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Posted
17 minutes ago, Goodison said:

@Keith5588 I know which YTer your talking about. IMO if your going to go the Philippines for 6 months to reset your state pension you need more than what somebody at DWP told you on the phone. Mike Lister said he had to get his MP involved to put pressure on the DWP to acknowledge he was habitually resident in the UK and it would be easier in the UK as you have an MP and need to be habitually resident to also get back your no charge at point of use access to the NHS. 

Thank you @Goodison I totally agree with you in that concerning something like this you would need it in writing from the DWP.  I had already thought the same as you that a phone conversation is not good enough especially as many people seem to be confused. Also if you paused the YTer video at the 3 places to read the messages I really did not understand the second one.

I also agree with you that the same applies concerning the NHS, it is being regarded as permanent resident that matters, nothing to do with a period of time etc. 

Posted
6 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

My pension has remained the same as 2019, it has neither been uprated or reverted back to the pre 2016 rate.

Thank you @chiang mai. You have confirmed that the UK state pension can indeed be increased permanently to the current level. This is so confusing.

I will be in the UK early next year when I intend to start my UK state pension at age 72. Yes I have intensionally deferred. Luckily at the moment I feel very healthy and my plan is to live to 102, so another 30 years 🙂 

While in the UK I will myself contact DWP or the International Pension Centre and try to have the situation clarified in writing. 

Thanks again

Posted
6 hours ago, jori123 said:

as usual, a load of rubbish.  Comment please where you read that "agreement" lol

 

What are you on about?

 

The agreement is a matter of record, made into law years ago.

 

I was responding to oxo1947 who asked if anyone knew the reason(s) for this being in place.  I mentioned I didn't know the accuracy of this potential reason, but given that the purpose of these agreements is as below, it seems a valid reason, but again I don't know this, just read it somewhere in the past.

 

Quote

The main purpose of such reciprocal agreements is to protect the social security position of workers moving between the two countries during their working lives. They prevent employees, their employers and the self-employed from having to pay social security contributions to both the home state and the state of employment at the same time and ensure that such workers' rights to certain benefits are maintained.

Source Hansard

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2002-05-16/debates/ca3d00e4-fa43-4893-9c6a-c72ed71a4ea7/InternationalSocialSecurityAgreements

 

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Posted
23 minutes ago, treetops said:

 

What are you on about?

 

The agreement is a matter of record, made into law years ago.

 

I was responding to oxo1947 who asked if anyone knew the reason(s) for this being in place.  I mentioned I didn't know the accuracy of this potential reason, but given that the purpose of these agreements is as below, it seems a valid reason, but again I don't know this, just read it somewhere in the past.

 

Source Hansard

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2002-05-16/debates/ca3d00e4-fa43-4893-9c6a-c72ed71a4ea7/InternationalSocialSecurityAgreements

 

 

 

"Can't vouch for it being true, but I read that the agreement with the Philippines was to keep the flow of healthcare staff from there to the UK sweet as the UK system would collapse without them"

 

     Yeah right !I think not ,the fact it was made 80years ago had nothing to do of keeping Filipino nurses "sweet" You read it nowhere.

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Posted
13 minutes ago, jori123 said:

"Can't vouch for it being true, but I read that the agreement with the Philippines was to keep the flow of healthcare staff from there to the UK sweet as the UK system would collapse without them"

 

     Yeah right !I think not ,the fact it was made 80years ago had nothing to do of keeping Filipino nurses "sweet" You read it nowhere.

 

Do you just make all this up?  (rhetorical question).

 

Quote

The social security reciprocal agreement between the UK and the Philippines was signed on 27 February 1985, but the agreement did not come into force until 1 December 1989.

Source Hansard (again)

https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2003-10-22/debates/951629a8-94de-4831-b7d5-da341092ec67/StatePensionArrangementsWithThePhilippines

 

Filipino nurses have been coming here for much longer.

