RetireJapan

This is mildly interesting. Second post from the top:
"There will be updates to the verification journey for the Government Gateway in July, we can't give details of the potential changes before then."

Might people who don't live in the UK finally be able to check their pensions online? A glimmer of hope perhaps

northSaver wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 4:43 am
Might people who don't live in the UK finally be able to check their pensions online? A glimmer of hope perhaps

Hopefully.
The HMRC replies on that thread are just painful...

beanhead wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 10:51 am

northSaver wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 4:43 am
Might people who don't live in the UK finally be able to check their pensions online? A glimmer of hope perhaps

Hopefully.
The HMRC replies on that thread are just painful...

Probably painful for the online HMRC guys as well, think they know they are rubbish…

Thank you for all the great information on class 2 and class 3 contributions. Now I understand why I had to pay class 3. I have been back paying voluntary class 3 contributions for a few years now and have accumulated 24 years in total. How many years should I keep paying in with the weak yen at the moment? I'm also worried that the pension is not inflation linked if you live in Japan.

Fran wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 8:41 am Thank you for all the great information on class 2 and class 3 contributions. Now I understand why I had to pay class 3. I have been back paying voluntary class 3 contributions for a few years now and have accumulated 24 years in total. How many years should I keep paying in with the weak yen at the moment? I'm also worried that the pension is not inflation linked if you live in Japan.

I would aim to qualify for a full pension (35 full years). Keep an eye on your account and stop paying once you have enough.

Hopefully the discriminatory treatment of some non-residents will end before we end up claiming pensions.

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 8:54 am Hopefully the discriminatory treatment of some non-residents will end before we end up claiming pensions.

This quote from the article posted by Oldbutnotobselete...

"The Government's policy on the uprating of the UK state pension for recipients living overseas is a longstanding one of more than 70 years and we continue to uprate state pensions overseas where there is a legal requirement to do so."

... implies to me that they don't really want to uprate any expat's pension, but are forced to in some cases due to legal requirements. Not doing it for everyone slightly makes sense due to the different rates of inflation around the world. But doing it for some and not others is just weird and unfair, even if it is legally necessary.

Unfortunately I don't think they'll be rushing to increase it for all of us anytime soon due to pressures on the pension system. If anything they'll probably make it harder for us, and I wouldn't be too surprised if they decided to return all our voluntary contributions since we left the UK and reduce our pension to what it was before. This would be a massive blow to most expats of course. They often point out that it is not guaranteed, and I wonder how much legal action we could take as non-residents in this situation. Probably none.

northSaver wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 4:43 am This is mildly interesting. Second post from the top:
"There will be updates to the verification journey for the Government Gateway in July, we can't give details of the potential changes before then."

Might people who don't live in the UK finally be able to check their pensions online? A glimmer of hope perhaps

I live in Japan, and I can check my UK pension anytime using the Government Gateway. It's awesome!
Why can't you as well?

Roger Van Zant wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 12:32 am I live in Japan, and I can check my UK pension anytime using the Government Gateway. It's awesome!
Why can't you as well?

In the thread explaining why it's not possible to sign up anymore:

Roger Van Zant wrote: ↑Wed Oct 27, 2021 4:29 am

adamu wrote: ↑Mon Oct 25, 2021 1:44 am Thankfully I can still log in to gov.uk services via a Government Gateway ID that I set up earlier. It seems like a huge oversight that it's now impossible to sign up from abroad if that is the case.

Same here. Thank goodness I signed up before. Sounds like a real PITA.

I guess most of us Brits here have signed this petition and seen the response that has just been posted by DWP? Just in case you haven't, here it is:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petition ... sponse=yes

As expected... no changes in the forseeable future

northSaver wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 1:55 am I guess most of us Brits here have signed this petition and seen the response that has just been posted by DWP? Just in case you haven't, here it is:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petition ... sponse=yes

As expected... no changes in the forseeable future

ah, I just posted about this. I thought it was worth its own thread. Oh well...