jasper123

I applied for my pension forecast and I had my NI # and it took only 2 weeks for them to mail the forecast to me, but they could only include my 10 years of UK employment, they cant include the 4 years I worked in Australia or the 3 years I worked in Canada,
They include the time spent in those two countries when I actually apply for my pension when I return to UK,
If you have lived in Australia, New Zealand, or Canada in your past they give you credit for those years also because they are part of the British Comonweath, so those years are added to your UK years giving you a larger UK pension,
Rodney US 64

jasper123

Lestagirl yes I am a soccer fan and my team in Portsmouth (Pompey) they played in the FA cup final a few weeks ago but I forgot to tune in to my Soccer channel that day so I missed it, Pompey lost but everyone I talked to said it was a good game, Pompey is having terrible financial problems right now they have to sale a lot of there best players so the teams future is in jeopardy

Simon Legree

Are you sure this is correct ? As far as I understand it you only get credit for the number of years that you have actually made contributions. That can mean years worked in the UK plus any years that you have purchased while abroad. If you only worked and/or bought ten years of contributions you will get 10/30ths of the going pension. Can anyone confirm this ?

nolimits

I lived in Chorley for many years and went to Southlands school in Chorley.
one of my closest friends lived in Leyland and worked at the Natwest Bank there, (the small one on the hill!!)
I worked in Preston in Fishergate with a lady who lived in Fulwood. Small world indeed.
I still go up there to visit school friends, one lives in Eccleston!!

jasper123

Hi Marmalade, yes I too am guilty of keeping paper documents, I have shoe boxes full of them, just loads & loads of paper forms and things that I kept that companies sent me just in case I would have to refer back to them later, I have stuff dating back years ago even before the millennium I have bank statements years old, even utility bills 5 or so years old, why? time for feeding all that junk into the shredder,
You know when we start our sorting through the clutter its the small things that are so time consuming,
before you can chuck stuff away you have to sort through everything like ----

All your paper documents

your cd,s & dvd,s

All your photos that you have in the original envelopes stuck in a draw, dozens maybe hundreds of photos that you have only looked at once when they were developed, but we keep them cause they are our memories of the places we have been, and of our friends and family,

Then your closets full of clothes that you havent been able to fit into for years and years but we still keep them cause we think that one day we may slim down a little and be able to wear them again hmmm
but this is the time for a good old clear out ----- we are moving home
Talking about old jeans --- oh boy I have about 20 pair too that I havent been able to wear for god knows how many years, ---- out they go with all the other stuff and into boxes and taken to the Salvation Army,
Soon I will be sorting and chucking with the rest of you, just in a few weeks from now when I start my 2 week paid vacation, gonna get it all done at once,

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE,
Rodney.

Cookie

When you move to eg Canada your pension is actually frozen at the pension rate at that time - it is not even indexed linked. Strangely enough the USA has an agreement for UK pension increases but NOT Commonwealth countries such as Canada or Australia.

Here is a link to a fairly recent BBC webpage: UK expats lose pension freeze appeal

I received a letter about my NI contributions early this year and chose to pay for the previous 2 years missed NI contributions to bring me up to 30 years contributions which is now the threshold for a full pension. It will still be frozen though.

jasper123

This is how it works in the UK when they calculate your pension when you apply for it,
To get the full pension you used to have to have 44 years of contributions,
Now this year it has been brought down to only 30 years needed to get full pension,
They look at how many years you have worked in UK ---and of course it has to be covered employment --- stamp paid for every week,
Then if you have worked in any of those comonweath countries like Oz or New Zealand or Canada as long as you worked in covered employment in either of those countries then the credits for those years are added to the amount of years that you worked in UK

So for example ----- I have a total of 10 years of covered (stamp paid) years in UK employment, plus 4 years covered employment in Australia and 3 years covered employment in Canada,
Total of 17 years contributions towards my UK pension,

Remember it is now only 30 years needed in UK for full pension --- so I have 17 years so my pension will be a little under 2 thirds of the full pension,

At least that is what I have found out by two conversations recently on the phone to the British pension office both in Newcastle upon tyne and London,

But they did tell me that they wont include the years I worked in Oz and Canada if I apply for my pension while I am still in the US, ---- I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I COME HOME to apply for my pension,

BUT----- if you are still living now in Canada or Australia or New Zealand and are or will be entitled to that countries pension --- then as far as I understand it you will not be able to get both countries pension --- only one !!!
But that part I am not sure of though,
thats what I remember reading on UK works & pension site on the internet,
Hope this helps a little,
Rodney.

