State Pension if you have lived or worked abroad

Years spent outside the UK affect two things: how many qualifying years you have, and whether your pension rises each year once you are claiming.

Claiming from abroad

You can claim the UK State Pension in any country if you have at least 10 qualifying years. Claim through the International Pension Centre up to four months before State Pension age. It can be paid into a UK account or a local account in most countries, every 4 or 13 weeks.

Will it go up each year?

This is the catch. Your State Pension only gets the annual increase if you live in:

• the UK
• the EU, EEA countries, Switzerland or Gibraltar
• a country with a social security agreement with the UK that covers uprating, including the USA, Turkey, Israel, the Philippines, Jamaica and Barbados.

In other countries it is frozen at the rate when you first claim or first move. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan and most of the Caribbean are frozen countries. Around half a million pensioners are affected. Someone who moved to Australia on a £100 a week pension in 2005 still gets £100.

Do years abroad count towards the UK pension?

• EU, EEA and Switzerland: years paid into those systems can be used to help you reach the UK minimum of 10 years, under the arrangements kept after Brexit. Each country pays its own share.
• Countries with a reciprocal agreement (USA, Canada, Japan and others): similar rules, agreement by agreement.
• Everywhere else: years abroad do not count, but you can usually pay voluntary National Insurance for them, often at the cheaper Class 2 rate if you were working abroad.

Returning to the UK

If you come back to live in the UK, a frozen pension is uprated to the current rate from the date you return.

Sources

• State Pension if you retire abroad, gov.uk
• Countries where the UK State Pension is uprated, gov.uk

Information only, not financial advice. If a figure here and gov.uk ever disagree, gov.uk is right and we will fix it.