Help for returning resident

seven-day-weekend

beanjay1 wrote: »

OK. Twelve months has passed and we are settled in the UK now but I would like to clarify some points from previous posts.

I had no wish to return to the UK but was forced to do so by ridiculous government regulations. I lived and worked overseas all of my working life and because the UK government said I would always be eligible for full benefits if I continued to pay my NI contributions, I paid them for 50 years.

However, in 1989 the government decided to change the law so what I did not know was that NI contributions did not count as from that time and I had no longer had any health insurance even though I had paid for it in full.

A couple of years ago I started to develop cataracts that got rather bad. The NHS said that I would have to pay £2,500 per eye or return and live in England. As I did not have the £5,000 cash plus travel expenses available I had no alternative but to return.

Now to the stupid part:

Since returning to the UK with my partner I draw more than £10,000 a year in benefits to which I am legally entitled even though my partner has No Recourse to Public Funds.

Had the NHS allowed me to have the treatment that I had already paid for in NI contributions, without returning to live in the UK, they would have saved the British taxpayer £5,000 this year and more than £10,000 in every subsequent year.

When I asked the local MP for his comments on this he told me that there are many similar instances because, when formulating their regulations, no government department ever liases with any other department to see how their regulation changes affect them. In this case the NHS never considered the effect on the DWP of the changes they were making.

Since this saga began I have found out what I should have done and that is exactly what every other retired British person living overseas does. They simply remain registered with a local GP and give a relatives address in the UK as their own. That way no questions are ever asked when medical treatment is required. These retired people are not ripping anyone off, they have already paid their NI contributions up to their retirement date.

Hope this clarifies a few things.

beanjay

'Every other' British person living abroad does not do that. We do not.

We actually have a UK address (a genuine one of a house that belongs to my husband and myself, we wouldn't have to give a false address) as well as a Spanish one . The DWP told us when we becme Spanish residents that we would no longer be able to access the British NHS. Access to the British NHS depends upon residency, not contributions.

To not inform them of going to live abroad in order to claim healthcare/benefits is fraud, pure and simple.

beanjay1

If you live outside the UK there are restrictions placed on you. Some retired people that I met overseas had no idea about this and others just got around the problem like I said earlier.

If you go to Europe you are allowed to remain there for six months in any one year before losing your status as a UK resident. Outside Europe it is three months.

The reason that I cannot now go back overseas is that I had to re-qualify as a British resident. This was a lengthy and costly process, as I had to prove that I had disposed of all my assets overseas. It also involves interrogation by a government official who comes to your home to look for signs that you have returned for good, i.e. long term commitments etc.

I do not want to live here on handouts which keep me on the breadline. I would rather live somewhere I can live well on my pension without needing charity. All of the benefits that I get now are means tested . I can absolutely guarantee that I am legally entitled to them, I made sure of that.

When I worked overseas the government advised me to continue paying my NI contributions in order to qualify for my benefits. In 1989 they changed the law without telling me. They just kept taking my contributions although they knew that I could not fully benefit from them. I have always tried to play by the rules but when the rules are changed without your knowledge it gets a bit difficult. I can fully understand why some pensioners get around the system.

My partner came to the UK with me and from the day she arrived she was entitled to free treatment on the NHS because she had a Visa stamped in her passport. I was not entitled to any treatment because I had a British Passport and was a British citizen who had been away too long. I was the one who paid the NI contributions for 50 years, not my partner, although she is now employed full time and paying like everyone else.

Seven-day-weekend is obviously one of the more wealthy pensioners who lives overseas – I have met plenty of these also. Unlike me they have no problem in paying for their health insurance. By the time I found out that I had been conned about my NI contributions I was too old to buy health insurance. The only one available would have cost me more than £1000 a year and had stringent limitations.

Anything else?

beanjay

bunny999

There is not now and has never been a connection between paying NI and entitlement to NHS treatment.

cattie

beanjay1 wrote: »

I do not want to live here on handouts which keep me on the breadline. I would rather live somewhere I can live well on my pension without needing charity. All of the benefits that I get now are means tested . I can absolutely guarantee that I am legally entitled to them, I made sure of that.

beanjay

:eek:I would hardly descibe a income of £10k per year from benefits as being on the breadline.

