Austrian need help ...

Gartenstuhl

Hi all! I am from Austria and work at a University. Our univsersity offers a pension scheme, which I pay contributions to since I started work. My partner works here now for about a year and we realised now that he does not pay any pension. His firm does not provide a pension sheme and he also does not pay towards state pension (we thought that was automatically as it is at home, but it seems not). My partner asked people at his work, but everyone uses different schemes or does not pay pension contributions at all.
We do not know how long we will stay here in England, but the longterm plan is to go back to Austria at some point. Therefore it is very important to pay into a pension sheme, as to get the necessary years so that Austria pays out our pension there. We are very confused now what to do with the pension of my partner. It is very important that he pays into a scheme, but we don't know into which one. People at the embassy said the best and easiest would be to pay into the national pension scheme, but could not give us more information on that.
I would be very grateful if you could give me help on this topic.
Cheers
G.

EdInvestor

If your partner is in full time employment he will be paying into the two state pensions (the basic one and State Second pension S2P, which is earnings related) via his national Insurance contributions. (So will you, in addition to your university scheme).

You can both check your entitlements here:

https://www.the pensionservice.gov.uk

I agre that it's importnat he pays into the state scheme so you are entitled to full pensions at home later.If by any chance your partner is technically self employed, he can do this by paying "voluntary class 11 National Insurance contrinbutions" which are just over 2 pounds a wekk - the bargain of the century.;) You can enquire about them at the above link as well.

Cook_County

1. As neither of you are domiciled within the UK you should invest everthing not wrapped in a pension offshore so you pay no tax anywhere on the interest you receive.

2. You need to check the EU social security agreements before jumping into paying UK social contributions if you might be exempt.

3. You should ensure that any UK pensions you invest in (outside of the State) are approved as QROPS so you can transfer the funds to Austria in the future if you choose.

chesky369

Is Austria in the EU?

Gartenstuhl

Thank you so much for your information, it is very useful.

and, yes Austria is part of the EU.

Cook_County

Danke schön!