirees moving to Australia from UK. However on enquiring about this in UK I was firmly told I could not expect to get any Old Age Pension from UK government as I required 44 years UK stamps. On asking how I could possibly have them when I lived for most of my life in Australia they just reiterated they would not give me a British pension.
QUOTE]

you can get part of a UK state pension if you have worked in the UK for 10 years.
Not sure why you would think that the UK would pay you a pension if you hadn't worked in the UK - Australia doesn't pay UK citizens a state pension - it is paid by the UK government direct to the Australian bank accounts of UK citizens who have emigrated. The amount paid is the unindexed figure at the date the person leaves the UK. In the past the two governmnets had an agreement to top up each others pensions to an indexed amount. This no longer happens - hence the petition.

rushmere

[QUOTE=donovandenese;6104967] I'm a bit confused by this. Is it unindexed from the date you leave the UK, or from the date at which you draw your pension?

I've got about 20 years to retirement - if it's frozen now, that's a very big difference to it being frozen at the point when I reach 65!

Edit: After digging around a bit on the internet, I think I can now answer my own question! The earlier posting by "TheCrone" was correct - pensions are not frozen at the point of leaving the UK, but they are frozen at the point when you first draw your pension. For example, if you start drawing your UK pension in Australia in 2020, you will get the pension at the 2020 rate (if you have made sufficient NI contributions) , but it will not be index linked from that point onwards. The wording of the petition is therefore not technically correct, but nevertheless I fully support the principle that pensions should be fully index linked.

donovandenese

yes - you are right - my comment (and the wording of the petition I think) was absed on the scenario of someone who is already drawing the pension when they emigrate

JAJ

I think if you check, you will see that NI is largely income related.

NI does not cover the NHS or social support costs.

ray2gill

Just a note incase some of you were not aware:

If you visit the UK or any other country where UK state pensions are not frozen you can receive the full amount for the period of your visit.

You notify the Overseas National Insurance office in Newcastle - the name is different now, the date of departure from OZ and date of return with flight details etc. You will have your pension increased to the current rate for that period.

ray2gill

Quote:
Originally Posted by ray2gill
Just a note incase some of you were not aware:

If you visit the UK or any other country where UK state pensions are not frozen you can receive the full amount for the period of your visit.

You notify the Overseas National Insurance office in Newcastle - the name is different now, the date of departure from OZ and date of return with flight details etc. You will have your pension increased to the current rate for that period.

Isn't that what I said!

Wol

Yes it is - and I didn't read it properly!

Message deleted <g>

BWelford

BTW The petition mentioned in this topic has just topped the 1,000 signature mark, having seen a doubling in numbers within 48 hours. There is another Canadian petition on the same theme that has now over 780 signatures. If you haven't signed both, perhaps that's something you may wish to do.

Darren_Karen

Hi, I've just been on to sign up too. I've noticed a lot of people have signed up 'as a couple' in other words, there are two names against the petition. Am I right in thinking that it will only count as one 'vote' as it's only entered once? Shouldn't peopled enter these individually? There's an awful lot there with two names against, maybe 20% - could have a big impact on numbers, or am I completely off the ball on this one?

I've sent onto my contacts to sign/and asked them to send on too - we get plenty 'joke' chain emails that go around to hundreds of people, we should get a worthwhile one like this going around instead....

Karen

BWelford

Way to go, Karen. You're right. If two names are on a single entry, then it only counts as one 'signature' or vote. If both people have e-mail addresses, then they should each vote using their own e-mail addresses.