French Pension - how to claim from UK?

rich06

Hello

I worked in France for several years during separate periods between 1993 and 2012 and I have collected 48 'trimestres' (quarter year) of credits from the various regimes that entitles me to a small pension. I moved back and have been resident in the UK since 2015 and am now coming up for retirement.

I have created an account on https://www.lassuranceretraite.fr/ and looked at the information presented. It seems I can claim a reduced pension since age 62 (I am 65) or wait till I am 67 to get a full pension. Due to my small number of trimestres the difference between full and reduced is around 50€ per month before tax so I am thinking of claiming the reduced pension when I claim my UK pension in March 2025 when I reach 66.

Anyway, I went through a dry-run of claiming my pension using the multi-stage web site form (on the lassuranceretraite.fr web site) and once I selected the UK as my country of residence it advised me to make my claim using the UK pension service or similar... I have searched online and have found very little information on how or where to do this. The process also asked for recent tax returns but they seemed to be for a taxpayer in France. 

Has anyone been in a similar situation who has successfully claimed their pension in France who resides in UK that can provide me with some pointers on how to best go about this?

Many thanks in advance! 

Brie

Can't help with the specific pension issue but I am aware that if you back date a claim for a pension it will impact any income based benefits you may be collecting.  

You might try talking to the International Pension Centre.  As I understand it they can increase your state pension based on the time you worked in France.  Must admit I looked into this a bit having worked about and having a SP from there (but not France) but it didn't seem a good idea as I have the max SP so the tiddly bit I get from abroad is just a bit of jam on top.

International Pension Centre - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

p00hsticks

No personal experience, but having worked at DWP for a short time in the past,  I think that the International Pension Service here liaise with their counterparts in other countries in cases such as yours (or at least they used to prior to the B* word). 

It might be worth getting in touch with them
International Pension Centre - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)  

xylophone

Good Luck.......


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6526499/french-pension-problems

pinnks

If you are entitled to pensions from more than 1 EU country (including the UK as the rules continue to apply), you claim all of them via the pension authority in your country of residence, i.e. DWP International Pension Centre for you.

They will send you a form CFN901 onto which you enter information like your French pension reference number and periods of residence etc.  Also, the bank account into which the pension should be paid.  DWP collates all contribution information from all countries and and then distributes the combined record to each of those countries.

After that the pension authority of the other country(ies) will contact you for any further information they need to calculate your pension, or their decision of amounts and dates - DWP is not involved in this part of the process.

Once you receive your French pension, you will be cordially invited into HMRC's Self Assessment club as you will be in receipt of foreign income taxable only in the UK by reason of the UK/France Double Taxation Agreement.

nigelbb

Your UK years will be added to your French trimestres so you are almost certainly able to claim your French pension now en taux plein i.e without reduction. You could probably have claimed your French pension age 62 or 63.

I claimed my French pension at age 63 after working & contributing in France for fifteen years but after I returned to live in the UK. The process is as others have described. You claim your French pension via the DWP International Pension Centre. They send your claim form on to France along with a form E205 describing your contribution history that will be used by France when calculating your UK trimestres. Once the forms have been sent to France the DWP steps out of the way & you will deal directly with the French pension authority.

nigelbb

Brie said:

Can't help with the specific pension issue but I am aware that if you back date a claim for a pension it will impact any income based benefits you may be collecting.  

You might try talking to the International Pension Centre.  As I understand it they can increase your state pension based on the time you worked in France.  Must admit I looked into this a bit having worked about and having a SP from there (but not France) but it didn't seem a good idea as I have the max SP so the tiddly bit I get from abroad is just a bit of jam on top.

International Pension Centre - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

That isn't how it works. Contributions in France have no bearing on your UK state pension except in the unlikely event that you have less than the ten years contributions required for a minimum pension. A pension from France is claimed & paid entirely separately from your UK state pension.

rich06

Many thanks for all the responses to my question and I will contact the international pension centre as suggested.