Living abroad/top up state pension

woogloo

I have a very confusing situation. I'm 60 next week, I stopped paying social security in the UK when I was 40 and moved to Spain. Here I pay into the system but it won't amount to much when I retire, I'm self employed. My UK pension will be worth 109 pounds a week when I'm 67. I have two private pensions that at the moment are worth just over 20,000. I have a mortgage of 58,000€ with 10 years still to run. My husband is 75 and his only income is the full UK state pension. My only experience of British financial advisors in Spain was one who spent two hours in my house trying to get me to cash in my pension in a scam that was running a few years ago so I don't know how to find someone I can trust here. I believe I can top up my UK state pension by an extra 40 pounds a week but I don't know if it's worth doing. I'm a Spanish tax payer only. Any advice? I think even Martin Lewis might struggle with this one.  

molerat

What makes you think you can only top up by £40 ?  Likely you may be able to top up by £70 !

You need to meet the following to make class 2 contributions :

You were working or self employed immediately before you left the UK

Must have spent a constant 3 years in UK before leaving and paid NI for 3 years

You are working or self employed in your new country of residence

You can make class 2 contributions for periods you were working or self employed, for other periods you would need to make class 3.

Class 2 will cost you £3.05 per week to get £5.13 per week pension - an absolute steal, class 3 £15.40.

You will be able to pay as far back as 2006-07

Have you got a current state pension forecast ?

You need to speak to HMRC to see what is available to you

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/national-insurance-enquiries-for-employees-and-individuals

woogloo

Yes I have got the forecast and it was the government site that told me I could only top up to 149 pounds. I guess if it doesn't cost much to top up it's worth doing and leaves me able to look at what to do with the private pension. Thanks for your interest.

molerat

What exactly did your forecast show ?  Not just the headline amount but all 3? amounts.

nigelbb

It's definitely worth topping up added years. If you aren't due a pension for 6-7 years you will have 12-13 post-2016 contribution years to fill each of which is worth about £5/week so you should be able to reach the maximum £179.90/week. I suspect that your forecast tells you that you can purchase past years to add £40/week but you also have another 6-7 years in the future.