gorleen

Hello, I'm sure this subject has been brought up before tho' I am unaware of any new developments. We have just returned from a 3 week vacation in the UK. whilst we were visiting a friend there, she mentioned that if we had stayed for 3 months we could have had our State Pension bought up to date and with a back pay!. We emigrated to Alberta in 2014 so, naturally, have not had the yearly increases that UK residents have. Is what our friend told us correct? If so what are the basic requirements for such a move? I'm guessing that a UK address would be required as would a UK bank account. All sorts of things spring to mind, like income tax implications etc. We would greatly appreciate some clarity on this please as we are just about managing on our UK State Pension as it stands now. We also realise that the spending power of our pension decreases annually, so if we live long enough we could be in a negative situation in the not too distant future. We gained our PR status in 2010 and emigrated in the Family Class category, so our sons sponsorship liabilities finish in 2020. Many thanks for any info.

spouse of scouse

I'm afraid your friend's wrong. Your UK State pension stays frozen until you move back to the UK permanently. https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-...-state-pension

glendem4

Define permanently? My father returned from Australia in 2013 and his state pension was raised to the latest level. He returned to Australia in 2017 and retains his enhanced state pension but now frozen at the level paid in 2017. Nothing stopping you from returning to the UK for a period of time to enhance your frozen pension. I know many people who have returned for a few months who got to keep their updated state pension. Only makes sense doing it every 5-10 years as the increase each year currently only amounts to a £5 a week.

spouse of scouse

The question wasn't if you can return from Australia to live in the UK, receive your yearly pension increases to the current rate up to 2017, and then have your pension frozen at the 2017 rate if you return again to Australia to live. Of course you can do that, you returned to the UK, it was your permanent home for 4 years, you were entitled to the yearly increases.

The question was whether or not you can apply to have your frozen pension updated to be paid at the current rate if you're only visiting the UK and will be returning to your permanent home. The answer to that is no.

If you require a definition for 'permanently', I recommend a dictionary.

Novocastrian

I'm not so sure SoS: the advice the OP received seems at least potentially credible. When a UKC returns to the UK to live, s/he is considered "ordinarily resident" from day one but must wait three months to become "habitually resident" before claiming any benefit. Is it possible to release the freeze on a state pension after 3 months? I don't know, but it might be worth asking the DWP.

spouse of scouse

Never thought of it like that Novo - you could be right. Scouse and I have been back and forth between Oz and the UK for years, often staying in the UK for over 3 months. We'd never even considered requesting an 'uprating', and still wouldn't, because apart from our recent 3 years stretch, which was indeed meant to be a permanent move, we were always just visitors.

I'd imagine the question of intent to reside permanently would be part of an uprating application. I guess some who are only visiting with no intent to stay may choose to lie about that if they want to.

BritInParis

I would suggest there's a truth to all of this. Nothing to stop you from changing your mind and moving abroad again after your 'permanent' return to the UK. Practically speaking however if you were doing this on a regular basis I suspect HMRC would cry foul and request a lot more evidence from you regarding your next 'permanent' return. I think glendem4 has it right that it's only worth doing every five to ten years, both in terms of the financial payoff and attracting too much attention.

Novocastrian

Proving intent is a bit all-round tricky though. How many times do we hear of posters who've moved country and hate it when they get there, then doing a rapid ping-pong? Probably if one arrived on a one way ticket that would do. It doesnt apply to me, but the OP could at least question DWP who are usually rather helpful.

spouse of scouse

We must be really old fashioned. Could well do with the increases, but would never apply for them unless we were indeed intending to live in the UK permanently. To each their own.

Novocastrian

I completely agree with you and glendem on that front. And of course it would be ludicrously expensive to travel to the UK every couple of years to get a few pounds a week bump in the pension.

BristolUK

I am familiar with the idea that a 'return' to the UK gets your pension uprated to what it would be had you not left but I don't believe you get the arrears for the period you've been away.

It may well be that someone returned and by the time their pension was changed they got an arrears payment from the date they returned and believed the arrears represented a longer period.

This article (assuming there's been no change since) suggests you only get it uprated for the period back in the UK if visiting - including visiting another country where you would have uprating.

gorleen

Does this mean then, that if we had advised the DWP prior to our 3 week trip to the UK, we would have had our state pension uprated to the present level for the time we were in the UK?
Also, we are planning a trip to Australia next year, again, if we advise the DWP will we get the enhanced rate for the time we are there?

Almost Canadian

Do you really believe that vacations to the UK or Australia count as "returning permanently"?

BristolUK

Going by that article, yes to the period in the UK (because the UK gets uprating) but no for the period in Australia (because Australia doesn't get uprating).

gorleen

Many thanks to all that have responded to my original posting. As BristolUK says, "going by the article" etc. We also read a report on the BBC webpage about the state of UKpensions, good grief, unsustainable was the word that caught our eye!