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Claiming UK State Pension


John Brown
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Anyone know if the claim form that you are sent 3 or 4 months before your 65th birthday is the same as the one you can download off the internet

I've been waiting 6 weeks for the Claim Pack and its still not arrived dispite being told "it's in the post"

I've had a look at the on-line form but its 24 pages long and they would still have to write back to me and confirm the details/amount

John

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I had previously asked for a Pension forecast, so it was simply a matter of confirming that.

I too phoned up and they sent me the pack quite quickly so I didn't need to use the Internet site.

As I remember they have to look at your contributions record and tell you what you will get, so until they can do that I am not sure that filling in a form yourself would speed up the process.

I didn't sniff at it ...it made a big difference to my income.

If it seems very little to you richard I will happily give yours a home..

BTW John, you will have to go through the business of telling the French and UK tax people that the OAP is teaxed in France, and should be taken off your UK tax code.

There have been a number of threads on this and people have had different experiences, but don't be surprised to be taxed on it the UK for a while, and for the French to drag their heels in signing the France Individuel form until you have declared this extra income at least for one year..

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OH got her OAP last year and the pack came through automatically and it all went through very smoothly.

We joke that for the first time in decades she is a net financial asset to the household instead of a liability [:D][:D][:D]

Regarding tax if you have no other UK income, or your total UK derived income is below your tax allowance (£9440 for the 2013/14 tax year) then regardless of whether you send HMRC a France Individuel or not, or how long the French take to process it if you do, you should not be taxed in UK at all.

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What do you mean: "If it seems very little to you richard I will happily give yours a home." ?

If you can afford to take the risk of living in france compared to relying  on the system provided in the UK ( ) then perhaps you should take into account what the situation will be when you (sorry one) passes retirement age.

Nb One of mine has recently been to the local job centre and has been refused JSA because we actually paid for a course that he attends one day a week. The course he is on is mainly for apprentices because he did not wish to go to university like his brother.  I feel sorry for the current youth compared to "our" time.

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Richard 51, I took your comment to imply that you should not rely on the system sending you the pension/info automatically and you should monitor the process. I got caught out as when I "retired" 17 years ago I continued to pay voluntary contributions. When they reduced the years you needed to pay, I had already paid enough but they did not write to tell me to stop. I had to write to them, they said I could stop but would not refund me my over payments. I still have several years to go before I get my state pension and hope the payments I made actually give me the promised full pension. We find it difficult to understand why, if you pay voluntarily, the number of contributions you need to pay are significantly lower than if you work.
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Thanks for all the comments

Like you, Lehaut,  I "retired early" at 52 and have lived mostly on my private pensions until now so getting the State Pension will be the icing on the cake for me. I got a letter saying I qualified for a full pension but if I wanted I could continue to pay voluntary contributions?

I asked the question because the downloaded form seems to be aimed at people who may not be Expats but have lived and worked in the UK at some point, because it asks for a complete UK work record and I can't remember what I did last week never mind 40+ years ago

I'll give the link you gave a try, Tinabee

Thanks JB

ps, Would you believe it that link stops today

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They asked me for a complete work record too, so I did my best. They accepted that my memory of 40 years ago was not necessarily too accurate. Though as most of my record was by voluntary contributions it was hardly relevant.

As long as they have your social security number, they can put together a full record of contributions, however which is all that is needed.

You can always give them a call; I found that the people there were very helpful.
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The voluntary contributions are just the same as those for people who work, never has been a difference.  Used to be about 40 odd years, then reduced to 30 years and soon, if not now, up to 35 years. As long as there are the aforesaid number of years, the pension will not be paid until the official retirement date.

We over paid voluntary contributions too and stopped them. However we got a letter asking if we wanted to continue making these contributions and I called them and asked why. Now this was about 5 years ago and I cannot remember what reasons they gave, but they were perfectly reasonable and valid reasons. It was a choice and we chose not to continue.

If in doubt, call them, they are usually most helpful.

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The form that you have seen on the internet is exactly the same as the form that you eventually receive in the post. It does want details of your employment with dates. I just completed it as best as I could remember. It also asked for your birth certificate(original). I sent them a certified photocopy certified by the Notaire.

Re the France individual form which you complete so that you are not taxed in the UK

I completed it, took it to my local tax office who stamped and signed it, gave me it back. I sent it to the address on the form and six weeks later received a letter from HMRC saying I no longer pay tax on the state pension.  Simple.

