alba1

Thank you for your input but none of this actually helps my problem which is a dispute with the Pension service. I have done my homework now and have determined what is best for my situation. Yes my US pension is at the moment
(per exchange rates) substantially more than the UK State pension....But, does
anyone actually live on that. I understand that there is 2nd pension, savings credit and numerous benefit entitlements. I will not be getting them so my UK state pension, little as it may be is important to me.
Mommy in foothills..don't worry too much. Union pensions are normally quite substantial and should be larger than soc. sec.
Also you can claim as dh's wife and receive roughly 1/2 of his, You can only claim on 1 ...whichever is larger. Social Security is very good and will try to advise you. I just went through this. All it took was a phone call. the intake person asked questions, checked records and advised as to where I could get largest amount. she estimated on the phone, I sent documents which were back in my hands within 7 business days and 20 days after my initial phone call I received an award letter and 6 weeks from the call my first check. I was very and pleasantly surprised at their efficiency. They also suggested I check into UK pension again.

Boodles

Yes, you are correct Bristol, I have just received a letter from Pension folks that came through France. Way to go EH!!

Mummy in the foothills

Good to know thanks

nun

I'm not sure we are understanding each other. The issue seems to be getting credit for your UK NI contributions that don't quite qualify you for a UK pension unless you are allowed to make some catch up payments. Can you use those payments to supplement your US SS payments and thus get a larger US SS check?

alba1

No, I can't. The issue is that due to misinformation or lack thereof I am now not allowed to pay voluntary contributions. I am still qualified for a minute
UK pension but voluntary contributions would have changed this from minute to small. This has nothing to do with my US pension.
the US-UK social security agreement does allow for use of either's contributions to allow to catch up for qualification. However no money actually changes hands and benefits are calculated by using a formula that no one seems to be willing to share. I was told it was pro-rata. I will follow that up when I get a written determination. All I have now is a verbal amount.

Boodles

Alba, I am sorry if this question is too personal, if it is please do not answer it, but can you say how long you worked in the UK for and how much the amount you were quoted was? Your information and experience with the UK pension people is touching many of us.

nun

So are you saying that as your US SS payments qualify you for a US pension you cannot use your UK NI payments to top it up?

How may years of UK NI contributions do you have? when did you ask about UK voluntary contributions and how old are you now? You should be able to pay for 6 years in the past and obviously make contributions form now on.

alba1

no I am saying I do not want to do it that way.

nun

Well the next question is, why not? You might end up with a bigger pension than if you use your NI contributions for the UK pension

How may years of voluntary NI contributions will you be able to make if you start now?

alba1

I could make 2 years contributions now but they would not help as they would be duplicated by my US contributions. I need to be able to make the contributions I missed out on due to their misinformation. I am not using my US contributions as I have a widow's pension. The widows pension is not subject to WEP adjustment.

nun

I thought you could make VCs up to 6 years in arrears, so even if you are at pension age couldn't you do that? I'm not sure I understand about your 2 years VCs being duplicated by US contributions?

How long have you been in the US? Have you been working for a US employer?
When did they misinform you about voluntary contributions?

alba1

and I'm waiting. no letter and/or documents as of yet. I guess they are rowing these letters across the Atlantic

Mummy in the foothills

I think that ended in April of this year, now I believe you can only make up 2 years of contributions in UK.

In US from what I remember they take the three largest earning years to calculate the amount you'd get for retirement, so taking the UK money to top it up wouldn't do much, if she was 2 years short of qualifying it's probably help.
But she already qualifies. So must have worked for 10 quarters or years or whatever it is.

nun

Alba. I'm still unclear how long you've been working in the US and how many UK VC payments you'll be able to make. When exactly did you start looking into expat NI contributions and when did the UK pensions dept misinform you about VC? If you are of pensionable age then the UK authorities will only be able to include your previous NI contributions and at most 6 years of retrospective VC contributions. Did you know anything about paying Class 2 NI contributions as an expat before applyinmg to the UK pension service?

alba1

Yes I have sufficient quarters for a US pension. However I am presently receiving a widow's pension. My pension is still accumulating in US and if at any time it is more than now, then I can change it over. this of course is a sep. issue from UK. There, I don't have enough quarters to qualify for the minimum
so they would have either 1. used my US quarters to qualify or I could have paid voluntary contributions if they had informed me correctly when I inquired.
This inquiry was not just once but I spoke at various times to different departments , different people and all told me the same thing. 10 years required and if you don't have it you are not entitled. You are correct, I can pay 2 years but it would not bring me up to 10 and they would just duplicate 2 of my US years so would not help. According to the pension office part of the reason all of this is delayed is that they have to get my actual records fromthe archives and make sure that nothing is duplicated in the US as if records are the same they cancel out. My argument is if they had responded to my inquiries correctly even in 2008 when there was correspondence I would have been within the time frame to pay and would have done so.
Also I think that there was a special circumstance that gave longer to pay certain years due to a government error and that they were supposed to be actively promoting this so people could pay. (Don't have all the info for this in front of me right now so facts are a bit sketchy)