Lots of us who have become too sick or disabled to now work have to live on a lot less, in spite of having paid national insurance & tax for donkeys years.

krisskross

We returned to the UK after living in Spain for a few years. There was no costly process for us, no questions about our house in Spain etc. Although we had needed to sell the house to finance our life here we could have kept the property and still have claimed our pensions etc had we been able to afford to. We claim no means tested benefits.

Surely after your many many years paying NI you have a SRP on those grounds? The fact that you say all your income is means tested leads me to believe that you have returned to the UK simply because it is possible to get all you need for a comfortable life from the taxpayer.

What NI contributions did you actually pay for these 50 years? Why didn't they entitle you to a state Retirement Pension? Do you honestly not think that with an income of £10K pa from the public purse in exchange for perhaps a few bob in contributions you are not doing very well out of UK plc?

mealone

beanjay1 wrote: »

If you live outside the UK there are restrictions placed on you. Some retired people that I met overseas had no idea about this and others just got around the problem like I said earlier.

If you go to Europe you are allowed to remain there for six months in any one year before losing your status as a UK resident. Outside Europe it is three months.

The reason that I cannot now go back overseas is that I had to re-qualify as a British resident. This was a lengthy and costly process, as I had to prove that I had disposed of all my assets overseas. It also involves interrogation by a government official who comes to your home to look for signs that you have returned for good, i.e. long term commitments etc.

I do not want to live here on handouts which keep me on the breadline. I would rather live somewhere I can live well on my pension without needing charity. All of the benefits that I get now are means tested . I can absolutely guarantee that I am legally entitled to them, I made sure of that.

When I worked overseas the government advised me to continue paying my NI contributions in order to qualify for my benefits. In 1989 they changed the law without telling me. They just kept taking my contributions although they knew that I could not fully benefit from them. I have always tried to play by the rules but when the rules are changed without your knowledge it gets a bit difficult. I can fully understand why some pensioners get around the system.

My partner came to the UK with me and from the day she arrived she was entitled to free treatment on the NHS because she had a Visa stamped in her passport. I was not entitled to any treatment because I had a British Passport and was a British citizen who had been away too long. I was the one who paid the NI contributions for 50 years, not my partner, although she is now employed full time and paying like everyone else.

Seven-day-weekend is obviously one of the more wealthy pensioners who lives overseas – I have met plenty of these also. Unlike me they have no problem in paying for their health insurance. By the time I found out that I had been conned about my NI contributions I was too old to buy health insurance. The only one available would have cost me more than £1000 a year and had stringent limitations.

Anything else?

beanjay

I suggest you learn more about people before making sweeping statements about other posters like seven day weekend, it just makes you look petty and selfish.

I dont believe for one second that you have paid class 1 NI conts while you have been away for so long and anyother class dosnt count for benefits.

You came here to get benefits and you are getting them but you are still not happy.

healy

mealone wrote: »

I suggest you learn more about people before making sweeping statements about other posters like seven day weekend, it just makes you look petty and selfish.

I dont believe for one second that you have paid class 1 NI conts while you have been away for so long and anyother class dosnt count for benefits.

You came here to get benefits and you are getting them but you are still not happy.

Class 2 self employed NI contributions count for benefits (apart from conts based JSA) the same as class 1 NI contributions.

mealone

healy wrote: »

Class 2 self employed NI contributions count for benefits (apart from conts based JSA) the same as class 1 NI contributions.

Do you pay that if you work overseas healy?

healy

mealone wrote: »

Do you pay that if you work overseas healy?

Yes you can pay class 2 self employed NI contributions whilst working overseas.

krisskross

healy wrote: »

Yes you can pay class 2 self employed NI contributions whilst working overseas.

This looks like about £2 a week so just £100 a year. Surely this isn't enough to claim a full State pension? I was daft enough to pay the married women's stamp and this was a lot more than £2 a week , in fact I was paying about £40 a week. Didn't entitle me to diddly squat.