Have you topped up a UK pension to cover gaps?

[Duffa]

You will be a bit less happy when your pension does not get uprated each year ......

True.
Though i'm still happy with the 100% ROI after the first ~ 4 months of pensionable age. The lost indexation pales by comparison!

 

[FlyingFiona]

You will be a bit less happy when your pension does not get uprated each year ......

Have you been petitioning your UK member for parliament about this? The British Pensions in Australia group have been asking members to do this for a while now.

 

[MattA]

Finally!!!
Pension projection has changed to reflect the 16 extra years which I bought
Paid in at end of April - credited this past week - so about 4+ months
Happy retiree in 2 years

Interesting -- thanks for the datapoint. I made my top-up payment in May and still waiting for it to credit. I keep meaning to brave the phone line again but might just wait a bit longer based on this timeframe. (Not quite the 6-8 weeks I was promised last time I called!)

 

[SydneySwan]

Have you been petitioning your UK member for parliament about this? The British Pensions in Australia group have been asking members to do this for a while now.

I am an active member of BPIA and suggest everyone on this forum should sign up and contribute. Here is the link.

Home - British Pensions in Australia

NewsWriting to your UK MP (Guidance and Templates)**** NEWS FLASH **** NEWS FLASH **** The International Pensions Centre is refunding unauthorised deductions from pension payments made between September 2025 to May 2026. Amounts will be the equivalent of up to £3. See...

bpia.org.au

I have tried and am still trying to meet my UK member of Parliament. I will be in London for a few days in early October and am currently trying to setup a meeting .

 

[kelvedon]

I am an active member of BPIA and suggest everyone on this forum should sign up and contribute. Here is the link.

Home - British Pensions in Australia

NewsWriting to your UK MP (Guidance and Templates)**** NEWS FLASH **** NEWS FLASH **** The International Pensions Centre is refunding unauthorised deductions from pension payments made between September 2025 to May 2026. Amounts will be the equivalent of up to £3. See...

bpia.org.au

I have tried and am still trying to meet my UK member of Parliament. I will be in London for a few days in early October and am currently trying to setup a meeting .

I think the Aus government missed a golden opportunity to push for pension indexation when they signed the trade agreement with the UK.
Johnson was desperate to show the new trade opportunities that Brexit gave the country.

 

[SydneySwan]

I think the Aus government missed a golden opportunity to push for pension indexation when they signed the trade agreement with the UK.
Johnson was desperate to show the new trade opportunities that Brexit gave the country.

I agree and lobbied the Liberal government and Dan Tehan in particular on this but they were petrified the UK would walk away. I was disgusted. It was a huge missed opportunity..

 

[clifford]

I am an active member of BPIA and suggest everyone on this forum should sign up and contribute. Here is the link.

I don't think I'll be joining,, with my AUD 5K pa British pension. 2.5% of nothing is nothing.

I guess I'll just have to rely on my indexed Comsuper and Australian Age Pensions.

 

[QF029]

I don't think I'll be joining,, with my AUD 5K pa British pension. 2.5% of nothing is nothing.

I guess I'll just have to rely on my indexed Comsuper and Australian Age Pensions.

I joined. You're not missing anything.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I don't think I'll be joining,, with my AUD 5K pa British pension. 2.5% of nothing is nothing.

I guess I'll just have to rely on my indexed Comsuper and Australian Age Pensions.

When i’m in the nursing home, AUD100 a week will cover a trip to the movies, or the pub for lunch

 

[MattA]

Interesting -- thanks for the datapoint. I made my top-up payment in May and still waiting for it to credit. I keep meaning to brave the phone line again but might just wait a bit longer based on this timeframe. (Not quite the 6-8 weeks I was promised last time I called!)

Adding my own datapoint now -- just checked and my payment (transferred from a UK bank account on 27/05) has hit my record at some point over the last week. This was for those older years (going back to 2009 in my case when we left the UK) where they sent me a snail mail letter that arrived in Oz after their own "within 31 days" deadline in the letter had already passed.

So I make that approx. 15 weeks to credit.... Not exactly the initially promised timeframe I was told over the phone, but at least I didn't have to call them again to get it sorted.

Also nice to confirm that, based on the updated weekly estimate now showing in my account, the total cost of the additional years I paid for will be fully recouped just over half way through the first year of claiming, assuming I'm still ticking by then. Lack of indexation once claimed notwithstanding, it really is a phenomenal deal being able to pay for this at the class 2 rates...

 

[Rebus]

Another data point. I transferred my payment to cover the 2024-25 UK tax year on 22 August. At some point in the past two weeks this has been allocated to my NI account. So a maximum of 1 month give or take. I now need one more year of NI contribution to qualify for a full pension, whatever that will look like in the early 2040s!

 

[Princess Fiona]

Nothing for me yet. I back paid from 2006 onwards sometime in May and nothing has been added to my contributions.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hmmm… I sent mine in 26 June and still not allocated

I’ll give them a few more weeks and then call again. Always hard to get through to the right department, especially when my phone - for some unknown reason and unique to HRMC - can’t get them to hear my voice prompts!

 

[SydneySwan]

Nothing for me yet. I back paid from 2006 onwards sometime in May and nothing has been added to my contributions.

It is my understanding that payments for previous years are handled separately to payments for the current year.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Just updating a successful outcome for me.
Back paid 14 years class 2 contributions in May this year.
My NI record has just been updated for those payments mid October.
Based on ongoing work and contributions until retirement and paying 2019-2024 I will be eligible for the full state pension.

Many thanks to those who posted about this.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just updating a successful outcome for me.
Back paid 14 years class 2 contributions in May this year.
My NI record has just been updated for those payments mid October.
Based on ongoing work until retirement and paying 2019-2024 I will be eligible for the full state pension.

Many thanks to those who posted about this.

Paid mine in late June, so guess ai have another couple of months to wait.

I’m only going for the part pension… I paid everything that was reasonable to pay (class 2) and think i will have about half the qualifying years.

 

[kelvedon]

Just updating a successful outcome for me.
Back paid 14 years class 2 contributions in May this year.
My NI record has just been updated for those payments mid October.
Based on ongoing work until retirement and paying 2019-2024 I will be eligible for the full state pension.

Many thanks to those who posted about this.

Yay for the triple lock… the one thing good about inflation

 

[Rebus]

Yay for the triple lock… the one thing good about inflation

I reckon its days are numbered.

 

[FlyingFiona]

I was prompted by your post, Princess Fiona, to check my own statement. It looks like they may have applied my Class 2s but not Class 3s (or vice versa). Will have to take a closer look. Considering I was told a few months ago that the backlog was FORTEEN MONTHS I'm quite surprised.

 

[kelvedon]

I reckon its days are numbered.

IMO it’s safe at the imminent Budget…but next year ?
Like the NHS , it’s become a sacred cow that only a brave government would kill.