Claim the state pension with years spent working abroad

Double_Fault_Blues

I have received the HMRC  letter inviting me to claim the state pension .
    On following the online procedure I'm asked to enter the countries worked 
in plus the relevant dates. In my case this is several plus dates all in the 1980's.
  It asks "What  was the equivalent of your National Insurance number  here?"
   I haven't a clue at to these.  Any suggestion as to the way forward?
The procedure comes to a halt without an entry. 
What bearing does this information have with regards to my entitlement?
I have been resident in the UK for many years and have a full 35 years
of contributions.
   None of the countries are in the EU.
Thanks in advance
  

molerat

I have been resident in the UK for many years and have a full 35 years

35 years is of no real relevance to you, what exactly does your forecast show ?

What bearing does this information have with regards to my entitlement?

There are a lot of social security agreements, not just with the EU, which could affect what you are entitled to from those countries with your UK pension.

I suppose you either need to ring up and speak to someone or put no and see where it goes.

Double_Fault_Blues

Thanks for your response.
Surely the 35 years gives me my forecast which shows entitlement to the full state pension?
 Non of the countries I worked appear to have social security agreements with the UK. If they did, what relevance would it have to my UK pension?
I have spent quite a lot of time call waiting to the HMRC helpline.
  The procedure does require me to make a legal declaration, so I'm not sure declaring no time abroad is a sensible option. The declaration does cover other areas though. 
With thanks 

xylophone

On following the online procedure I'm asked to enter the countries worked 
in plus the relevant dates. In my case this is several plus dates all in the 1980's.
  It asks "What  was the equivalent of your National Insurance number  here?"

Your personal records of work abroad might show Social Insurance Number (SIN)/Social Security Number/ Tax File Number with Customer Reference Number.

If you can't find them and cannot proceed with the on line process, you are going to have to telephone The Pensions Service - at the moment, getting through is not easy but you might try at around 8am.

https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service

p00hsticks

Double_Fault_Blues said:

Surely the 35 years gives me my forecast which shows entitlement to the full state pension?

The number of years isn't as significant as the monetary amount in your State Pension forecast - you fall under transitional rules and so may need more or fewer than 35 years to get the maximum new State Pension, or indeed may get more than it or never be able to attain it. 

Double_Fault_Blues said:

I have spent quite a lot of time call waiting to the HMRC helpline.
 

I'm not sure the HMRC helpline is going to be able to help you with this - did you mean DWP, the Pension Service and/or the Future Pension Centre ?

It might be worth you contacting the International Pension Centre to see what they advise with regard to your time abroad; they should know what information is needed and why. They have an online enquiries form that may save you waiting on the phone, althoguh they do say it may be a while before you get a response from them. 
International Pension Centre - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

pinnks

With regard to the other countries in which you have worked, you could call DWP International Pensions Centre International Pension Centre - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and ask their advice.  They should be able to tell you whether the various countries have social security agreements with the UK and how best to proceed.

The purpose for asking the questions about those countries is because (for the UK/EU agreement at least) you claim all of your pensions through the pension authority in your country of residence and they then liaise with the other countries to pass on relevant UK NI records and the information to enable the other country to identify you on their systems.

A friend of my had lost all papers relating to their time in Germany but a letter to the German pension authority enabled them to track down their records without needing too much information. 

The bottom line is that because you have more than 10 UK years your UK pension will be paid as normal but your UK years may feed into the system in the other country so that they are added to the years in the other country to get you past any minimum years' requirements etc, so it is well-worth putting a little effort into pursuing things.  You may end up with a full UK pension plus small pensions from all of the other countries on top of that...