Apparently there is a small window when one can renounce your french pension but well before it is due to start or starts. Once he has received a € then no S1.
Generally if you work her France will be your competent State, not UK (or anywhere else).
Way back when in the misty years when a lot of British people came to France they were advised to start a teeny business to get access to healthcare very cheaply. For many this was really just a few €€€€ a year, so got a nasty shock much later when realised this meant they had lost their S1.
Thanks Jane.
For some reason, I thought maybe the fact he went back and lived and worked in the UK for years after that little student job would mean the UK was his competent state.
I reckon this info provided by @JaneJones should be boldly emblazoned somewhere (and shouted from the rooftops), so that Everyone considering touching a French pension (no matter how tiny) understands the full implications if they’ve got a UK pension entitlement as well.
I know this is not the first time the subject has arisen and been thoroughly discussed here on the forum. Still it seems that some folk are blissfully unaware… aaargh.
Out of curiosity - what is the advantage of accessing the French health system via an S1 - presumably if entitled to a French pension, even if small, you would get healthcare by that route?
She has deliberately not checked on info.retraite to see whether there is any record of the employment. Never mind claiming it. She has just ignored it completely.
Dangerous to ignore it, the pension bodies here have all your details, even a Saturday job I did at age 16 and still in UK education. I am not entitled to a UK S1 as I worked for many years part time here but I do get access to CSS free healthcare so it does not concern me.
But realistically, supposing a record of the employment exists and it probably does, are the French going to turn round and say, hey, we should be paying for your healthcare, not the UK?
When it came to applying, the UK just took her word for it and handed the S1 over.
As far as I’m aware once the pension has been awarded/registered/recognised (not sure what word to use) then that’s it. Doesn’t matter if you claim it or not.
And there is more and more coordination on social security so systems are tighter. When I applied for my pension and S1 they wanted my employment history in detail, and specifically asked if i had worked in France given my address.
From the UK point of view if they can hand on another expensive old person then it is in their interests to do so.
Now this is puzzling me.
You had a gîte buisiness in France for years, was this after you retired. Or can you have a buisiness and earn upto a certain amount ?
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