Pensions

[golf birdie]

does anyone know how they work out pensions if you have paid the full 30 years in the UK but also paid over 25 years in Spain?

I have been advised to pay voluntary contributions to make up the remaining 30 years in the UK and if things plan out I will have paid 25 to 30 years here. The amounts to pay in the UK are very small but is it worth while paying to get 30 years in the UK? Any advice would be most helpful.

[languagefan]

Hi
Contact DWP and ask for a pension forecast:
1) how much they will pay u once u reach pension age /month based on the years that u have already paid without paying the extra voluntary contributions.
2) same question but for the case where u pay the extra voluntarily for X number of yrs.
That will put u a position to make up ur mind whether it 'd be worth it or not.
The overlapping yrs should not be a problem as u will voluntarily pay for the years that u have been in Spain.
Obviously there is no point creating bureaucratic complications for urself crossing information across the two systems, as a pedantic person may invent a hypothetical problem for u here or there.
I don't know how the Spanish pension system works out ur pension, but maybe u can ask somebody to prepare a letter for u in Spanish to request a forecast.
Hope this helps.

[Tom & Sharon]

There's a state pension calculator here -

https://www.gov.uk/calculate-state-pension

[1247sandra]

As far as I'm aware when the time comes for your pension claim you have to claim in the country in which you last paid a contribution so if you are still paying here when you reach pension age you claim here and they sort out the contributions you have paid in uk.I have a friend who worked in uk for ten years before returning here and that is what he had to do.

[junglejim]

This from Goldenmaniac on here should help

http://www.diana-mcglone.com/#Pens

[timmylish]

If we take the no. of years shown in your opening para. it appears that you want to claim you have been working since the age of 10 (30 + 25 = 55 deducted from pension age of 65 = 10 !). Anyway, once you have the initial form from the UK complete this and take it with you to the SS offices in Granadilla (you,ll have had to make an appointment first of course) and the really helpful staff up there will sort most things out for you. Of course you will want to be doing this 3 or 4 months pre pensionable age.

[golf birdie]

If we take the no. of years shown in your opening para. it appears that you want to claim you have been working since the age of 10 (30 + 25 = 55 deducted from pension age of 65 = 10 !). Anyway, once you have the initial form from the UK complete this and take it with you to the SS offices in Granadilla (you,ll have had to make an appointment first of course) and the really helpful staff up there will sort most things out for you. Of course you will want to be doing this 3 or 4 months pre pensionable age.

if you read the thread again I said 'voluntary contributions' to make up the years. As I have 19 years in the uk I would need to pay an extra 11 years to gain from 30 years. As I am still a fair few years away from pension age I only wanted to know if paying those 11 years would be worthwhile.

[jack oakley]

Be very very careful in your dealings with the U.K. D.W.P, DO NOT RELY ON INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY THEM, they constantly give wrong information as previous and present governments have regularly changed the rules on applicable entitlement years. You will have to deal with two departments, the National Insurance Contributions Office and the DWP. The DWP (who pay your pension) rely on information supplied by the N.I.C. office who actually hold your contribution record. You must contact the N.I. Contributions office and request a FULL contributions record for qualifying years worked in the U.K., dependant on whether you are male or female the THIRTY YEAR ceiling may not suffice, the 30 years "paid" threshold will only be applicable if you spend the last 5 years (i.e.60 to 65) of your working life in the U.K. , these years may not need monitary contributions to apply as they are credited when you reach the age of 60 but this takes the qualifying years from 30 to THIRTY FIVE to be eligible for a FULL state pension. So be very careful before you make any voluntary contributions as you may find them wasted, the truth is the U.K. pension service is in utter chaos due to new E.U. entitlement rules and the shambles the N.I.Contributions office is currently in since it was converged with the Inland Revenue. The present government is attempting to unravel the minefield of beurocratic red tape that sets the pension claiming criteria and the expectancy will be that within the next 3 years ALL citizens reaching pensionable age will receive a full state pension irrespective of whether they have paid N.I.contributions or not. The utter hypocrisy of the present situation is that a 65 year old person who has NEVER worked NEVER paid a single N.I. contribution and spent their life on unemployment benefit, OR an immigrant from any other E.U. or Commonwealth country of pensionable age will receive the equivalent of, or MORE than the minimum value of a full state pension, whereas someone who has worked and paid contributions for 22 years will receive less than three quarters of the full state benefit rate. The supplement voluntary yearly amount is currently circa £550-00 per year so you would have to fork out over £6000-00 to get an extra £30-00 per week. The U.K. is certainly a wealthy monitary haven of retirement contentment so long as you are NOT BRITISH. I wish you the very best of luck in your prospective claim but buy yourself a wig before you start your claim process as you will end up tearing your hair out.