Hi !

I wonder if anyone can help. I am 32 years old and now live and work in Spain. I worked in the UK for about 10 years before I came. My question is what is the situation with my future UK state pension. Is it worth me making contributions to the UK in order to get a full UK pension as well as a Spanish one ? And how much would these contributions be ? If anyone knows about pensions etc. I would be grateful for any advice on my options. By the way I was born in the UK.

Many thanks in advance

You need to speak to DWP to discover the latest situation. When I left I was 10 yearsish short of a full pension, but I was told that it was not worth me making further contributions as the years for maximum pension were being reduced to 35.

If you call DWP in Newcastle they will be able to give you a forecast, and they will be able to tell you exactly how much it will cost you to top up. You just need to give them your name address and NI number to get this and it usually tales about 2 weeks.

Your UK pension contributions would not currently give you a pension as the requirmenent is a minimun of 25% of the full qualification which is 44 years.

However the rules change in 2010 and the requirement drops to 30 years for a full pension. Assuming that the 25% rule is retained your 10 years would be enough. Also remember that you start accruing credits from age 16 even if you are not working so you might have more years than you think.

Unfortunately you cannot get a pension forecast at the moment unless you reach pensionable age before April 2010 - apparently they haven't programmed the computers yet for the new rules!

Your other option, if you work in Spain or any other EU country, is for your UK pension to be added to your Spanish pension even if it would not qualify on its own. This also applies the other way round if you have the right to a (reduced) UK pension and work in Spain. You do not have to work in Spain for 15 years to get a Spanish pension - a couple of years paid in Spain will add to your total pension. The 15 year rule only applies if you only have a Spanish pension.

Fred thats interesting that makes lots of sence so we can top up our UK contributions with our spanish ones to get the Pension. Is that the UK penision or do we get the spanish one.

Ahhhhh, 30 years is it.
Thats daft not being able to get a forecast isn't it.

Its not really forward planning on the part of the computer programmers is it

As far as I know the pension gets paid by the country with the most contributions - in your case I assume that will be from the UK.

Don't ask me how they work it out - I imagine it is pretty complicated but it should be taken into account when you get a pension forecast nearer to retirement.

I think that they are deliberately avoiding the issue because, although the new law has passed through parliament a lot of people have issues about the fact that there is no phasing in.

If you retire at the end of March 2010 you need 44 years. If you retire a month later you only need 30 years. This is wildly unfair to a large number of people and I can see it all being modified before April 2010.

As I said, if you are 65 before 2010 you can still get a forecast.

Well I started to type out that question to put to you, but confused myself and deleted it.

I got a forcast last October and I dont retire until 2018 ..... have they upgraded the software for a better one or something

In October the new law had not been passed. It was passed in July this year.

There are more details here http://tinyurl.com/3xylz3

I think that if you go to live outside the UK before you're 65 you have to pay National Insurance contributions up to your 65th birthday to qualify for a full UK state pension, thats what NI people told me, on the good side the NI payments are less than the pension payments, so a win win situation.

mick

Not quite the full story, Mick.

To qualify for a full pension a man needs 44 years. The DSS consider a full working life to be 49 years. As the clock starts ticking from age 16 you should have a full record by the time you reach 60. If you do not then you are credited with the contribution years between 60 and 65 - but only if you need them.

These free credits are only available if you live in the UK for the year you want the credit.

So, if you live outside the UK you *might* need to pay them between 60 and 65.