Does anyone know what form to fill in for UK state pension claim? The only ones I can find are if you live in the UK and the other looks like it is for a foreigner who has become British.

Here you go https://www.gov.uk/government/public...-retire-abroad

I get to claim my very small pension next year.. looks like I will be filling in the extra page for a lot of details given that I lived and worked outside the UK for 30 years... names and addresses of employers in UK requested from 1976 till 86 ??.. .hmmm not sure I can recall all of THOSE....going to be fun filling in this VERY voluminous form.

A couple of years ago I called, because I had a question about the form, and they said not to bother and they took my application over the phone. They said all the detail the form asks for is not needed if they already have it in their records, which they did. Of course, the systems may have changed now but it would be worth checking.

When you call the pensions office, they will ask if you want to submit/ complete your application over the telephone or prefer to have the form sent out. Considering the postal service here and the time involved, this is a no-brainer really. In addition, they ask a whole range of questions about your travel movements including dates of when you flew to the Ph etc. All pretty straight forward. My advice would be to have this sort of info handy before making the call and keep a good record of what you told them. I suspect they may use some of that info in years to come for security purposes to verify you are who you say you are. Overall, the telephone application was easy; a painless process and well worth it.

As an add on to my previous post and in case I misled you, they do ask a lot of questions as you would expect, more than they would in a normal phone call to the pension’s office. So you really do need to have a lot of info ready. It’s probably a good idea to peruse their online form to get an idea of the sort of info they're looking for. Like I say, it’s easy, but only if you have all the relevant info handy. Marriage date, employment history, date of leaving UK etc., etc.

Thanks a lot everybody, the form that I thought was for foreign applicants is the one that I should fill in, but having traveled worldwide since 1976 to 25 plus countries and worked in the UK for multiple companies inside and out of the UK, I think I will go for the phone call to the pension office option. I assume the number to phone is the one on the form +44 (0)191 218 7777

Just found the attached form online; should help to prepare you for the call.

IPC BR1 NSP form: If you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016, you can claim now using this form
Ref: IPC BR1 NSP PDF, 653KB, 26 pages

Correct.

How long did you work in UK in total?
Did you work in any other EU countries?

Unless your pension contributions add up to 10 years you may get nothing at all.

This is indeed the correct number. Depending on time of day, you can expect to be holding for 20-25 minutes before getting through to a human.

that you get through to a human named Martin.

I strongly recommend that you make your phone call as soon as the lines open. Whenever I have called at that time I get an immediate response.

I did a check on my NI contributions and expected pension not long ago and found out that I actually get something. A couple of overseas contracts were for UK based companies so that must have boosted my NI contributions.

Did mine online. Had all the information ready. First checked my NI contributions on Government gateway portal, found I was a few years short of the 35 years contributions required for full pension. I payed about £740 for each missing year. Pension is being paid without any problems.

Someone once said in a forum that they were able to call them using Viber which I assume means no costs for phone call.......anyone know if this is correct.. would skype also work ??