A question on pensions

I have lived and worked in France for 20 odd years so i qualify for a pension, before coming here i worked for twenty years in the UK..my question is whether i will receive two part pensions or will contributions be combined to give me one full pension

thanks everyone for the responses it looks like i will receive two pensions

... my husband receives full state pension from the UK and a partial pension for his working 7 years in France from France. Two payments not one.

The beauty of the French pension is not the amount but RSI pays for our health care for life. We don't pay the 8% of total pensions for the right to use the Carte Vitale. Quite a savings.

Crikey, glad i'm not Peruvian then !!

Carole, pop along to your local CARSAT office and enquire. I'm sure he would have been entitled to a French pension years ago. Get the ball rolling..

Choclo y papas.

My husband paid all the necessary contributions to qualify for a pension before we moved to France 15 yrs ago. He has had a UK pension paid into our french account joint account for the past 2 yrs. He is now 67. However hr had paid into the french system for 15 years due to running a bed and breakfast here in France. Will he be entitled to a French pension when hd retires and if so his much??

We’ll have to ask Paddington Bear.

What's it like in Peru ?

Bulgarian standard rate pension is higher than UK full pension...

I applied for my french pension in august last year , as advised by the Carsat in Limoges. The usual waiting time is four months apparently in order to ensure the start of the pension on the required date. The Carsat actually started my 'dossier' in 2009 !!!

Six months have sailed by and i'm still waiting ! I receive either phone calls or more usually letters requesting more forms. It's now becoming really tedious as I have no idea when I will receive my first payment,.

On a happier note I received my UK Merchant Navy pension from my 61st birthday last may so I won't be sending out the begging letters just yet...

Ironically the 'Complementaire' was sorted out in good time also so i'm baffled as to why there should be this delay !

The contributory pension is based (not surprisingly) on your contributions, with 240 euro being the max This is achieved with quite a low contribution level and the reduction curve for less contributions is (still) quite gentle. Despite having swanned all over the place and a recent steepening of the curve I’m sure I get about 200 a week and it’s paid worldwide. The non contributory pension is also 240 eiro a week but is really social assistance and is means tested, as it should be. Why should a wealthy new blow in be able to piggyback on everyone else’s contributions?

The three years of hard graft were for your benefit Simon, not for the State. I’m told the Irish pension is generous compared the UK one. If you look at your contributions over the three years you’re probably doing OK with 11 quid a week for life. Compare that to the miserly UK pensions or astronomical French social charges you would have paid.

Yes, but the €240 is means-tested and only paid if you live in Ireland. The contributory pension is much less and paid anywhere in the world. I get a miserly €11 a week for my 3 years hard graft.

The basic pension used to be paid to all Irish people anywhere in the world, but this stopped in 2007, crise oblige.

Though I’m only :slight_smile: 62 I get a widowers pension of of 188 euros paid in to my Bank weekly by Irish Social Welfare. When I come of age, I can choose to either keep the widowers pension or move to an old age pension based on the combination of French, UK and Irish contributions. Irish old age pensions at a max of around 240 a week seem to be quite generious.

Hi Peter, I would appreciate the benefit of your experience as I am in a similar boat. Open forum might be easier for you as I am sure others are affected.

regards

Howard

Same age here. My second is Germany too. Yes, the annual letter. So far I have not been tempted to write back to tell them 'No, I am deceased but such a mean Scot that I want to get it anyway'. At least they pay pro rata on the number of years paid in. I take the UK quarterly so that it looks like money rather than somebody's thrown out loose change.

I was in the same situation, except that I have also worked in Germany and the Repubic of Ireland.

The result - now that I'm 67 - is this:

* Every country pays separately into my French bank account.

* The UK pension is paid monthly, the German quarterly and the Irish ... sporadically.

* The French pension is paid four months after you ask for it - in my case at 66 years old. You can't ask for back payments to when you were 65. That's lost.

* The UK pension is due at 65 and even if you ask for it later they will pay you what is owed (since 65) in a lump sum.

* The Germans will hound you ever year to see that you are still alive.

Although all payments are made by the individual countries, I had to apply through the French system, as that is where I last worked (and happen to live). This is important, even if, it turns out, you will have to communicate directly with Newcastle, Sligo or Berlin just to make sure they have all the details of your work history.

All that effort for less than €500 a month after 35 years labour .... but that's another topic.

John, I think you will get in effect 4 pensions.

In my opinion, keep them separate, if only to retain UK bank accounts, something you do not want to ever let go unless you already have done so. My wife and I kept ours and indeed opened new ones since we arrived in France over 15 years ago and they are really very useful.

It is easy and cheap to transfer money between the UK and France, well until if and when Brexit of course, so that is not an issue.

Which is how I have entitlements, both below so-called 'full pensions' in two countries and that despite a standing agreement between the two when I was trying to sort things out eight years ago when I was just coming to 60 the informations the pre-2001 Pensions Service had given me was declared wrong and that I would have to sort out the other one myself. As in, none of their business so they couldn't be bothered. I had already deferred my pension at 60 in the other country because I had voluntarily paid into it as though I had been a public employee, having been part of an academic centre as a fellow but never an employee. I shall take a lump sum there in two years time (if I am still alive, of course). Strictly speaking the two should have been consolidated giving me UK 'full pension' instead of the basic I receive. However, I really do not mind since had they played by the rules I would have received far less than I will in effect now. Ten years back pay and eight years 'predicted' as a lump sum broken down to my basic now with the difference up to 'full' UK pension in the other country and taking inflation 'pay rises' into account would have meant that from 65 I would have needed to live roughly 47 years to fully benefit! IDS neither respects the pro rata agreement nor does he appear to accept that people actually do work outside the UK and are not therefore expected to make up the UK shortfall of years for a few extra crumbs. For those with pensions pending when the new standard rate starts I somehow get the feeling that the DWP would be making money whilst others taking pensions through the agreements received it through the UK. Intuitively I would recommend not even trying if the mainland pension is better than the UK, which most are, because it will go in their coffers and not the intended benefactors' pockets.

John, EU Regulation 883/2004 states you should be entitled to a 'pro-rata benefit'.

Below is an extract taken from the Europa website:

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/retire-abroad/state-pensi...

How your pension is calculated

Pension authorities in each EU country you've worked in will look at the contributions you've paid into their system, how much you've paid in other countries, and for how long you've worked in different countries.

The EU-equivalent rate

Each pension authority will calculate the part of the pension it should pay taking into account periods completed in all EU countries.

To do so, it will add together the periods you completed in all EU countries and work out how much pension you would get had you contributed into its own scheme over the entire time (called the theoretical amount).

This amount will then be adjusted to reflect the actual time you were covered in that country (called the pro-rata benefit).

The national rate

If you meet the conditions for entitlement to a national pension irrespective of any periods completed in other countries, the pension authority will also calculate the national pension (known as independent benefit).

Result

The national authority will then compare the pro-rata benefit and the independent benefit; you will receive whichever is higher from that EU country.

Each country's decision on your claim will be explained in a special note, the P1 form, you will receive.

There is however, clear evidence that the DWP under Iain Duncan Smith do not, apparently, recognise the pro-rata benefit. I am in touch with a case whereby three letters have gone to the DWP asking for details and guidance. So far silence, although the other country involved have provided guidance and advice, but have stated that since the UK was the last country in which the individual worked, the UK must make the first move.

If that is the DWP attitude now, think what it could be like under Brexit!!