DVLA
 

I know this has been asked before so apologies in advance. I'm just trying to get the odd thing in the UK sorted out before we arrive back on the 8th June.
So OH and I both have our old driving licences plus the paper bit and I'm wanting to get new licences using my dad's address where we'll be staying from 10th June.

So trying to renew/update our UK licences with the DVLA, so they are there when we return. I got as far as the page asking for home and mobile numbers plus mother's maiden name etc. I don't have a UK mobile number yet, what did others do for this?
We are having the same issue with National Insurance Contributions website too!

We have so many balls up in the air at present and are both feeling overwhelmed by it all.
TIA

Re: DVLA
 

I understand you trying to get ahead of things by getting your UK DLs reissued, but your foreign licenses are valid for a further 12 months from your date of arrival back in the UK so there is no great urgency to get a British licence and you will have plenty of time after you arrive back to apply for and receive your UK licences.

Bear in mind that a UK licence can only be issued to a resident of the UK, so the rules are deliberately designed to prevent a licence being issued to anyone who does not (yet) live in the UK.

Re: DVLA
 

I agree. Our daughter moved to England in November last year, staying with us for the first few months, and it was only a week or 2 after she applied that she received her UK driving licence.

Re: DVLA
 

Apart from the fact that (as somebody has already pointed out) you can't legally hold a licence until you're resident, I read somewhere very recently (and now I can't find the relevant info) that applying for a licence links to the HMRC system, so that HMRC assumes you are tax resident in the UK from the date of your application.
Whatever it was I read may have been incorrect but I can't find it grrr!

Re: DVLA
 

Interesting. I would love to know if that’s correct. And if so, whether it only applies to new applications.

Certainly it wouldn’t do if HMRC were to assume that anyone already registered with DVLA as having a British licence is tax resident in the UK. Because there are lots of Brits like me who are resident in France but driving around - perfectly legally- on British licences.

Re: DVLA
 

HMRC will have been informed when you left the country to stop being resident for taxes.
https://www.gov.uk/tax-right-retire-abroad-return-to-uk

I don't know all the possible triggers that tell HMRC you may have become tax resident but it seems reasonable that DVLA may inform HMRC when you change your address. I know that when we were living in the USA and started spending a lot of time in England that our bank informed HMRC that we may have become tax resident and sent us HMRC forms to complete with all our history of comings and goings over the previous 4 years and plans for the future. This form was sent to us in the USA by our UK bank who had noticed lots of ATM activity over a period of 6 or 7 months in the UK.

Re: DVLA
 

I informed HMRC that I was moving abroad when we left the UK for France. Many moons ago.
They have my address here in France and send me stuff about NI contributions once a year.

At the same time, I’ve never exchanged my UK driving licence for a French one because before Brexit, I didn’t have to and since Brexit, I haven’t been able to (there were a couple of windows post-Brexit when this was possible and indeed my husband managed it but my application to swap the UK licence for a French one was sent back twice and then the rules changed again and there was no longer any need to exchange it).

My UK licence expires mid-2025 and ideally we’d like to become tax resident in the UK from April 2026. After what Eurotrash said on the French forum about her difficulties in getting split year tax treatment, I’m keen to avoid this, which is why we’d like our UK residence to start in April 2026.
It would be a real pfaff to have to get a French licence in 2025, only to have to swap it again for a British one a few months later.
So I’m very curious to know if DVLA does in fact interface with HMRC. Mind you, probably safest to assume that by 2026 all the government agencies will be talking to one another.

That’s fascinating about your bank monitoring your ATM activity. Yikes.

Re: DVLA
 

That is indeed quite a dilemma on the timing of your licences.

The letter we received from the bank with the HMRC form was quite amusing really. They were quite apologetic but said that they were required by HMRC to monitor accounts of their overseas customers for indications that they had become tax resident.

Re: DVLA
 

All banks monitor every account holder's activity, for several reasons - are you doing something illegal? Are you paying thr correct bank fees? E.g. Using a personal account for business. Are you the victim of a fraud? Has there been a sudden change in your account activity? That could indicate any of the above, or an opportunity to sell you additional services.

With modern computers it is quite easy to filter vast quantities of account data looking for outliers. The vast majority of accounts are going to be unremarkable, though with different patterns of activity for students and young people, for families with children, empty nesters, and retired people, and obviously patterns will vary based on income. But it is remarkably easy to pick out activity that is not typical for you, and/or the pool of similar account holders that you are a member of.