Source:  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/25/exhibition-celebrates-untold-stories-of-filipino-nurses-in-nhs

 

Again, I'm not saying it's a fact but it's a theory that makes some sense when you look at the data rather then read your odd musings.

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Posted
4 minutes ago, treetops said:

 

Do you just make all this up?  (rhetorical question).

 

Source Hansard (again)

https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2003-10-22/debates/951629a8-94de-4831-b7d5-da341092ec67/StatePensionArrangementsWithThePhilippines

 

Filipino nurses have been coming here for much longer.

Source:  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/25/exhibition-celebrates-untold-stories-of-filipino-nurses-in-nhs

 

Again, I'm not saying it's a fact but it's a theory that makes some sense when you look at the data rather then read your odd musings.

Not musings old chap, impossible to comprehend your set piece bunkum

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Posted
On 11/24/2024 at 8:52 PM, ballpoint said:

 

It looks like countries that have a lot of citizens working in the UK make these deals to protect their rights.  So the large number of Filipina nurses in the UK could very well be the reason.  I can't see Thailand doing such a deal to protect UK citizens here unless they get something out of it too.

 

"The UK has agreements with some other countries to protect the social security rights of workers moving between the 2 countries.

These are sometimes known as ‘bilateral agreements’ or ‘reciprocal agreements’.

If you live in one of the following countries and receive a UK State Pension, you will usually get an increase in your pension every year:

Barbados
Bermuda
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Gibraltar
Guernsey
the Isle of Man
Israel
Jamaica
Jersey
Kosovo
Mauritius
Montenegro
North Macedonia
the Philippines
Serbia
Turkey
USA
The UK has social security agreements with Canada and New Zealand, but you cannot get a yearly increase in your UK State Pension if you live in either of those countries".

 

Countries where we pay an annual increase in the State Pension - GOV.UK

 

 

And, in order to "unfreeze" your pension, you must return to the UK, not to one of the agreement countries, such as the Philippines.

 

"Your State Pension will only increase each year if you live in:

the European Economic Area (EEA)
Gibraltar
Switzerland
countries that have a social security agreement with the UK (but you cannot get increases in Canada or New Zealand)
You will not get yearly increases if you live outside these countries.

Your pension will go up to the current rate if you return to live in the UK".

 

If you later return to, say, Thailand, your pension will go back to the old frozen amount.

 

State Pension if you retire abroad: How your pension is affected - GOV.UK

 

Thanks for the information and links  @ballpoint   

I have a query about one point. In your post you state

"And, in order to "unfreeze" your pension, you must return to the UK, not to one of the agreement countries, such as the Philippines."

Can I ask where this came from?

Because we have conflicting conclusions I am wondering if to permanently increase your state pension to a new current frozen amount amount this is true and so going to the Philippines for 185 days would not work but going to the UK would?

 

Posted
On 11/24/2024 at 8:52 PM, ballpoint said:

 

It looks like countries that have a lot of citizens working in the UK make these deals to protect their rights.  So the large number of Filipina nurses in the UK could very well be the reason.  I can't see Thailand doing such a deal to protect UK citizens here unless they get something out of it too.

 

"The UK has agreements with some other countries to protect the social security rights of workers moving between the 2 countries.

These are sometimes known as ‘bilateral agreements’ or ‘reciprocal agreements’.

If you live in one of the following countries and receive a UK State Pension, you will usually get an increase in your pension every year:

Barbados
Bermuda
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Gibraltar
Guernsey
the Isle of Man
Israel
Jamaica
Jersey
Kosovo
Mauritius
Montenegro
North Macedonia
the Philippines
Serbia
Turkey
USA
The UK has social security agreements with Canada and New Zealand, but you cannot get a yearly increase in your UK State Pension if you live in either of those countries".

 

Countries where we pay an annual increase in the State Pension - GOV.UK

 

 

And, in order to "unfreeze" your pension, you must return to the UK, not to one of the agreement countries, such as the Philippines.

