pain-in-spain

I´ve lived in Spain (Barcelona city) for nearly 5 years. It´s been an interesting time with many lows and a few highs - won´t go into details now. I was lucky enough to be able to afford my property without a mortgage and we sold up in London and moved here lock stock and barrel. However, I am not retired and part of our game plan was to maintain employment and live a better life here. As many on this forum have already discovered Spain is not the place for anyone with drive and motivation and finding legal work with a half decent salary is scarce even in big cities like Barca. Anyway, I luckily found work, albeit with much effort, and during the nearly 5 years of being here, I suppose I´ve been employed for nearly 3 of them. Unfortunately, with the exception of one 6 month contract,the other jobs were (and still are) cash in hand with no tax paid. I´ve tried very hard to get jobs in the system but being in my 40´s has meant most Spanish employers won´t even consider my CV. Whilst I and my partner (who doesn´t work) can survive fairly well on what I bring in plus other bits, we are both very concerned about the future and the fact we are not in the system here, cannot declare income and have no entitlement to benefits if we needed them. We have not been paying our stamp in the UK to maintain our UK pensions so when we get older we will miss out. There is still time to do something about it, but we don´t know how we can make ourselves legal here without opening a can of worms.
Due to this precarious situation we are seriously considering moving back to London so we get back to a society with proper jobs and be in the system again. Is anyone else out there in a similar situation here and are we right to be worried. Thanks.

TheArmChairDetective

What does your partner do all day, or more importantly what will your partner do if you go back to england?

pain-in-spain

Hello armchair detective. to answer your question he is an artist (honestly!) so relies on selling his art and other odds & sods - I´m the designated bread winner and patron of the arts (by choice!).

Keri2323

Hi, I too am an 'artist' in the fact I have spent most of my working life as an entertainer, singer / songwriter. I just wanted to send you a message to say congrats for believing in your dreams and in your husbands talent. People dont realise how hard it is for the partners of the creative. They really dont. I refuse to accept that I was put on this earth for anything more than achieving something remarkable, which is why I have never settled in a 9-5 job, (although I have had MANY!)

The only advice I can give is that you are only experiencing this fear because UK society tells you should. No matter what they say, (About aboloshing UK pensions) a country would never let you starve and refuse to help you when you hit pension age. You are still a UK citizen. It wont be much you receive from them, but it sounds like the love and dedication and friendship you have with your hubby is far stronger than material things. You will have each other always, that is far more than anyone who just has a load of money.

mikelincs

Don't you believe it, the way the Uk is going..

Keri2323

I know what you are saying, but you honestly think they will let pensioners starve to death?

culchie

For what it's worth I think you should sit down and make a list of the pros and cons of Spain and the UK. For instance, the law is about to change in Britain so that if you have 30 years of 'stamps' you'll be entitled to a full state pension. In Spain you need 15 years of contributions to the system to qualify (as a foreigner, anyway). As you're in your 40s you still have plenty of time to get into the Spanish system. I'm presuming that you speak Spanish after 5 years here. Might be worth it to take an ordinary job with all the benefits paid for the security it brings.
You own your property so there's always the prospect of one of those loans for older people against property ( a complete swindle from what I can make out but okay if you haven't got any children depending on you).
Ultimately would you be better off (and I mean seriously better off) by returning to the UK? Are your prospects there any better than they are here? I think that all of us who make a life here have misgivings and wonder if the grass is really greener.....I can only repeat - sit down and make a list - a realistic one. Make a decision based on facts not dreams but don't forget to follow your dreams (but in a realistic manner!). Good luck!

Solarwhizz

You dont have to be employed (as such) to get into the Spanish system, register as Autonomo (self employed), Pay your INSS each month about 240€, that will cover your pension and your Health,
You may get checked by the social authority which may want some proof of income (which shouldnt be to hard to show!! nudge nudge) from your "self employment".

Secondly, why not consider paying the back contributions to the UK and maintaining going forward, as although you may not get the health cover if you have declared yourself as Non-resident (UK) you may still be entitled to the level of benefit earned by your contributions (I think it has now reduced as mentioned about from 40+ years to 30'ish now) , You will need to check this out on the DWP.Gov.gov uk site as i dont know the exact facts here, just offering ideas!.

Mitzyboy

Yes thats definately correct as I was advised by DWP when I left last year NOT to make any additional payments because this was about to happen. The move is still a mystery to me, but I'm not complaining