Homeless vs Old age pension

RILLYPERNILLY

I tour Europe for 11 months of the year and live in different airbnb's as they are far cheaper to rent than UK places.
I have reached my old age pension age. I guess, for the sake of argument, that I am homeless in the UK as I only return for a month every year and have no permanent address. Will I still be able to claim my old age pension? 

xylophone

Have you obtained a state pension forecast?

Have you received any communication from DWP?

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

pinnks

You can claim your pension irrespective of where you live but may, or may not, receive the annual increase if living abroad.  In terms of claiming, I think you would need to talk to DWP International Pension Centre if you have no fixed address for correspondence.

Unless you are an EU citizen, it would be interesting to learn how you manage to stay within the EU for more than 90 days in any rolling 180-day period.

RILLYPERNILLY

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, I have paid up contributions to the old age pension. I have received my letter and code to claim it.  Also you are right, you can only stay in the EU for 90,180 days and then I move to one of the Balkan countries before returning. The thing is, I return to the UK every year and have no residence in the UK apart from when staying with family. But on saying that am always in a house that has an address and am not homeless. I am trying to find out what the rules are because I do not want to miss out on my pension as it would make such a large difference to my life.

RILLYPERNILLY

I have read the replies again and can confirm that I do have a fixed address for correspondence. There is no problem with getting mail, the problem is that I do not live at the address because I am in the European area for most of the year until I return. When I fill in my application I want to get it right and avoid the "Eye of Mordor" type of scenario.

Bostonerimus1

Even if you are not a UK tax resident, that should not change your entitlement to SP, it just depends on your NI contributions. If you constantly move it is possible that you have no tax residence. So you won't be able to make use of any UK double tax treaties and so your UK pension could be taxed in the UK. Do you have a bank account where it can be deposited? and where do you pay tax on your other income? I'm also interested on how you pay for health care, do you have insurance or do you just "pay as you go"?

RILLYPERNILLY

Hi. Yes, I have to pay tax in the UK although I have no bricks and mortar in the UK. My life style is basically an 11 month holiday. My NI contributions are up to date. I have no residency other than the UK. I have several UK bank accounts. As for health care I just pay as I need it. When in Croatia last Christmas had a broken tooth and paid for a great job there. A lot cheaper than the UK and very good work. And that was on an island and not the mainland. It seems to me that a permanent residence and a postal address are not classed as the same thing. I therefore am homeless although I don't live on the streets, I live in some very nice places. This is what I feared, that the rules are stiff and do not take into account all possibilities. I could wait and phone them when I return to the UK but like to get next years airbnb's set up now. Getting my ducks all in a row. Thanks for the help, I will try researching some more on the web.

Brie

If the UK banks presume you don not live in the UK (because you're not here!) then they may close your UK banks.  You might want to set up something a bit off shore like Channel Islands so that you don't run into bank problems.

Triumph13

I don't think you'll have any issues claiming to be UK resident, unless you have been working and being taxed abroad.  The 'sufficient ties' test, the lack of a competing residence in another country and the month you spend here each year (> 16 days) should mean you are fine.

Or to look at it another way, how would DWP even know?

Bostonerimus1

Triumph13 said:

I don't think you'll have any issues claiming to be UK resident, unless you have been working and being taxed abroad.  The 'sufficient ties' test, the lack of a competing residence in another country and the month you spend here each year (> 16 days) should mean you are fine.

Or to look at it another way, how would DWP even know?

That's interesting because most people who organize their lives like the OP do it to avoid UK tax residency, but that then brings up the problems of being tax resident somewhere else or indeed nowhere. Assuming the OP's previous residency, time spent in the UK, and ties to the UK make them UK resident they will just have to file UK taxes on their income. The next question is where does that income come from. I think the OP needs to make sure where they are tax resident and then arrange to pay taxes on any pensions and investment income appropriately, maybe by filing a UK self assessment. If they have assets and work outside the UK it will get more complicated as tax treaties will come into play.

cfw1994

RILLYPERNILLY said:

Hi. Yes, I have to pay tax in the UK although I have no bricks and mortar in the UK. My life style is basically an 11 month holiday. My NI contributions are up to date. I have no residency other than the UK. I have several UK bank accounts. As for health care I just pay as I need it. When in Croatia last Christmas had a broken tooth and paid for a great job there. A lot cheaper than the UK and very good work. And that was on an island and not the mainland. It seems to me that a permanent residence and a postal address are not classed as the same thing. I therefore am homeless although I don't live on the streets, I live in some very nice places. This is what I feared, that the rules are stiff and do not take into account all possibilities. I could wait and phone them when I return to the UK but like to get next years airbnb's set up now. Getting my ducks all in a row. Thanks for the help, I will try researching some more on the web.

It sounds like a fascinating lifestyle: you should have an instagram page - the NomadicPensioner!
We are trying to have a month-long ski trip each year, with the place we have booked for next year giving 30% discount for 4+ week bookings, so I get that you might want to stay a while in places to lower costs.   We also Interrailed for a full 61 days last spring: not an especially cheap trip but masses of fun exploring 14 different countries😎  

Our of pure curiosity, if you don’t mind:
Do you move around broadly the same areas in those places?  

How do you manage for maintaining (or creating) some sort of “friends” group?

Hopefully you will get things sorted - as others suggest, I’m not sure how DWP would ever know, if you have a fixed UK address you can use 🤷‍♂️