Is the two year E106 like the 10 year passport?

[Coco]

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has actually managed to be given TWO FULL years cover on their E106!  When I got mine it was valid for nine months - when I queried the fact that my husband's was valid for a year longer than mine with Newcastle they tried to palm me off with the fact that it all depends on whether you have paid full contributions for the last two years before you left the UK.  When I pointed out that I had, and in fact I had been earning MORE than my husband I was miraculously sent a new E106 for a further year.  However, both of us have E106's that have just run out (well 1 Jan actually), even though we didn't leave the UK until 27th March, and for Newcastle's purposes, 6th April (we thought we'd keep it simple for the poor dears).

When my husband phoned on Friday to ask why they weren't valid for 2 years he was again given this story about contributions.  Having explained that we had both been in permanent full-time employment for the 2 years before coming to France and had paid full NI contributions he was then told that the E106 is valid for UP TO 2 years, depending on your contributions.  My step-dad also had his run out on 1 Jan, even though he didn't move to France until mid Feb 2003.  So just WHO DOES qualify for the full two years????

It seems as though they all run out on 1st Jan.  Does that mean that if we had arrived in France on 2nd Jan 2003 we would have got 2 year E106's and if we'd arrived on 31st Dec 2003 we would have only got a year's cover.

It seems to me to be another Government con.  A bit like the ten year passport that they now have the right to prevent you from travelling on if it's within three months of it's expiry date.  My brother-in-law was only just let out of the country at New Year to come and visit us because his was due to expire some time in March, and he was only coming for the weekend!!!!

[Chas]

I've just checked my old E106. It was issued on 31 October 2000 and ran until 4 Jan 2003 - so just over the two years. I then had a gap until late Feb when I qualified for E121.

[IAN_S]

Our single E106 ran from Oct 2002 to Jan 2005 and included me on it as a dependant as I had not made the required payments in the last two years before leaving, so it seems that everybody should press for what they are entitled to if they think there has been a mistake.

The office in Newcastle has been snowed under (bad choice of words in Aude at the moment) so it's not surprising they just want to get rid of you quickly, really.

[BJSLIV]

They always expire in January. So its  a part year from the start date plus twelve months.

Ie Maximum two years . Could be as little as 13 months if you time it wrongly.

 

[Coco]

[quote]Our single E106 ran from Oct 2002 to Jan 2005 and included me on it as a dependant as I had not made the required payments in the last two years before leaving, so it seems that everybody should press...[/quote]

Yes, you see, now this I really don't understand!  When my initial one ran out I presumed I could be covered by my husband's because if you read all the paperwork it says that as long as you live in the same house as an E106 holder you become their dependant and are entitled to cover.  Well neither Newcastle or CPAM seemed to think so until I got my new one.

Good luck to both of you if you got more than two years cover but it really does seem to be a lottery doesn't it.  Why Ian, if you hadn't made enough contributions, are the two of you entitled to two years and three months cover, and my husband and I who have made full contributions are only entitled to 21 months cover.  There's just no rhyme or reason!

BJSLIV that's the way I had worked it out, but how do you explain the above two cases?  They should both in that case have only got 15 months, not 27.

[Scarlett]

Does anybody know what is supposed to happen after the two years is up?

[Ron Avery]

[quote]Does anybody know what is supposed to happen after the two years is up?[/quote]

You get a letter from Newcastle telling you that your complementary cover ( the E 106) will expire at a certain date.

Its worth checking if you feel that you have not got your full entitlement as I was told mine had expired after a year, when I queried it, Newcastle said it was a mistake and had another year to run.

You take the letter to your CPAM office, with all the usual papers and proofs of residency etc AND your most recent  certificate of income from the French Tax office.  (They may accept a signed attestation for 2004 at this time of year as the new tax forms are just going out)  and you now join the French health system,  The amount you pay is  roughly 8% of your income over about €12000 or thereabouts subject to lots  of if's and but's and age etc.  This has been covered extensively elsewhere in this topic.

[IAN_S]

Coco

There is another twist to this!

The original letter from DWP dated 15/10/02 addressed to my wife says that the E106 covers us to 03/01/04 but that we might be entitled to another one, why "might" I can't say, surely they would have known!

In Dec 04 we went to CPAM to join the French system proper, and they said they needed a letter from DWP specifically saying that we were no longer entitled to an E106. Upon asking for this DWP said oh, you are ok until Jan 2005 here is another one! Took this to CPAM and no problem.

Now we have definately run out and are going through the process of declaring income etc although no response yet. In the meantime we are still using our cartes vitales although I don't suppose we will get any rebates until it is all settled.