 

"Your State Pension will only increase each year if you live in:

the European Economic Area (EEA)
Gibraltar
Switzerland
countries that have a social security agreement with the UK (but you cannot get increases in Canada or New Zealand)
You will not get yearly increases if you live outside these countries.

Your pension will go up to the current rate if you return to live in the UK".

 

If you later return to, say, Thailand, your pension will go back to the old frozen amount.

 

State Pension if you retire abroad: How your pension is affected - GOV.UK

 

Thanks for the information and links  @ballpoint   

I have a query about one point. In your post you state

"And, in order to "unfreeze" your pension, you must return to the UK, not to one of the agreement countries, such as the Philippines."

Can I ask where this came from?

Because we have conflicting conclusions I am wondering if to permanently increase your state pension to a new current frozen amount amount this is true and so going to the Philippines for 185 days would not work but going to the UK would?

Posted
On 11/24/2024 at 12:04 PM, Keith5588 said:

Hi, I would love to know the answer to this.

 

The amounts I use are not meant to be exact.

Personally I think freezing the UK pension depending upon which country you decide to live is wrong but for this post I don’t want a big discussion about whether you should inform the DWP or not.

The UK state pension is now classed as a benefit and so you should inform the DWP where you are living by law.

So I am assuming that you totally inform the DWP everything.    I am not prepared at the moment to contact the DWP directly.

 

I will use an example.

A 75 year old UK male started his UK state 10 years ago in 2014 receiving £100 per week and came to Thailand. His pension was frozen and so he is still receiving £100 per week.

If he lived in the UK, the Philippines or other countries that have an agreement so that the UK pension is not frozen he would now be receiving £200 pw.

The man goes to the Philippines and immediately informs the DWP that he is there. His pension is increased to £200 pw. 185 days later he returns to Thailand and stays in Thailand for future years.

 

A Youtuber and some other people has said that this mans UK state pension will remain at £200 pw for future years.

 

I disagree, after this man returns to Thailand I think that his UK state pension will revert to the original frozen level of £100 pw. Maybe it will stay at £200 pw until the end of the UK fiscal year and then revert back to the original frozen level of £100 pw but that is irrelevant for this discussion.

 

I am only basing what I think on reading different forums in the past, there has been a lot of discussion, partitions, lobbying in the House of Commons etc.

There must be many UK elderly expats who have been living in Thailand and receiving a frozen UK state pension for 10 years or more. If these people could spend 185 days in the Philippines or the UK to permanently change their UK state pension to the current larger amount when they return to live in Thailand they would be very silly not to do so if they can. I have never read of anyone doing this.

Also for me and many others the frozen pension would not be much of a problem if after some large pension increases like the last few years you can receive these increases by taking a 185 day holiday to the Philippines!

 

So the question is:-

In the future, let’s say 3 years from now is this man’s UK state pension £100 pw or £200 pw

The problem with your scheme is that about every 2 years, at random, a form is sent to you to return to DWP.

It must be signed by you and also witnessed with the witnesses official stamp.

 

While you are in Thailand and have vacated your new official address in the Philippines, the proof of life form will go unanswered and your pension will be stopped.

Posted
1 minute ago, Andycoops said:

The problem with your scheme is that about every 2 years, at random, a form is sent to you to return to DWP.

It must be signed by you and also witnessed with the witnesses official stamp.

 

While you are in Thailand and have vacated your new official address in the Philippines, the proof of life form will go unanswered and your pension will be stopped.

@Andycoops  I did state that you that you totally inform the DWP everything so they would know that you are back in Thailand. In the YouTube I mentioned it was also on the condition that you fully informed DWP of where you were living. 

Posted
14 minutes ago, Andycoops said:

The problem with your scheme is that about every 2 years, at random, a form is sent to you to return to DWP.

It must be signed by you and also witnessed with the witnesses official stamp.

 

While you are in Thailand and have vacated your new official address in the Philippines, the proof of life form will go unanswered and your pension will be stopped.

