I didn’t think trimestres could be traded like that. Doesn’t the UK use a different system of calculating ?
Just asking cos I don’t know.
Maybe my wording has been taken out of context
What you describe is exactly what I did.
My trimestres were topped up to 40 by using years already in the bag from UK thus reducing my years earned against a UK pension but still leaving enough to qualify for full UK pension.
What you cannot do is choose where your principal pension is taken, it comes from your native country ie you cannot use all your years from the UK to have a full French pension or everyone would switch to get thier pension earlier!
I don’t think they do trade trimestres.
As far as I know the trimestres you bring over from the UK are only used to make up the qualifying years in France ,the actual money you receive depends only on your earnings in France and then it is pro rata ie I bought over 90 trimestres from the UK and the remaining 76 I earned in France.166 trimestres required for my age group
Have just received a small French pension(at 63) and part of this is made up of a minimum contributif so when I get to 66 and claim my UK pension I will lose part of the French one as my total pension income will be over €1150.
As far as I know I will not lose any of my UK entitlement,hope not as am making up class 3 contributions at the moment.
I claimed my French pension this year as was not sure about the post Brexit situation
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I don’t agree.
Have received French pension for 4 years and claimed my uk pension last year. I get a full UK pension and my French pension has not changed, infact it has gone up each year presumably with inflation.
If by using your UK entitlement to bring up your French pension to the minimum it takes your UK entitlement below the amount for full pension then yes, you will get a reduced pension at 66 in UK.
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John, the part of the pension I will lose as I understand it is the part of the French one they have made up to a set minimum( as I suppose it is a kind of benefit).Its not a lot as when self employed other half did not pay French contributions for me as a Conjointe Colaboratrice(at the time it was not compulsory)and when I was employed it was mainly part time as I had my children at a late 40ish age.
I do receive a UK private pension and that I think is taken into account in the above total.
I dont think we are talking about the same thing.
Any private pension you might receive has nothing to do with your state pension.
I have an Irish sate pension and a much lower French state pension Rebecca. You need to work out how much your UK pension and your French pension would be. The larger one dictates which is your “competent state”. You should then apply for your pension through the Competent State indicating where, for how long and for who you have worked in the EU. Your EU wide contributions should then be consolidated by your competent state to maximise the pension they give you. I went through that process but was surprised when France a
also awarded me a little pension too. My competent state told me that this is normal 
It may be because my French contributions were insufficient to bump up my Irish pension so they were, in effect, unused and gave me the little French one. Anyway, it’s your competent state that has to sort all this out.
What has been used to bring up your French pension to the minimum are years you have earned in UK and will reduce your total years earned there.
Oh, I just saw how old this thread is. In fact when it stared I didn’t have OAP 
Nevertheless the concept of “competent state” and the aggregation of contributions doesn’t seem to be understood in the UK. I suppose it doesn’t matter next year.
If you mean because of brexit, John, my understanding is that these pension arrangements are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement already reached - and will continue as before.
Well am confused but still not convinced,so will have to look further into what you say
However I had to state I was drawing a UK private pension on my Carsat pension application form plus a couple of years tax declarations so assumed total pension income was taken into account
I’m not sure what in the withdrawal agreement carries over to a no deal world Geof. IDS would have us believe all bets are off. My guess would be that if you already have an aggregated pension in place well and good. Maybe next year one will have to make separate claims. Just more unintended consequences, or at least un-thought out, of this debacle.
Carol, are you suggesting that because you have been sensible enough to contribute to a private pension to help support you in later life that France or UK will hold this against you and reduce your state pension entitlement?
Once a state pension has been awarded based on your entitlement then that’s it, some of it is not taken away at a later date just because another pension kicks in elsewhere.
There is no trading of years between countries. The number years of contributions in the UK are taken account of in France when calculating your total working life but not deducted from your total years in the UK.
France & the UK have very different state pension systems. Both pensions require a minimum of 10 years contributions before any pension is paid but the EU social security coordination rules mean that your working life in all EU states is counted. The amount of pension you get is determined by the contributions made in each state but if eg you only had 7 years contributions in the UK & 35 years contributions in France you would get 7/10 of the minimum UK pension.
French years are not counted in the UK for any other reason than if you were below 10 years contributions for a minimum pension.
In France you can draw your pension from age 62 onwards but it will be at a reduced rate (en taux reduit) unless you have 167 trimestres of contributions. You will receive your pension without reduction (en taux plein) in any case when you are 67. Years when you contributed in the UK are counted towards the 167 trimestres although there is no double counting so there can only be 4 trimestres per year counted even if you contributed in both countries in any year.
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It is possible to earn a full UK pension after only working a few years in the UK & then making voluntary National Insurance contributions for the rest of your working life. I know of someone who worked in the UK for 5 years then moved to the US & has paid Class 2 NI contributions for 30 years & now has an index-linked pension of about £9,000 per year for a total outlay of around £4,500 at todays’ prices! He has also earned a full pension in the US. I’m sure there are people who have done the same after moving to France from the UK.
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This is incorrect. Years of contributions in the UK are taken account when calculating when you can take your French pension but there is no transfer of contributions or deduction from UK entitlement. Your UK pension is not reduced when years of UK contributions allow you to take your French pension in full before age 67.
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I’m a long way away but what happens if you don’t have enough timestres to reach the minimum? thinking more of DH as he has been renovating our houses not ‘working’ (tell him that 
). Do you just get nothing as an OAP? What is the minimum pension?
I’m still not clear - do Nigel’s comments here mean that if you have the required trimestres for a French pension by taking into account some acquired in France and some in the UK, you can get a French pension at 62 (albeit at the reduced rate), then at the UK retirement age you will also get your UK pension taking into account your UK years worked, regardless of the fact that these UK years have also been used in calculating your French pension?
I stand corrected and thank you for your explanation 
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Does this mean that my current French pension that I took out at age 63 will increase when i am 67? That would be a great birthday present.
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