I have worked most of my time in France, but have 9 « full years » of UK NIC.
Does this mean that I will have 9 x 4 =36 trimesters when converted? Seems too simple and too good to be true. Surely UK Full Year and French trimesters have different qualification levels, and conversion will not necessarily be one to one. Anyone any idea how exactly it works?
This article may be of interest, it states that France would ‘coordinate’ those other pensions - it also states you need 10 years of UK contributions to be able to receive a UK pension but mentions ‘topping up’ on the years worked so you could effectively receive a UK pension even with only nine years contribution.
Alternatively, you could top up your UK NI contributions (class 2) with one additional year and that would qualify you for the minimum UK state pension - about 65GBP per week at the current rate with no involvement from France needed.
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Hi PeterJ.
Can you give details about how to top up NI contributions and how this amount is calculated? Is it paid in one go or regularly? Also, do you have to have a UK bank account (which I haven’t anymore)? I also worked for 9 years in the UK before moving to France, but just assumed I couldn’t claim a government pension! Thanks for any info.
Hallo,
You might find this useful. Even if you are below the number of qualifying years your time in other EU countries helps you to qualify if you moved to France whilst the UK was still a member.
Yes, France will coordinate your pension, but from the experience of a British former colleague, the British are ignoring communications from EU countries.
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See my reply below, you should be able to qualify for the years you have paid.
This details how to top up your NI contributions. In it there is a section if you live overseas. My strong advice would be to call the advice line (detailed in the document), they will confirm your current full contribution and advise on what you can do to top up to ten years (or more if you wished). My husbands contribution top up came to about 150 GBP per year at class 2.
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If you apply for your UK pension via Carsat the EU aggregation of pension scheme will make up the extra year so you have the 10 eligable years.
My ex husband only had 8 years UK contributions but receives his DWP pension as if he had 10 years.
I received my French pension at 63 years using the trimestres from years worked in UK.
To my surprise the EU scheme had added an extra year to my UK pension when I claimed it at 66 years(I had already made up a few years NIC myself)
I made the UK voluntary contributions direct to UK though didnt go through Carsat.
Yes I agree.
I have 14 qualifying years in the UK and this has been confirmed by the UK pension office; the pension will be payable next year.It was the original poster who has 9 years.
I have applied for my French and other countries pensions via Carsat and used aggregation. It was the experience of a British colleague that had issues with communication with the UK pensions.
Thank you.
Have a good weekend.
Thank you to all for your replies.
I will take the route of aggregation via French pension ( I have 30+ years of contributions in France.
But my question was really about whether a full year in France will automatically mean 4 trimesters when France converts my UK years.
Indeed, for a trimester to count in France, there is a minimum income level for the trimester (I believe currently around €1700)
So will France apply the same logic to UK trimesters / quarters, or will they just consider that the year qualifies according to UK criteria, then that is sufficient.
Gosh that is a good question. For the UK you have to have worked the full tax year to qualify, well that is what the UK website states for my case. As the money comes from the individual countries, I guess it is the UK criteria that applies.
Yes, we’re good at not actually answering the exam question, but nevertheless offering whatever knowledge we do have 
I wonder why one would go through Carsat. I have a UK state pension (I recently bought voluntary contributions at the bargain price of £164.80 PA, payback period 25 weeks , a minuscule French state pension and a S1 driven Irish state pension. But I deal with them all directly. That way I know what’s going on.
I went through Carsat because I knew that I would only be able to reach the 166 trimestres needed for my maximum French pension(not a lot but it was bumped up by a minimum contributif payment )at 63 by using The UK qualifying years
.No problem in bringing these years over after filling out forms sent to me by Carsat re UK work record, who then forwarded them back to DWP. So when I did claim my UK one 3 years later I didnt have to repeat all this.(though probably all online now)
However if I had not been eligable for the French pension until after the UK one at 67 years I would have probably claimed it direct from UK.
All dealings with DWP since receiving French pension( paying in voluntary NICs)have been direct.
Another bonus is that the minimum contributif payment part of my French pension which is normally discontinued when you go over apension income threshold was not stopped after receiving my DWP payment as it would have been with any other French pension as apparently EU pensions arent counted.(Have that in writing to be sure)
So in my case claiming through carsat was an advantage.
Re qualifying UK years, usually a UK year is equal to 4 trimesters,however if as in my case you had 4 trimestres earned in UK and one in France in the same year obviously one trimestre will be discounted.