Can you draw two state pensions? One from UK AND one from FRANCE?

Banking & Financial Pensions
81

Does that matter for me Jane? - I and my family have been in the French health system for the last 8 years or so, by virtue of the fact that my wife runs a business and pays social contributions here.

82

Iā€™m currently looking into the possibility of amalgamating UK NI qualifying years and French state pension trimestres to get a full pension here at the age of 60 which is possible with the ā€˜regimeā€™ Iā€™m under in France but failing that I expect to get a partial French pension at 62 and then the full UK pension at 67.

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83

My MIL left France for the UK at 32 when she married my FIL. She has a pension paid here (actually I think it is 2 small ones) and then a larger UK one.

84

Sounds ā€¦ complicated

85

Probably notā€¦Iā€™m no expert in this but if it doesnā€™t alarm you then thatā€™s fine.

86

I get the UK pension (95%) plus the French state pension earned over 30 years. Both are paid into my ƇA account and duly declared on the tax forms.

87

Yes - as I understand it if I do nothing I will get:

  • My private pension
  • My UK state pension
  • My (very small) French state pension.

But the question is, is there anything I can do to transfer some of my UK entitlement to France (ie. use sufficient trimestres earned in the UK to increase my French pension), so I get:

  • My private pension
  • A full French pension
  • A (very small) UK pension?
88

I assume if you do nothing then you wonā€™t get a French pension. You need to get the ball rolling with your local CARSAT and they will make contact with the UK pensions people. My file took about six months to sort out.

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89

Thatā€™s my understanding as well, youā€™ve got to initiate things.

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90

Thereā€™s a lot of debate on another forum regarding entitlement to a French pension. It seems the main concern is losing your entitlement to a form S1 if youā€™re entitled to a French pension, whether you decide to claim the French pension or not. Not having a form S1 apparently means social contributions will be payable on ALL your pensions regardless of which country pays them. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who receives a French pension, as well as a pension from outside of France, to confirm this is the case.

91

Having thought about it, I seem to remember when I researched my wifeā€™s position that you had to have over 10 years contributions in France before you could make it up to a full pension by counting your UK contributions - and I definitely donā€™t have over 40 trimestres in France.

92

To check any entitlement you may have to a French pension you can set up an account with info-retraite.fr.
https://www.info-retraite.fr/portail-services/#/login#header