UK pensions

[MaeJoMTB]

Stay in the Philippines, holiday in Thailand ...... job done, pension back to normal.

Residency is a matter of opinion. So why tell anyone you LIVE in THAILAND (it's just stupid).

I live in the Philippines (1 week every 6 months) and holiday in Thailand (the other 25 weeks each 6 months).

Pension claims totally legit.

Edited July 12, 2017 by MaeJoMTB

[chezy86]

Stay in the Philippines, holiday in Thailand ...... job done, pension back to normal.
Residency is a matter of opinion. So why tell anyone you LIVE in THAILAND (it's just stupid).
I live in the Philippines (1 week every 6 months) and holiday in Thailand (the other 25 weeks each 6 months).
Pension claims totally legit.

Sounds like a plan to me haha [emoji23]


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[Orton Rd]

You would need an address of course to give the pension office and for them to send those life forms out to and to have them sent on to the person 'on holiday', sounds like a good idea to me.

Edited July 12, 2017 by Orton Rd

[i claudius]

But then of course if you "live" in the UK you dont need a life certificate [emoji52]

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[bert bloggs]

I cant believe that anyone living outside the UK would pretend that they did live there , 

[Eff1n2ret]

1 hour ago, bert bloggs said:

I cant believe that anyone living outside the UK would pretend that they did live there , 

When you leave the UK you become a second-class citizen in so many different ways, not just because of a "frozen pension". Your entitlement to NHS hospital treatment ceases, you can't open any new bank or savings accounts (even if you can hang on to your existing ones), you lose the right to vote after 15 years, you're not even supposed to renew your driving licence, - those are the ones that spring to mind immediately, I'm sure others can add some more. Perhaps more out of envy than logic, there are plenty in the UK who think these restrictions are perfectly justified.

 

There are plenty on this forum who think it is justified to pretend that they are still resident in the UK. I can't say whether that is right or wrong. If you can sustain the fiction, good luck to you. Personally I prefer to sleep at nights and everybody, DWP, HMRC, banks, etc, are aware that I live in Thailand.

[Hugh Jarse]

The Consortium of British Pensioners is a campaign group to "unfreeze" pensions for those Brits. living in countries that do not have reciprocal pension rights including Thailand. Worth signing up to as you receive latest info on what is happening to the campaign and the opportunity to sign the petition. Thailand is one of many countries that do not have reciprocal agreements with the UK. Curiously, The Philippines do so Brits living there get the annual rise.

I still pay UK taxes but cannot obtain any state benefits inc. access to the NHS etc. Makes me angry too that some Brits who are living here still get the annual increases and a few who even take a winter fuel allowance. Its often justified as 'playing the system' , but getting harder to cheat.

[nong38]

10 hours ago, Hugh Jarse said:

The Consortium of British Pensioners is a campaign group to "unfreeze" pensions for those Brits. living in countries that do not have reciprocal pension rights including Thailand. Worth signing up to as you receive latest info on what is happening to the campaign and the opportunity to sign the petition. Thailand is one of many countries that do not have reciprocal agreements with the UK. Curiously, The Philippines do so Brits living there get the annual rise.

I still pay UK taxes but cannot obtain any state benefits inc. access to the NHS etc. Makes me angry too that some Brits who are living here still get the annual increases and a few who even take a winter fuel allowance. Its often justified as 'playing the system' , but getting harder to cheat.

As has been said many times before the reciprical agreement is a red herring, how some of these red herrings happened is a mystery to me and many others no doubt.

All that needs to change to up grade the pensions is to amend clause 20 of the Pensions bill, everytime it is brought up for debate it is talked out of time.

Jeremy Corbyn has said he will address the issue just like the students fees and debts etc, promises that were never promises easily mentioned in the heat of debate only to be rolled out later as ambition not a promise, now you understand.

[bert bloggs]

While i applaud the efforts of the consortium for trying to get pension rises , while the govt say even British pensiones are not going to be paid until you are 68 ,i think they have two hopes and we all know what they are . so is it any wonder that many many expats keep home addresses .

[rockingrobin]

13 hours ago, nong38 said:

As has been said many times before the reciprical agreement is a red herring, how some of these red herrings happened is a mystery to me and many others no doubt.

All that needs to change to up grade the pensions is to amend clause 20 of the Pensions bill, everytime it is brought up for debate it is talked out of time.

Jeremy Corbyn has said he will address the issue just like the students fees and debts etc, promises that were never promises easily mentioned in the heat of debate only to be rolled out later as ambition not a promise, now you understand.

Labour have tabled EDM 159, requesting that the uprating regulations be revoked

[nong38]

On 28/07/2017 at 5:00 AM, rockingrobin said:

Labour have tabled EDM 159, requesting that the uprating regulations be revoked

\well we see hoe serious they are about it, they can count on a few Tories, the ones along with the SNP ones who had it talked out again earlier this year.