As a matter of interest we do our UK tax returns online and CPAM accepted a printout of these as a proof of UK income! Their only comment was "You live on this?"

We obviously get our UK tax in a position to show the minimum payment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Miki]

The amount you pay is roughly 8% of your income over about €12000 or thereabouts subject to lots of if's and but's and age etc. 

La CMU de base est gratuite en dessous d’un plafond annuel de ressources fixé, au 1er octobre 2004, à 6 849 euros par foyer.

The 6,849 euros is per household don't forget and not perhaps as it would be in many cases here, just for a couple. You will then pay as Ron says 8% over that sum towards your basic health cover, payable in many cases direct to URSSAF.

Lots of advice and help here :

www.ameli.fr  or go direct to the page(s) at :

http://www.ameli.fr/211/DOC/705/fiche.html?page=2

 

[Penny29]

I'll just try to clarify a few points regarding E106's (used to work for the Inland Revenue, and prior to this the Contributions Agency):-

1. All E106's are issued in line with "Benefit Years". A Benefit Year runs 12 months from the first Sunday in January (this may explain why some of you have different expiry dates on your 106's, although all will be a date between 1 - 8th January in any given year).

2. The Issue date runs from the date you inform Newcastle that you intend to move abroad and runs for a MAXIMUM of 2 "benefit" years.

Example A. You (have been sensible) and informed Newcastle that you are moving to France on 10th January 2005 (so, assuming you have paid enough National Insurance) your E106 should run from 10.1.05 to first Saturday in January 2007. I.e. Two complete "Benefit Years".

Example B. You (were truthful, but not sensible) and informed Newcastle that you were moving to France on 31st December 2004. Therefore you will only get an E106 which runs from 31/12/2004 to first Saturday in January 2006. This is because the issue date falls into the 2004 Benefit Year, which is almost over!

In other words, you have to look carefully at the date you intend to move over, as anything other than a January date will eat into that particular Benefit year's entitlement.

3. It's your National Insurance contributions for the previous 2 COMPLETED tax years which determines overall entitlement. Naturally, tax years run to a different schedule (April 6th - April 5th) just to confuse the punters! So, basically forget any NI you have paid in the tax year in which you apply for the E106 as this won't be a completed year and therefore won't count.

[Coco]

Thanks Penny, that explains it very clearly and also confirms what I had suspected about the January expiry date and when you move to France.  Hopefully, anyone with the option to move at an optimum time for them will be able to bear this in mind for the future.

However, to me it is yet another Government con and a play on words.  We are told that it is dependant on the amount of NI that we have paid in the previous two years, NOT the date that we move to France.  In our case we could have gone any time between early February and end of March, we thought that completing a full UK tax year may benefit us in some way, so by trying be clever we ended up doing ourselves out of a couple of months of cover.  So much for a transparent Government.  If it did what it says on the tin we would all know where we stand and could get maximum benefit.  After all, if two sets of people have paid maximum NI for the previous two years why should one lot get two years cover, and as you point out, those that move on 31st December only get one year.

[Scarlett]

What is even stranger (unless I'm mistaken, because I'm not sure how it all works) is that a person, say a UK national who hasn't paid in any NI contributions during his or her time in UK (mother at home, for example) only has to work in France for a limited period of time (60 hours?) to be entitled to full social cover.

[IAN_S]

Coco

I think Penny's reply should be put into the FAQs as it puts it all together in a readable way.

However, I can truthfully say that in our case we moved in October 02 with an E106 in our pocket which should have expired in Jan 04 but that we were given another to take us up to Jan 05. I think now that we were lucky and it must have been an error by DWP.

[Coco]

Yes I think you're right Ian - I hope a moderator sees it and moves it.

And Scarlett, yes you're right - but then the whole system is a farce isn't it?  My mum worked and paid her NI contributions from when she was 14 til she was 60 but because about ten years of that period (in her 30's) she paid the lower rate that married women were allowed to pay in those days she only gets £80 per month (and that's a huge increase on what she was getting).  It's partly because my step-dad's younger than her, but to me that's not the point, she paid full rate for a good30 odd years, yet my mother-in-law, who only ever worked part-time, from about 40-60 gets a full pension.  Now where's the sense in that?

[Catalpa]

<< However, I can truthfully say that in our case we moved in October 02 with an E106 in our pocket which should have expired in Jan 04 but that we were given another to take us up to Jan 05. I think now that we were lucky and it must have been an error by DWP. >>

I wonder if it is something to do with the October arrival date as we have friends whose E106 was issued October 2003 and expires 01 January 2006, ie 2years 3 months.