Moved around a lot: need help to clarify pensions situation

lostinfrance72

Hello

I'm looking for some advice and / or others who've been in the same position.

My Dh and I are 48 and 44 respectively and both UK citizens. We were students when we met, having both already done undergraduate degrees, worked in the UK and travelled / worked overseas, then met while doing postgrad studies back in the UK. Just after we got married, we decided to go Down Under and were there for around 5 years (both working) until the birth of our first child. At this point we decided to return to the same side of the globe as our parents, and have settled in France, where my husband works and I look after the children (we have two now, both primary-school age). I'm aiming to return to work in the future, probably next year.

We don't really have any pensions provision as such (though we do own outright a couple of rental properties in Scotland and have investments / savings of around £120,000). My DH has an 'assurance vie' which is kind of a life assurance policy here in France. I will aim to set one up when I am working.

I'm trying to clarify the situation re. the UK State pension and any work-related pensions from our previous employers.

UK State Pension: I have only 9 years clocked with the HMRC, due to studying / travelling. My husband has a lot more (he left school at 16 and worked straight away). I've read the HMRC site and I think I understand about making voluntary contributions, but I'm not clear as to whether I can eventually make up the 35 years required for the max UK State Pension. I'm kicking myself that we didn't both do this sooner (make contributions when we were travelling and working). So I'm wondering what I can do now to make this up over time? Will I have to make contributions for the next 26 years to do this i.e. until I am 70??

Pensions overseas: How do I find out whether there are any pension pots sitting in NZ ? Contact my old employers? And can we access these at all? I'm really not very clued up on how pensions work.

This has all been kicked off by my finding out that France has no state pension, and that if we're to afford any cheese and wine to go with the baguette in the future, we'll need to sort something out. I'm also very aware that a lot of this may be up in the air due to Brexit: it's hard to plan ahead when the world seems to shift on its axis every few months. But any advice or BTDT* would be appreciated.
*Been There Done That

xylophone

You can both obtain new state pension statements.

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

https://www.gov.uk/international-pension-centre

http://www.cleiss.fr/docs/regimes/regime_france/an_3.html