[i claudius]

\well we see hoe serious they are about it, they can count on a few Tories, the ones along with the SNP ones who had it talked out again earlier this year.

We are all counting on Bob but i dont think that he has a ?

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[rockingrobin]

2 hours ago, nong38 said:

\well we see hoe serious they are about it, they can count on a few Tories, the ones along with the SNP ones who had it talked out again earlier this year.

Are you sure the last EDM was talked out, the uprating regulations are subject to negative parliamentary procedure and as such if granted a debate a vote is required.

[rockingrobin]

40 minutes ago, rockingrobin said:

Are you sure the last EDM was talked out, the uprating regulations are subject to negative parliamentary procedure and as such if granted a debate a vote is required.

From Hansard , it appears that the initial EDM 1097 , was amended to "That this House notes the detrimental effect that the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations 2017 will have on the lives of many expatriate UK citizens living overseas with frozen pensions; and insists that the Government take the necessary steps to withdraw those Regulations.'

 

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2017-04-20/debates/735BC811-D247-4C79-A478-37B503F8F631/StatePensionsUKExpatriates

 

 

[billd766]

3 hours ago, rockingrobin said:

From Hansard , it appears that the initial EDM 1097 , was amended to "That this House notes the detrimental effect that the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations 2017 will have on the lives of many expatriate UK citizens living overseas with frozen pensions; and insists that the Government take the necessary steps to withdraw those Regulations.'

 

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2017-04-20/debates/735BC811-D247-4C79-A478-37B503F8F631/StatePensionsUKExpatriates

 

 

 

I have read that report from Hansard and I can only comment that the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Pensions, Richard Harrington MP speaks weasel words with a forked tongue. He is of course putting the governments point of view rather than his personal one (though he is the only one who knows what that is).

[Ricardo]

On the BBC-website today  ...

 

"Death of retirement: Can the UK afford the state pension?"

 

and after explaining what we all know, that people these days live longer on-average, but the retirement-age remained unchanged for many years, there is one telling line close-to-the-end  ...

 

" The growing cost of the state pension - albeit low by international standards - has led some to suggest that it should be means-tested once more. "

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40826562

 

I have said for some years now, I hope that I live long enough (another 3-years at present) to receive whatever part of the old-age allowance I will eventually be permitted to collect  (so much for IDS's flat-rate pension promise !),  and secondly that the country will still be able to afford to pay it to me, once I'm drawing it.

 

[Here2008]

11 minutes ago, Ricardo said:

On the BBC-website today  ...

 

From that website............

 

"A full one is around £160 a week (£8,300 a year) and one in seven pensioners - close on two million people - survive on nothing else"

 

IF this is true then it is a matter of either choice or lack of knowledge. No OAP need live on £160/week -- There are a range of supplementary benefits which can be applied for.

[teddog]

On 7/24/2017 at 10:10 AM, bert bloggs said:

I cant believe that anyone living outside the UK would pretend that they did live there , 

A vpn will put you anywhere in the world,with a skype phone number putting you into the UK  and a request for anything from .gov.uk with NI number inc  proves you are still in the UK and alive  and  Bobs your uncle

[billd766]

On 06/08/2017 at 4:35 PM, Here2008 said:

 

From that website............

 

"A full one is around £160 a week (£8,300 a year) and one in seven pensioners - close on two million people - survive on nothing else"

 

IF this is true then it is a matter of either choice or lack of knowledge. No OAP need live on £160/week -- There are a range of supplementary benefits which can be applied for.

 

But why should any pensioner NEED supplemantary benefits if the pension was to a livable and not just to an existance level standard?

[nong38]

Compare the National Living Wage rate to the old age pension at say 30 hours and see what you come up with.

Also today gripes about the Baby Boomers pensions which have risen quicker than younger people have got rises.

No mention about what happened to those people who were prudent throughout their lives, saved  a bit for a rainy day and gt help with the interest only to find that the interest rate collapsed and the young people borrowed our money at a cheap rate and had a jolly good time until they had to repay it. The bankers will return for the money with higher rates shortly and I hope that the savings rate moves north soon, the young have a good ride at my expense, time to pay for the ticket now.

[billd766]

13 hours ago, nong38 said:

Compare the National Living Wage rate to the old age pension at say 30 hours and see what you come up with.

Also today gripes about the Baby Boomers pensions which have risen quicker than younger people have got rises.

No mention about what happened to those people who were prudent throughout their lives, saved  a bit for a rainy day and gt help with the interest only to find that the interest rate collapsed and the young people borrowed our money at a cheap rate and had a jolly good time until they had to repay it. The bankers will return for the money with higher rates shortly and I hope that the savings rate moves north soon, the young have a good ride at my expense, time to pay for the ticket now.