Yeah, but that happens to the legit overseas claimants as well, if you don't tell them you ever left the UK, no proof of life forms ever.

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Posted
15 minutes ago, Keith5588 said:

Thanks for the information and links  @ballpoint   

I have a query about one point. In your post you state

"And, in order to "unfreeze" your pension, you must return to the UK, not to one of the agreement countries, such as the Philippines."

Can I ask where this came from?

Because we have conflicting conclusions I am wondering if to permanently increase your state pension to a new current frozen amount amount this is true and so going to the Philippines for 185 days would not work but going to the UK would?

 

 

 

Personally, and based on a wooly reply from DWP, I would say not. The pension would revert to the original frozen amount.

  • Like 1
Posted
On 11/24/2024 at 12:04 PM, Keith5588 said:

Hi, I would love to know the answer to this.

 

The amounts I use are not meant to be exact.

Personally I think freezing the UK pension depending upon which country you decide to live is wrong but for this post I don’t want a big discussion about whether you should inform the DWP or not.

The UK state pension is now classed as a benefit and so you should inform the DWP where you are living by law.

So I am assuming that you totally inform the DWP everything.    I am not prepared at the moment to contact the DWP directly.

 

I will use an example.

A 75 year old UK male started his UK state 10 years ago in 2014 receiving £100 per week and came to Thailand. His pension was frozen and so he is still receiving £100 per week.

If he lived in the UK, the Philippines or other countries that have an agreement so that the UK pension is not frozen he would now be receiving £200 pw.

The man goes to the Philippines and immediately informs the DWP that he is there. His pension is increased to £200 pw. 185 days later he returns to Thailand and stays in Thailand for future years.

 

A Youtuber and some other people has said that this mans UK state pension will remain at £200 pw for future years.

 

I disagree, after this man returns to Thailand I think that his UK state pension will revert to the original frozen level of £100 pw. Maybe it will stay at £200 pw until the end of the UK fiscal year and then revert back to the original frozen level of £100 pw but that is irrelevant for this discussion.

 

I am only basing what I think on reading different forums in the past, there has been a lot of discussion, partitions, lobbying in the House of Commons etc.

There must be many UK elderly expats who have been living in Thailand and receiving a frozen UK state pension for 10 years or more. If these people could spend 185 days in the Philippines or the UK to permanently change their UK state pension to the current larger amount when they return to live in Thailand they would be very silly not to do so if they can. I have never read of anyone doing this.

Also for me and many others the frozen pension would not be much of a problem if after some large pension increases like the last few years you can receive these increases by taking a 185 day holiday to the Philippines!

 

So the question is:-

In the future, let’s say 3 years from now is this man’s UK state pension £100 pw or £200 pw

My understanding is that,when returning to UK domain you will be paid the full entitlement,however when you leave that domain,you will be frozen at the current rate.I do not know the timeline for this,but you can visit DWP's site for all the info.

Posted
11 minutes ago, leonard beaven said:

My understanding is that,when returning to UK domain you will be paid the full entitlement,however when you leave that domain,you will be frozen at the current rate.I do not know the timeline for this,but you can visit DWP's site for all the info.

 

 

It isn't on their website.

 

If you have a link to prove me wrong I will be happy.

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Posted
8 minutes ago, leonard beaven said:

My understanding is that,when returning to UK domain you will be paid the full entitlement,however when you leave that domain,you will be frozen at the current rate.I do not know the timeline for this,but you can visit DWP's site for all the info.

Thanks @leonard beaven. I am starting to change my mind and also think it possible to change to a frozen higher amount.

Take my original example except change to going to the UK instead of the Philippines. After arriving in the UK you make 100% sure that DWP catagorises you as permanent resident. 

You then stay in the UK for another 185 days. You then telephone DWP and tell them that you are going to go and live in Thailand and have flight booked on xxxxxx.  What does the DWP staff do?  Do they just process your state pension to be frozen at the rate you are receiving?  Or do they investigate that you actually had a frozen state pension previously while living in Thailand.

