S1 if you worked in France but…

[Helenochka]

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on this subject.

My husband worked very briefly in France. He has just 25 trimestres. This will secure him a tiny French pension from age 63. But it’s not enough to entitle him to join the local Alsace Moselle health insurance scheme, based on his employment record.
Instead therefore he will join PUMA and be covered for health care that way.

When he’s 67, he will become entitled to a full UK state pension.
I’m assuming however that, since he will have this very small French pension, and even though it doesn’t entitle him to French healthcare, he won’t be able to get an S1.
Would you agree?

[JaneJones]

Yes.

There are diverging views about whether you can renounce the french pension (there is about an 8 day window where this is possible) and still get your S1, but not be chased later on by URSAFF.

[larkswood12]

On the tiny French pension, @JaneJones did write elsewhere there’s a minimum, or basic, which doesn’t seem tiny. I must be misunderstanding, but if not, then taking the French pension might make up for the social taxes otherwise payable without the S1?

@JaneJones

Once you have paid a minimum number of trimestres then you are guaranteed the basic pension at 67. Which is currently: .” le montant du minimum contributif est fixé à 8 209,62 € brut par an, ce qui revient à 684,14 € brut par mois.Oct 24, 2023”.

I think you must have misread basic for maximum! You need to have the full number of trimestres to get the full whack, or keep on working.

[Shiba]

I speak as someone who gets some small french pensions and some UK state pension and you DO NOT GET an S1 if you worked in France after leaving the UK. This is current info and I am a new pensioner since last year. The french pension will only pay monthly if there are sufficient trimestres gained to warrant a payment otherwise as with one of my complémentaire ones, they have just paid me a lump sum for the year and this is how it works.

[Helenochka]

Thanks Shiba.
That’s what I thought. And the fact that the French pension is so tiny that it doesn’t entitle the person to join the local health insurance scheme is irrelevant.
The very existence of a French pension, however small, disqualifies the person from getting an S1.

[Helenochka]

Thanks Jane.
Renouncing - even assuming it’s possible - sounds like a palaver.
And to be honest, I’m for whatever arrangement involves the fewest administrative headaches. So I think we’ll just work on the assumption he joins PUMA and stays with it for the rest of his days in France.