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Sometimes you have to take things with a pinch of salt keeping in mind that these sort of forms are usually whole spectrum catch alls designed to cover all applicants and circumstances so while it may be different for somebody who was born outside of the UK, or who had lived

- or more pertinently worked elsewhere, for the vast majority who were born in UK to UK parents and were PAYE employees for their entire working lives it must be a

completely routine and virtually automatic box ticking exercise.

When 'er indoors applied for her pension in June last year despite the demand on p1 of the form she wasn't prepared to send off her original birth certificate or pfaff around getting a copy certified so just sent them a simple uncertified photocopy.

Her application was processed without question or delay which tells you how exactly how badly the need for it to be original or certified actually was !

Similarly when I applied for WFA they wanted an original or certified copy of my birth certificate but I too sent them a plain copy which. due to the format, consisted of two sheets of landscape A4 sellotaped together. Not only did that go without question but incredibly they even sent it back to me with the letter confirming the awarding of the WFA - by recorded delivery !

Your NI number should tell them everything they need to know, including you paid employment history.

Perhaps UK civil servants have more in common with their French counterparts than we like to imagine [;-)]

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[quote user="John Brown"]Thanks for all the help.
The WFA people lost my wife's birth certificate but did do the application for a new one and replaced it free of change in about 6 weeks
So I'm reluctant to send off mine. Might try a good scanned copy
Thanks again
John

[/quote]

 

Maybe they're hiring staff from France - or Spain[:(]

 

 

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I've just spoken to a nice lady at the International Pensions Office.

Give as much of the detail as possible was the advice, if not dates give year etc

She said they don't use Royal Mail but instead use a courier service and it will take between 4 to 6 weeks to arrive

I tried but I just could not resist saying "you could do with changing your courier service then"[:D]

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One can apply 12+ weeks prior to the pension being due, so it taking 4-6 weeks should be OK. I wouldn't do anything silly like sending a copy of your birth certificate, as they won't want it and you will just hold up the process. 

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If it's taking 4 to 6 weeks and they are sending the packs out 13 weeks to the day before the 65th birthday, how many of the phone calls that they get every day are about people not receiving their application forms.

It was confirmed on the phone that the downloaded version is the same so I'm posting it today (recorded delivery & signature , hopefully) with the original birth & marriage certificates just in case there's a problem and I have to wait 4 to 6 weeks for a reply[:D]

Thanks JB

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[quote user="idun"]I wouldn't do anything silly like sending a copy of your birth certificate, as they won't want it and you will just hold up the process. 

[/quote]We did

They did

It didn't !

And unless you're desperate for the money does it really matter if there is a delay, you'll still get the money anyway.

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Woolybanana posted :- .......'' As long as they have your social security number, they can put together a full record of contributions,''........

If they don't have your NI number and can't find it you are in a 'world of pain' so to speak.

No record of NI contributions means no pension irrespective of any history you give them.

As a point of interest, when the paper records were computerised by HMRC they were then destroyed, not archived (as I think they should have been ), thus any errors in the process of computerisation cannot be overcome.

I sometimes wonder just how many records were '' lost '' during that process, a nett saving on pension payments would be a win for the Govt.

Cynical - Me ??????
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Don't think you are being cynical at all!

The question of the P85 and the France-Individual Forms have been mentioned in this thread so I phoned HMRC to ask what my status was.

Even though one of the many security questions is your address and I gave the address I've lived at in France for nearly 7 years the Tax Office Person said they have no record of a P85 being submitted ( I've now sent 3 in 7 years ) although there is a note of a France-Individual Form being received

I've been advised to submit a new P85 and F-I to include the State Pension with a covering letter asking for acknowledgement of the forms and comfirmation in writing that my tax code is changed to NT

JB

 

 

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  • 5 weeks later...
Update.

Received my letter confirming my Pension

 

You are entitled to your State Pension when you are 65, not true!

If your 65th birthday falls on a Monday and your NI Number ends with a 90+ you are not entitled until 6 days after, on the Saturday

Apparently the HM Gov week starts on a Saturday and they only pay full weeks of pension from their week start date

So now there's no adjustments for part weeks.

Cynically, I would say the only winners are HM Pensions with this

JB[:(]

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