I now think it quite possible that they will just start to freeze it at the current higher amount.  

Posted
21 hours ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Of course your pension is uprated annually, because you have not told them you have returned permanently to Thailand. That is fraud!

If they want to check it's quite easy.Passport details are available plus activity on uk bank account registered for council tax voters role etc

Posted

it is disgusting if you contributed 30-40 years into the system.. my own home country is the same, cutting benefits

 

while getting older, you don't use SS benefits your paid for, life long and not using the expensive healthcare at home...

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Posted (edited)
14 minutes ago, MRMOUSE said:

If they want to check it's quite easy.Passport details are available plus activity on uk bank account registered for council tax voters role etc

1. I don't show them my passport (and nobody in the UK has the right to see it)

2. I don't use my UK bank account for overseas transactions

3. Only the first 2 people in a property pay council tax

4. Electoral role has quite a few people missing from it, including the homeless

 

I haven't lived at my UK home address for 16 years, nor does anyone I know.

My bank, the DWP, HMRC, Passport Office, credit check agencies et al, haven't noticed yet.

 

While it may seem quite easy for them to check all this stuff, for some reason they don't. 

Edited by BritManToo
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Posted
On 11/24/2024 at 8:35 PM, oxo1947 said:

I just wondered what is the Agreement these countries have that allows them to keep their pension current.

 

I'm not British, so I have no dog in this fight, but my understanding is that these are what the US calls "totalization agreements". They allow people who work in multiple countries, but don't have enough years in any one country to qualify for a pension, to add up all their years and end up getting retirement benefits.

 

What I do not understand is why these agreements have anything whatsoever to do with whether British pensioners receive annual increases - that would seem to be a 100% internal UK decision that doesn't require agreement from any other nation.

 

Just as an example, US Social Security recipients get the same amount of money whether they live in the US or abroad (other than in a tiny number of countries that are under sanction or don't allow official access to beneficiaries, but even in those cases the benefits will eventually be paid if the recipient moves out of the problem country). The presence or absence of a totalization agreement doesn't affect the payment at all.

Posted
3 hours ago, Keith5588 said:

Thanks for the information and links  @ballpoint   

I have a query about one point. In your post you state

"And, in order to "unfreeze" your pension, you must return to the UK, not to one of the agreement countries, such as the Philippines."

Can I ask where this came from?

Because we have conflicting conclusions I am wondering if to permanently increase your state pension to a new current frozen amount amount this is true and so going to the Philippines for 185 days would not work but going to the UK would?

 

You can unfreeze it going to the Philippines 

 

 

Posted
2 hours ago, Keith5588 said:

Thanks @leonard beaven. I am starting to change my mind and also think it possible to change to a frozen higher amount.

Take my original example except change to going to the UK instead of the Philippines. After arriving in the UK you make 100% sure that DWP catagorises you as permanent resident. 

You then stay in the UK for another 185 days. You then telephone DWP and tell them that you are going to go and live in Thailand and have flight booked on xxxxxx.  What does the DWP staff do?  Do they just process your state pension to be frozen at the rate you are receiving?  Or do they investigate that you actually had a frozen state pension previously while living in Thailand.

I now think it quite possible that they will just start to freeze it at the current higher amount.  


This is the big question.

Some might be considering suffering the U.K. for 185 days in order to achieve a more recent frozen rate of pension but is 185 days sufficient ?

 

Maybe a full year cycle of the higher pension rate staying in the U.K. is required or even 2 years …… who knows ? …… obviously I don’t !

Posted
4 hours ago, Keith5588 said:

Thanks for the information and links  @ballpoint   

I have a query about one point. In your post you state

"And, in order to "unfreeze" your pension, you must return to the UK, not to one of the agreement countries, such as the Philippines."

Can I ask where this came from?

