State Pension Question

woolly_wombat

Mensch wrote: »

when I requested a pension forecast from Newcastle and Hamburg at the same time in 2014 I got a response from the UK within four weeks and, despite three further letters and a phone call to the Germans, I'm still waiting for their forecast.

From the EU 'Your Europe' website:
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/retire-abroad/state-pensions-abroad/index_en.htm#

State pensions abroad

Applying for pensions

Old-age pensions

Who to apply to

If you've worked in several EU countries, you may have accumulated pension rights in each of them.
You'll have to apply to the pension authority in the country where you're living or you last worked. If you've never worked in the country where you're living, your host country will forward your claim to the one you last worked in.
That country is then responsible for processing your claim and bringing together records of your contributions from all the countries you worked in.

The UK International Pension Centre contact details can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/international-pension-centre

Several posters claiming French/German pensions have reported having to prove on an annual basis that they are still alive and kicking, so at least you won't have that hassle if you are able to claim from the UK.

I'd be very interested to hear how you get on (my husband will be making a claim for a small French pension in a few years time).

WW

greenglide

Several posters claiming French/German pensions have reported having to prove on an annual basis that they are still alive and kicking, so at least you won't have that hassle if you are able to claim from the UK.

People claiming UK pensions from overseas overseas are often required to prove they are still alive - called a "Life Certificate".

This is largely for the likes of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh etc.

I would assume that EU rules probably don't allow it for EU counties without applying the same rules to all EU countries including UK?

Perdu

greenglide wrote: »

People claiming UK pensions from overseas overseas are often required to prove they are still alive - called a "Life Certificate".

This is largely for the likes of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh etc.

I would assume that EU rules probably don't allow it for EU counties without applying the same rules to all EU countries including UK?

Happening this year for UK State pensioners in France too. I'm not yet affected, but all the local expat forums are buzzing..

doubleug

i have been in receipt of the state pension since 2012 and get £118 a week--based on 35 years NI contributions. Is there a calculation i could apply that would give me a fictional figure that would replace my £118 assuming i was if i was five years younger and looking forward to my "full" pension in may 2016?
Put another way--how much have i lost out by by being older?

jem16

doubleug wrote: »

i have been in receipt of the state pension since 2012 and get £118 a week--based on 35 years NI contributions. Is there a calculation i could apply that would give me a fictional figure that would replace my £118 assuming i was if i was five years younger and looking forward to my "full" pension in may 2016?
Put another way--how much have i lost out by by being older?

As you only have £118 it looks like you have been contracted out for most of your working life so it's more than likely that your pension under the new rules would have been less than what you're getting now due to the contracted out deduction. In reality your £118 would have been your foundation amount and that's what you would be getting.

You have lost nothing by being older.

zagfles

doubleug wrote: »

i have been in receipt of the state pension since 2012 and get £118 a week--based on 35 years NI contributions. Is there a calculation i could apply that would give me a fictional figure that would replace my £118 assuming i was if i was five years younger and looking forward to my "full" pension in may 2016?
Put another way--how much have i lost out by by being older?

It looks like you've not got much SERPS, so were you in a contracted out occupational scheme, or were you self employed? Does your state pension statement show a "contracted out deduction"?

If you were self-employed you might have lost out. If you were in a contracted out scheme you almost certainly haven't. The new "full" pension is reduced by contracted out deductions.

p00hsticks

doubleug wrote: »

i have been in receipt of the state pension since 2012 and get £118 a week--based on 35 years NI contributions. Is there a calculation i could apply that would give me a fictional figure that would replace my £118 assuming i was if i was five years younger and looking forward to my "full" pension in may 2016?
Put another way--how much have i lost out by by being older?

I'm not aware of a precise calculation being freely available as yet.

However - for how many of those 35 years were you contracted out ? The fact that you have only £5 a week over the basic £113 pension would suggest that you've been contracted out for the majority of that time, in which case your entitlement under the new rules would be considerably LESS than what you are currently getting (although you'd get what you are currently getting under the old rules, so wouldn't "lose out").

Also, if you had been born just a few years earlier, you would have needed a minimum of 39 (female) or 44 (male) years NI contributions to get the pension you are currently getting.

So you're not losing out at all....

baffled_by_cod_deductions

Seems this is the place to find an expert. I am 67 and have full state pension but 33.70 of cod deductions. I was in a contracted out pension job for 1 year between 1979 And 1997. I did contract out of SERPS for a few years. Found great difficulty getting a source to check the way figure is calculated. Had no reply from phone and written enquiries to DWP. Most readable guide was the 20 page guidance to MP's published by House of Commons - which includes the memorable statement :"no ordinary mortal could check their entitlement"

Any chance of a light being shone from this forum

zagfles

baffled_by_cod_deductions wrote: »

Seems this is the place to find an expert. I am 67 and have full state pension but 33.70 of cod deductions. I was in a contracted out pension job for 1 year between 1979 And 1997. I did contract out of SERPS for a few years. Found great difficulty getting a source to check the way figure is calculated. Had no reply from phone and written enquiries to DWP. Most readable guide was the 20 page guidance to MP's published by House of Commons - which includes the memorable statement :"no ordinary mortal could check their entitlement"

Any chance of a light being shone from this forum

The problem is not so much that you need to be Einstein, it's just that you need so much data. I did have a go at calculating mine and got to pretty close to my state pension forecasts, but it was incredibly tedious.

You will need all your payslips from when you were contracted out (whether in a company scheme or private pension). If you left contracted out employment you will need to know what basis the scheme used for GMP indexation. You will need the LEL, UEL and earnings indexation factors for all the years.

The following document is the best, though it doesn't really go into contracted out deduction calculations in much detail, however COD is based on the SERPS accrued with the main exception being that once you'vre left a contracted out occupational scheme, COD gets indexed as per the GMP indexation which the scheme uses (often fixed rate, as shown in the MPs guide, but the scheme can use other methods). And once over state pension age the indexation is totally different.

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121015000000/http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@over50/documents/digitalasset/dg_180938.pdf

Earnings revaluation factors are here: http://timeline.lge.gov.uk/s148/uksi_20140367_en.pdf

LEL & UEL's are here (for post 2002 you need LET & SET but not relevant for COD which only applies pre 1997):
http://adviser.royallondon.com/technical-central/rates-and-factors/ni-limits/lower-and-upper-earnings-limits/

seven-day-weekend

Mensch wrote: »

Don't know if this demonstrates our public sector is "any bluidy good" or not compared to the German one (for example), but when I requested a pension forecast from Newcastle and Hamburg at the same time in 2014 I got a response from the UK within four weeks and, despite three further letters and a phone call to the Germans, I'm still waiting for their forecast.


On the plus side for the Germans, they do give you a name and a direct-dial number to contact but, as charming as Frau Jablonski was during the call, I'm no further forward with any forecast a whole year later.

I know someone who was entitled to German (his nationality) and Spanish pensions. His Spanish one took a few months and last I heard he had been waiting two years for his German pension.