Claiming State Pension In The UK & Ireland

[I'm Nobody]

I've applied for the UK and Irish pension.
Sligo told me I will be informed two weeks before my 66th birthday, which is January 1st 2023.
Seems to me to be short notice.
Hopefully I will have some news next week.

 

[euroDilbert]

I've applied for the UK and Irish pension.
Sligo told me I will be informed two weeks before my 66th birthday, which is January 1st 2023.
Seems to me to be short notice.
Hopefully I will have some news next week.

This is in line with my experience (2 weeks).

However, I had also applied for my UK pension via Sligo, but it appears they didn't process it until the last minute. I rang the UK to enquire at around the same time, and was told no application had been made (I assume it was in some processing queue). So, I just continued on the call to apply for my pension - it took about 10 minutes. They asked a few questions re employment in the UK etc - but I already had everything to hand in a copy of the Sligo application. I would recommend taking this route for anyone applying for a UK pension - unless you want to use UK credits for your Irish pension.

Lastly, I unexpectedly received my UK pension Christmas Bonus last week : £10. This appears to be the full bonus that everyone receives. Our double payment is extremely generous by comparison.

 

[jpd]

Our pension is extermely generous by comparison as well - as indeed a lot of our benefits, but sssh, don't say that too loud

 

[cwc456]

This is in line with my experience (2 weeks).

However, I had also applied for my UK pension via Sligo, but it appears they didn't process it until the last minute. I rang the UK to enquire at around the same time, and was told no application had been made (I assume it was in some processing queue). So, I just continued on the call to apply for my pension - it took about 10 minutes. They asked a few questions re employment in the UK etc - but I already had everything to hand in a copy of the Sligo application. I would recommend taking this route for anyone applying for a UK pension - unless you want to use UK credits for your Irish pension.

Lastly, I unexpectedly received my UK pension Christmas Bonus last week : £10. This appears to be the full bonus that everyone receives. Our double payment is extremely generous by comparison.

The UK pension Christmas Bonus has been set at £10 since the seventies - the days when you could actually buy something with ten quid. The good news is that the UK state pension will be increasing by 10% next April

 

[Grueler]

I applied through Sligo for both Irish and UK pensions last July, the Irish one came through on time in Dec. but no word of the UK one.
I rang Sligo in October when I received an invitation letter from the UK reminding me to apply for my state pension and they said they had
not sent the UK paperwork yet. I rang again yesterday and was told the paperwork was only sent over on the 11th of January because they have to wait for a decision to be made on my Irish pension. There were no issues with my Irish pension that I know of, and I haven't received any calls from Sligo. Does this sound right?

 

[jpd]

Yes, and when the UK process your pension application, it will be backdated to the retirement date

 

[Lisgoold]

I applied through Sligo for both Irish and UK pensions last July, the Irish one came through on time in Dec. but no word of the UK one.
I rang Sligo in October when I received an invitation letter from the UK reminding me to apply for my state pension and they said they had
not sent the UK paperwork yet. I rang again yesterday and was told the paperwork was only sent over on the 11th of January because they have to wait for a decision to be made on my Irish pension. There were no issues with my Irish pension that I know of, and I haven't received any calls from Sligo. Does this sound right?

I wonder if it would have been put through quicker, if you had applied directly to the UK, when you received the letter in October.

Let us know what happens with it.

 

[Grueler]

I wonder if it would have been put through quicker, if you had applied directly to the UK, when you received the letter in October.

Let us know what happens with it.

Yeah I am sorry I didn't do that, it's not a big deal for me fortunately but for someone who was relying on getting the money on time it could
caused problems.

 

[euroDilbert]

Yeah I am sorry I didn't do that, it's not a big deal for me fortunately but for someone who was relying on getting the money on time it could
caused problems.

I did it over the phone, when I discovered that Sligo had not yet put through the paperwork. Took about 10 minutes in total.
Of course, I had a copy of all the information I had supplied to Sligo for the UK, so had everything they asked about available.
I had also received the UK pension letter, but ignored it - assuming all was already in progress via Sligo.

 

[Lisgoold]

I did it over the phone, when I discovered that Sligo had not yet put through the paperwork. Took about 10 minutes in total.
Of course, I had a copy of all the information I had supplied to Sligo for the UK, so had everything they asked about available.
I had also received the UK pension letter, but ignored it - assuming all was already in progress via Sligo.

And was that enough for them put it into payment? Just the phone call?

I had a quick look at the Irish application form, and it does seem quite detailed. Wanting start and finish dates for all jobs. That's going to need me to do some homework! Plus wanting birth certificate etc. Clearly I can't send this stuff to Sligo and Newcastle, and I know that technically I'm only supposed to apply to one. But I'm not confident that one will contact the other, as happened to you.
Confusingly, the site says to apply six months before reaching 66, if there's more than one country involved. But the UK don't send out the form until three months before.

 

[jpd]

I sent my details into Sligo covering Irish, UK and French pension claim

They were all processed in due course.

Sometimes you have to admit that the public services do work as intended

 

[Grueler]

I sent my details into Sligo covering Irish, UK and French pension claim

They were all processed in due course.

Sometimes you have to admit that the public services do work as intended

Indeed, my experience with pensions, 65 yr payment and state contributary have been excellent. However i do think they should warn people that the foreign pension will be delayed as some people may be depending on these payments coming in on a certain date.

 

[Conan]

If you are claiming a foreign pension (under Bi Lateral Social Security Agreement), then you need to give Sligo /Buncrana at least 6 months advance notice so that they can liaise with overseas equivalents.

 

[Grueler]

I did give them 6 months' notice, I sent everything to Sligo in July. Both pensions were due on Dec 20th. The Irish one was paid on time
but the paperwork for the UK one was not sent over until Jan 11th. If this is the system fine, I am merely saying send people a txt to explain
there will be a delay.

 

[euroDilbert]

And was that enough for them put it into payment? Just the phone call?

I had a quick look at the Irish application form, and it does seem quite detailed. Wanting start and finish dates for all jobs. That's going to need me to do some homework! Plus wanting birth certificate etc. Clearly I can't send this stuff to Sligo and Newcastle, and I know that technically I'm only supposed to apply to one. But I'm not confident that one will contact the other, as happened to you.
Confusingly, the site says to apply six months before reaching 66, if there's more than one country involved. But the UK don't send out the form until three months before.

Yes - all over the phone. I had already worked out my job history (in some cases only approximate dates within a month or two) for the Sligo form, and had a copy of this to hand when phoning.
Of course, I had already updated them regarding my address and had been in touch a few times over the years (to get a pension estimate + to buy NI credits). The questions they asked seemed to me more to establish my identity, rather than check employment details (which they had already anyway). This of course assumes that all your employment details (in the UK) were correctly recorded, via your NI Number.

 

[Grueler]

I wonder if it would have been put through quicker, if you had applied directly to the UK, when you received the letter in October.

Let us know what happens with it.

The UK Revenue site has an email inquiry facility where you can check the status of your application, I emailed them last week asking if there was a problem with my application and received this today in reply.

This was very quick given that my details were only sent over on Jan11th, the girl in Sligo said it could take a few months.

 

[Lisgoold]

The UK Revenue site has an email inquiry facility where you can check the status of your application, I emailed them last week asking if there was a problem with my application and received this today in reply.View attachment 7160
This was very quick given that my details were only sent over on Jan11th, the girl in Sligo said it could take a few months.

That's impressive. 28 days to receive a letter , wherever it's coming from , is not so impressive!
Glad it's getting sorted, and thanks for the update.