A pension question - true or false

[Bugsy]

There is a tale going round that dear Gordon Brown has made a proposal to stop paying the old age pension to ex-pats who have been out of the UK for over ten years prior to the date the pension would normally be paid.

Scary stuff if it's true, but I have searched  and can find no reference to it.

Does anyone know ?

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Bugbear"]

Scary stuff if it's true,

[/quote]

Maybe he's just trying to get us all to transfer our entitlements on

the basis that, being as we live in France, we are likely to live

longer and therefore be more expensive than had we stayed in the UK.

It's a thought.

[Just Katie]

Do you ex pat guys have the right to vote in Britain?

[Teamedup]

Yes we do, well in our case 'did' have the right to vote, I think for up to 15 years, certainly 10 years.

I keep hearing this about pensions, but I don't think that it could apply to people living in the EU, it could apply to those further afield though.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Just Katie "]Do you ex pat guys have the right to vote in Britain?[/quote]

For a few years yet, yes, but I declined to register as:

A) I don't pay tax there, and;

2) No longer really have much clue what's going on there, and care less;

so I'd feel a bit of a fraud, really.

Still, I'd like the (albeit small) spoils of my 15 years NI contributions.

Anyway as EVERYONE knows, UK bods living overseas are, without

exception, Conservative or UKIP voters and therefore not a constituency

Mr Brown needs to worry about....

[Ron Avery]

Not sure what voting in the UK has to do with the original post,  but this proposal is very much yesterday's news or now even last year's news.  It was one of the options being considered in the spring of last year by a Commons committee or the DWP looking at the problems of the future pensions defecit, nothing has been heard of it since and it sems to have been dropped in place of the proposed older pension age and compulsory pension plans for young people.

One thing that has been confirmed though, which seems to fly in the face of these proposals is that you are being advised NOT to pay additional NI to receive a full pension if you have already paid over 30 years NI, as it now seems likely that the contribution level for a full pension will be reduced from 44 years to 30, so a lot of us might something to thank Gordon Brown for.

[mint]

talking about pensions, is it true that they are changing entitlement to 30 years full contribution instead of 44 years?  i will be using your answer to decide whether i buy the voluntary contributions or not

[Cassis]

It's in a Govt White Paper but it is not law yet (though it seems likely).

[Tresco]

Sweet 17, you may have missed Ron Averys reply, immediately above yours.

[mint]

cassis & tresco

many thanks.  just shows i don't read the posts carefully enough!  will be keeping a beady eye as i would like my own pension when the time comes

[5-element]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

 it now seems likely that the contribution level for a full pension will be reduced from 44 years to 30

[/quote]

Does anyone know if, for instance, you have contributed for 29 years (as I have), that would mean I would get the pro-rata of a full pension? i.e. 29/30th?

[Just Katie]

Thanks Jon and TU

Ron, the reason I asked about voting rights is because without this politians will do what they please with no concern for expats.  But because I am not an expat I dont really know what I am talking about.  Right I am off to the lounge now

[Cassis]

[quote user="5-element"]

Does anyone know if, for instance, you have contributed for 29 years (as I have), that would mean I would get the pro-rata of a full pension? i.e. 29/30th?

[/quote]

Try here for a start.  You can also get a pension forecast from Newcastle.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nic/vc3-important.htm

[5-element]

Thanks Cassis - useful for others, but too late for me, I wish pension was for 2010!!!

I've done stupid things like getting divorced and then re-married at the wrong time, so I lost all the years from Husband Number 1. All very complicated, and I read the small print after rather than before, so I got well diddled.[:'(]

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

Not sure what voting in the UK has to do with the original post,  but this proposal is very much yesterday's news or now even last year's news.  It was one of the options being considered in the spring of last year by a Commons committee or the DWP looking at the problems of the future pensions defecit, nothing has been heard of it since and it sems to have been dropped in place of the proposed older pension age and compulsory pension plans for young people.

[/quote]

Thanks Ron............................

[Teamedup]

We voted for as long as we could as we believe in voting. AND we had never emigrated anyway and always planned on returning, don't know if that made a difference to us or not, we just did vote for around 20 years. And we voted in whatever elections we could vote in France once we got that right.