 

I bought my first house in the UK at age 40 by commuting 15 years of my pension to get the deposit. I paid 30,000 back in 1984 and sold it in July 1987 for 62,000 and bought another 3 bed house for 72,000. By December my second house was worth over 100,000. By mid 1988 it was worth about 55,000 and I was in negative equity for several years.

 

Check out the mortgage interest rates both here

 

http://www.money.co.uk/mortgages/first-time-buyer-mortgages.htm

 

and here (the historical rates) especially between 1987 and 1990 and compare it with todays rates above.

 

http://www.houseweb.co.uk/house/market/irfig.html#1988

 

In 1988 I was on about 12,500 basic with overtime (about 15 hours a week) and my RAF pension of 190 a month.

 

It took me until 1991 to get out of negative equity.

[teddog]

Just now, billd766 said:

 

I bought my first house in the UK at age 40 by commuting 15 years of my pension to get the deposit. I paid 30,000 back in 1984 and sold it in July 1987 for 62,000 and bought another 3 bed house for 72,000. By December my second house was worth over 100,000. By mid 1988 it was worth about 55,000 and I was in negative equity for several years.

 

Check out the mortgage interest rates both here

 

http://www.money.co.uk/mortgages/first-time-buyer-mortgages.htm

 

and here (the historical rates) especially between 1987 and 1990 and compare it with todays rates above.

 

http://www.houseweb.co.uk/house/market/irfig.html#1988

 

In 1988 I was on about 12,500 basic with overtime (about 15 hours a week) and my RAF pension of 190 a month.

 

It took me until 1991 to get out of negative equity.

..and it will be taken away from you to pay for old nags home

[Ricardo]

On 06/08/2017 at 4:35 PM, Here2008 said:

 

From that website............

 

"A full one is around £160 a week (£8,300 a year) and one in seven pensioners - close on two million people - survive on nothing else"

 

IF this is true then it is a matter of either choice or lack of knowledge. No OAP need live on £160/week -- There are a range of supplementary benefits which can be applied for.

 

But don't you have to be UK-resident, to claim some/all of those supplimentary benefits ?

 

I recall when they wrote, after I'd retired & moved here, to tell me that I was unexpectedly going to have to wait an extra 51-weeks, before my old-age allowance started paying-out.

 

The letter carefully pointed-out that I would still be entitled to unemployment-benefit, and all the other benefits I qualified-for, for the extra year  ...  but when I looked into that further, none of them applied as I am resident here, not in the UK. 

 

So I simply had to lump-it  ...  not that I'm complaining (much), don't expect anything & you won't be disappointed, when you get exactly that !

 

And certainly my retired friends out here, on a LOT less than £160/week, are not able to claim for those supplementary benefits, or they wouldn't be facing the difficult times that they currently are, especially since the pound crashed ?

[Phuket Man]

My state pension was due this morning but has not showed up as yet.

Would yesterday being a holiday delay it a bit this month?

[billd766]

5 minutes ago, Phuket Man said:

My state pension was due this morning but has not showed up as yet.

Would yesterday being a holiday delay it a bit this month?

 

Usually it is the reason.

 

Of the 8 payments of my state pension this year, 3 have been late by 1 day and the 4th by 3 days. The 4th was was due during Songkran.

 

Oddly enough my other 2 pensions have always been on time.

[Phuket Man]

Thanks.

I have only been receiving it since December and this is the first time it has been late. 

Edited August 15, 2017 by Phuket Man

[billd766]

50 minutes ago, Phuket Man said:

Thanks.

I have only been receiving it since December and this is the first time it has been late. 

 

I gave all my banking details to the pension department for the use of Swift transfers.

 

IIRC the pension people transfer my pension to Citibank UK every 4th Wednesday.

 

Using Swift it should go directly into my account at Kasikorn and the transfer should literally only take seconds. The blockage seems to be at the intermediary stage via Citibank. From the Citibank in UK it seems to go around the world stopping every day at somehwere new. I get paid in the UK on a Wednesday but it doesn't hit may account until the Tuesday which means that the system is screwed up somewhere and some bank is making interest off my money plus everybody elses money who also uses that route.

 

I have called KBank a few times and they trace the route and tell me that hasn't arrived at the bank yet. I trust them more than I trust Citibank.

[Phuket Man]

Yep. For something that should take a few seconds it seems to make a few stops on the way to enable others to take a share.

[cheeryble]

Have you received a proof of life form to fill in?


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[Phuket Man]

5 minutes ago, cheeryble said:

Have you received a proof of life form to fill in?


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Nope.

Only been receiving pension since December.

Probably late cos of holiday.