Because we have conflicting conclusions I am wondering if to permanently increase your state pension to a new current frozen amount amount this is true and so going to the Philippines for 185 days would not work but going to the UK would?

 

I'm just going by what is written in the link I posted:

"Your pension will go up to the current rate if you return to live in the UK"

 

Makes no mention of moving to a third country having an agreement. I agree that may be the case, it's just not written down in that link, but I can't find any formal statement from the UK saying that it would be unfrozen by moving to, say, the Philippines.  Everything I've read from an official source says you need to move back to the UK.

Note that UK residents of the EU, EEA and Switzerland only get the annual increase if they were already living there before the end of 2020, so moving to one of those countries definitely wouldn't thaw it.

 

Also, the last reciprocal agreement ever made was with Barbados in 1981.  All governments since have said they will make no more, as it's "too expensive".

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Posted (edited)

@Keith5588 Where the YTer is wrong is he is telling people to reset their system reset permanently it is all about number of days in Country and that is wrong it is about getting the DWP to accept you are habitually resident. I already put the link to a thread on here where Mike Lister who went the IK and reset his pension put 2 comments and says he had to get his MP involved for the DWP to accept he was habitual resident in the UK and he got this after 4 months and the DWP letter explained it is based on them being satisfied you have settled back in the UK and made your habitual home not the number of days you are in Country. To add on to this I have put the link below for British Citizens Habitual Resident Test from the GOV UK site where the response to a question is from the DWP and who make it clear habitual resident is about them being satisfied the UK is your habitual home not the number of days you are in Country. You can make the Philippines your habitual gone but the DWP have to accept this for your pension to be permanently reset and just going there and spending 185 days there will get you the current rate for the duration of your visit but it will go back to the old frozen rate when you returned to Thailand unless you get the DWP to accept that the Philippines is now your habitual home.    
 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f9c70ed915d74e33f77c9/foi-3160-14.pdf

Edited by Goodison
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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

This is the big question.

Some might be considering suffering the U.K. for 185 days in order to achieve a more recent frozen rate of pension but is 185 days sufficient ?

 

Maybe a full year cycle of the higher pension rate staying in the U.K. is required or even 2 years …… who knows ? …… obviously I don’t !

"Habitually resident" is to do with your future intentions, and not the number of days you spend in the UK.

If your thoughts are, "I'll spend a year in the UK, then I'll move back to Thailand", and you state that, then you would be habitually resident in Thailand, and when you returned to Thailand, your pension would be returned to the payment you received on your first stay in Thailand.

 

If on the other hand, if you returned to the UK with the intention of staying there forever, then simply change your mind later, your pension would be frozen at the rate you next left the UK.

 

Australia pensions work on the same theory, tell them you are going back for 2 years just to claim your OZ pension and you lose it when you leave. You have to intend to live the rest of your life in Australia to get it.

Edited by BritManToo
Posted
14 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

"Habitually resident" is to do with your future intentions, and not the number of days you spend in the UK.

If your thoughts are, "I'll spend a year in the UK, then I'll move back to Thailand", and you state that, then you would be habitually resident in Thailand, and when you returned to Thailand, your pension would be returned to the payment you received on your first stay in Thailand.

 

If on the other hand, if you returned to the UK with the intention of staying there forever, then simply change your mind later, your pension would be frozen at the rate you next left the UK.

 

 

So you are saying if you returned to the U.K. with the intention of staying then simply change your mind after 1 year your pension would be frozen at the rate you next left the U.K.?

 

So its all about declaring you are going to stay but then not staying and you will get the newer frozen rate ?

 

Anything to back this up ??

Posted
6 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

So you are saying if you returned to the U.K. with the intention of staying then simply change your mind after 1 year your pension would be frozen at the rate you next left the U.K.?

So its all about declaring you are going to stay but then not staying and you will get the newer frozen rate ?

Anything to back this up ??

If you're gonna lie, why not just lie about where you live and get the full pension all the time?

 

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