Does working in France always make you ineligible for an S1?

Have you had a look in info.retraite? If there’s anything coming to you, the gory details should be in there.

Yes, I’ve looked. There’s a small entitlement. I just want to ensure it is not automatically paid out. I was under the impression that one had to claim it and I can’t, as yet, find any reference to that being otherwise.

I note that @AndreaG is referring to around 10 years ago. A great deal has changed in the pension world in that time, perhaps things have changed in the intervening years. Suffice it to say that I can only find reference to claiming or taking a French pension, or deferring it by not taking it. I can’t find anything that suggests it will be paid automatically - but I am continuing to resarch it.

I too was under the impression that you had to claim it. In fact, I’m pretty sure there was talk on this forum and elsewhere about it being a pretty slow process and that it was advisable to claim about 6 months in advance.

I had to claim mine which was about two and a half years ago now and once the claim was lodged, Carsat then contacted me every time they needed info or sent papers to sign etc especially for the deterrence of a year which I then posted back. I already had a pension de réversion with them since 2012 so they had all my details

I definitely had that experience, & have mentioned it before on SF. At least when it did eventually come through I had quite a large backpayment!

@Larkswood12
When I was contacted originally I was given the choice of the tiny lump sum or the tiny pension as I said. I presume at that point I must have provided my bank details. If I had known at this point that it was going to nullify my S1 I would have happily forfeited both.

I feel for you. We’ve all made choices that, at the time, we were totally unaware of the ramifications of. I think one ought be able to come back from such choices (or at least some of them), rather than have them set in stone. I mean, nobody expects everyone to know everything?

My friend who regrets taking his French pension did no research. I like him very much but have no sympathy for him in this case. The information was available at the time he made his choice. He just never bothered looking.

I can just imagine the chaos for already overburdened administrative systems if people could go back and say “yeah, but, no, but, yeah, but…”.

Sorry if I sound grumpy but am back in Strasbourg, being walked into by smartphone zombies after a week in the blissfully empty Cévennes.

1 Like

Ah, @Helenochka is interested. Jane .. that might answer the question if you take only a lump sum, it doesn’t remove the S1 entitlement, if OH has an S1?! Or maybe the cheque was never cashed :slight_smile:

It arrived after he got his S1, and we never questioned it. But he never asked for it.

I wonder (and it’s an admittedly left field suggestion) if the issuing of an S1 itself would trigger the paying-up of a small French pension? We know there is communication across the channel between pension bodies so it’s theoretically possible. I don’t consider it likely though!

I can’t imagine that it would. But…
A friend has recently obtained an S1 from the UK and is in the process of getting it registered here in France. The friend did work in France many years ago but has never checked their pension entitlement.
If you mean that perhaps in the course of registering the SI, the local CPAM might discover the person is in fact entitled to a French pension and therefore refuse to register the S1, I suppose that IS possible. Will let you know what happens in the case of my friend (not the same person as the one referred to originally - I have many dodgy friends).

2 Likes

I have been receiving my french pension for a few years so of course was not eligible for S1.
Having now returned to the UK wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of continuing to receive my french pension I could instead be offered an agreeable lump sum and not have to bother with keeping a fench bank account open to receive it.
I know people have said I could have it paid into certain on line accounts but I cannot be bothered with the faff.
I do expect to receive an annual note asking me to confirm I am still alive.

Won’t they pay it into a UK bank in the same way that some people (though not me) have UK pensions paid into a French account?

I don’t know David but I suspect not.
The Eurozone is far bigger, and arguably more important to France and I doubt they would go to the trouble to set up a system exchanging euros to sterling and then linking the exchange to a UK Bank.
You only have to look at Credit Agricole. Even though the name is the same each region of the bank keep themselves to themselves.

I think @Debby_Wade was having a few problems of this sort with Carsat. I have a feeling she did finally persuade them to pay the pension into a sterling account.

They pay it into my Wise a/c, it was the easiest option and I didn’t need anymore complications.

1 Like

Ah, OK. Thanks for clarifying Debby.