Marmalade

That's so funny Rodney, we sound so similar. I have just returned from donating three bags of clothes to Goodwill, and my recycle bin is full of paper. I think this will go on for weeks, though. So, my advice to you is to do a little every single day, and the pile gets smaller, and smaller, and smaller.

Yes, pictures, what the heck am I going to do with them all. I am thinking of scanning a lot of them, but it will take ages. I need to do a real sort through of those before I go too. Plenty to keep me busy. I just sorted through my CDs and movies yesterday. I will have to either give some away or donate them too.

Good luck to you Rodney. In your posts about moving back to live with your mother I can feel the excitement you feel. Have a wonderful move back when the time comes. In the meantime, get chucking out

teatime

Re: UK pension

Jasper you are correct that you now only need 30 years of contribution for a UK pension - I worked for 7 years in the UK before emigrating and I have been been advised that I have 10yrs contributions - I am allowed to pay in for the last four years and then I will pay yearly so that when I retire I will have contributed 27/30th.
They do not include your years of working in a commonwealth country, you will get a pension in those countries for the amount of time you worked there.
If you live in Canada etc. you will receive your Canadian pension and your UK pension-the UK pension will be taxed in Canada as income,(and Canadian pension taxed in UK if living there) and when you apply for your UK pension it will be fixed at that rate forever (not indexed) It is unfortunate for expats living in Commonwealth countries that the UK pension is not indexed but if you live in the US or European community it is indexed.
Hope this helps

charleygirl

A question about the pensions if you dont mind, so for me I started paying stamp at 17 and I worked in the UK for about 22 years, so can some one tell me does this mean I am only 8 years short of what is needed for a pension, sorry to be so vague, but I know so little about this, I am 58 now. Would like to work when i return, will do anything hahaha.
I do know pension age is now 63 for woman.


Rodney yes big shame about Pompey..... I am a Leicester fan.

teatime

Hi Lestagirl,

You are correct if you worked (full stamp) for 22yrs in UK you will only have to make 8 yrs contributions for a full pension - 30yrs. You are able to pay in for at least three previous years and contribute yearly after that, which by my quick calculations if you did this you would receive a full UK pension. Are you living in New Hampshire????? if so you are lucky as you will receive all of the pension increases (indexed pension) You will need to contact the British Pensions in Newcastle for a pension forecast and they will confirm your contributions and how much and for which years you can contribute to - they have been a little slow lately it took them 5 months for them to reply to me.
If you need the address I can post it for you.
Bye

bowery

So does that mean if i have lived in the UK for ten years Canada for five and australia for 20 i will have a good chance of getting the Uk aged pension then thanks

charleygirl

Hi teatime thank you for the info and yes I am in NH but i have not worked here very much, just seasonal jobs and part time. What is the advantage of being in NH? Thanks.
I have already printed out the form requesting pension forecast and mailed it off but I did not know my NI # so have requested a trace on that.
So with a bit of luck then I maybe able to catch up.
Thank you for all the help.

teatime

Hi Lestagirl,
the only reason I mentioned New Hampshire is that if you are collecting your UK pension in the US it is indexed, whereas in the commonwealth countries it is not- pension rate stays the same as the day you applied for it. This is hurting a lot of UK pensioners in the commonwealth countries e.g. if you applied for your UK pension in 1986 and it was 25 pounds sterling it would still be the same in 2010 - there is a lot of controversy in regards to this - a bill to remedy this was struck down by the House of Lords and then taken to the European Parliament who did the same but the representatives of British Pensioners abroad are not giving up. Sorry I am so long winded and hope it makes sense.

teatime

Hi Bowery,

If you worked in UK for 10 years you will be entitled to 10/30th of a UK pension which is approx. 95 pounds sterling, so you would receive approx. 31 pounds sterling. It is better to contact the British Pensions and they will send you a forecast explaining what you are entitled to and how much to pay if you wish to contribute further. You will have to contact Service Canada for a Pension forecast and I believe the same for Oz? I'm not sure if you can contribute to missed years in Canada - but it was a while ago so it could have changed.