A few years ago I was contacted by my bank because of a credit card purchase at a petrol station close to where I live, that the bank had flagged as a possible fraudulent transaction. The transaction was only an hour or two earlier, so it was unlikely I would have been aware, perhaps not even until my statement arrived at the end of the monthly cycle. What the bank's computers had noticed I was not told, and could only guess, but [1] I never used that petrol station [2] I never bought things (sweets, snacks, cigarettes etc.) in any petrol station [3] the amount was relatively high for buying convenience items at a petrol station. So items 1 & 2 would be specific to me, and 3 would be general to many customers, but whatever the reasons were it only took a few minutes for the bank to identify a problem and call me. I told them I didn't recognize the transaction and the bank immediately canceled my credit card and issued a new one. I was very thankful that the bank was monitoring my activity. I am also 99% sure I know where my card was cloned - a restaurant, just a few hundred yards from the petrol station where the cloned card was used, that we ate at a few days before, and we never ate there again.

Re: DVLA
 

Thanks for all the information, I shall relax about this for now.
How about topping up National Insurance contributions though? Any advice?

Re: DVLA
 

Yes, I would much prefer the banks to monitor our accounts than not monitor them.

To pick up on your story, our card was cloned a good many years ago. While holidaying in the US I logged into the account to see if my salary had gone in and noticed a couple of very large fraudulent transactions. Someone had gone shopping in Helsinki with our card (which was still in our possession). I alerted the bank and they reimbursed us.
Like you, we thought the cloning had probably happened in a restaurant although we never discovered for sure.
Then, much more recently, our bank contacted us preemptively because they’d detected suspicious activity. This time - thanks to the bank’s vigilance - the transactions never hit our account. Over the years they’ve clearly got much better at detection.

Still curious to know whether DVLA does in fact alert HMRC to new licence applications. If I do have to get a French licence in 2025 and then swap it back for a UK one a few months later, so be it. It will be a nuisance but it’s a small price to pay if monitoring of this kind helps reduce the huge problem of fraud.

Re: DVLA
 

Sorry, I sort of hijacked your thread there.

Re NI contributions. I’ve been paying these from abroad for years and never had to give them a mobile number but obviously the initial registration procedure has changed since I did it.
Since you’re coming to the UK early June, perhaps it would be easier to wait until you’re back. I should warn you though that people are having terrible trouble at the minute getting in touch with the Future Pension Centre. Some are even choosing the Welsh language option in desperation. Check out the Martin Lewis site, in the forum on pensions, where someone said they felt they’d entered the seventh circle of hell!

Re: DVLA
 

Many thanks Helen. Sounds horrendous. No need to apologise, I'm guilty of the same thing elsewhere. It's all part of the conversations that happen on BE. Can often find out things you weren't expecting to learn.

Re: DVLA
 

How many years contributions do you have?

Generally you get one year for each year you worked in the UK. You may also have a couple of "deemed years" for staying at school until you reached 18 (I'm not sure when that started). You do not get deemed years for being at college/ university.

You need 10 years of contributions to receive anything and 35 years to receive a full pension. If you were contracted out for any period that can (but does not necessarily - there's something called a COPE adjustment, about which I know nothing) reduce your pension, leading to you needing more that 35 years of contributions to get a full pension.

You can make either Class 3 or Class 2 contributions. Class 3 is the default and you have to apply for Class 2, with eligibility being that you worked immediately before and after you left the UK. "Immediately" is extremely subjective and I have heard of someone not working for a year after leaving the UK and still be approved for Class 2. Class 2 contributions are currently about £165, whereas I think Class 3 contributions are now somwhere around £830/yr. Both of these deals are good investments, but the Class 2 contributions are extremely good - a total no brainer as every pound you pay in Class 2 contributions will be repaid to you in increased pension payments in only about 7½ months of retirement. For Class 3 it takes about 3 years to receive your contributions back in increased pension payments, which is still a deal that any ordinary pension investment is never going to come close to.

You can make current year contributions, and are usually allowed to make contributions in arrears for six preceding years, but under a current concession, ending in July 2023, people are allowed to make contributions as far back as tax year 2006-07 for any years for whcih they have not previously made contributions - if you want to do that you will need to get your skates on - seriously!

You can no longer make contributions once you reach retirement age.

Questions? :unsure: