Claiming state pension as a non-UK resident

GSTAR

I'm asking this on behalf of my father, who reached state pension age in February 2023.

For the past 5 years he has been living abroad (in Malaysia), and plans to for the foreseeable future. He sold his property before leaving and therefore does not have a UK address.

He wishes to claim his state pension. I was wondering how he can go about this?

1) Does he need to be in the UK / have a UK based address?
2) Does he need to have his own UK bank account or can the payments go in to a savings account held by another person?

Many thanks.

molerat

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad

1) no

2) it can be paid into another account but does not need to be paid into a UK account.

Whilst living in Malaysia his pension will not receive the annual inflationary increases, not sure how it will be dealt with for the prior increases up to now as he has been living overseas since SRA.

GSTAR

Thanks for your reply @molerat

Is there any way I can make the claim on his behalf? The thing is, his English is not very good and his health isn't very good either. This isn't something he'd feel comfortable doing himself and there isn't really anyone else who'd be able to help.

It seems to me the only thing preventing him claiming in the UK is a lack of UK address where the invitation code has to be sent to. Is it possible I can give them my address?

sheramber

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad

Make a claim

You must be within 4 months of your State Pension age to claim.

To claim your pension, you can either:

• contact the International Pension Centre
• send the international claim form to the International Pension Centre (the address is on the form)

molerat

The only thing stopping him from claiming in the UK is ....... the fact he is not resident in the UK.  The invitation would likely already have been sent to his UK address in 2022 if DWP did not know he had moved overseas, they will not send another, he needs to follow the instructions in the link to claim. You will not be able to do it for him unless you have POA.

pinnks

I would suggest you, or he, call the International Pension Centre who can deal with his claim.  It is possible for them to instigate a conference call with you and your father - I did this with a family member.  It worked really well.

GSTAR

@pinnks thanks - that's really helpful.

Do you know if the International Pension Centre have foreign language speakers? My father's English isn't really good. If it has to be done in English, could he just provide confirmation of his personal details for security, and then allow me continue with the rest of the call?

pinnks

As long as he can clear security with his personal details, you will then be able to translate and/or speak on his behalf.  If you call IPC they will be able to explain how best to proceed and if they do not mention it, you can ask about conference calling.  They were content to arrange times etc with me (the generic stuff that does not need access to personal information) and then call the USA and me to have the actual conference.

Brie

pinnks said:

As long as he can clear security with his personal details, you will then be able to translate and/or speak on his behalf.  If you call IPC they will be able to explain how best to proceed and if they do not mention it, you can ask about conference calling.  They were content to arrange times etc with me (the generic stuff that does not need access to personal information) and then call the USA and me to have the actual conference.

just curious - would a family member working as translator be able to help someone through the security bits?  As in translate the questions being asked so that he can respond in whatever English he might have?  

pinnks

No idea but if you don't ask...

Hoenir

GSTAR said:

Do you know if the International Pension Centre have foreign language speakers? My father's English isn't really good. If it has to be done in English, could he just provide confirmation of his personal details for security, and then allow me continue with the rest of the call?

Firstly get the form completed ( that's on the link)  and submitted. Take matters forward from there.