UK State Pension Contributions Whilst Working/Living Abroad

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Kooljohn

Registered User
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I am one of the very unfortunate souls who missed out on the UK class 2 opportunity to reclaim years for a small fee.

Some background. I am 51 born and raised in the UK and worked for 10 years before moving to Ireland with my Irish wife. Didn't pay much, if any, attention to my pension until 2018 when my new employer took over my place of work and offered a 5% match. I spoke with their pension guy and looked at the fund options available and went with the Zurich Prisma 5, which has served me reasonably well ever since.

So my focus was on the Irish state pension, which should see me somewhat close to full contributions by time I retire and my private pension which I pay the absolute max into (30% of salary from me + 5% from employer)

About 6 months ago, my wife mentioned that a colleague of hers had paid money to the UK government that would now get, both her and her husband, a full state pension from the UK, for around the €6-7k mark. (I assure you the 6-7 is not a reference to that silly kids meme that's annoying adults on a global scale currently)

That grabbed my attention and I went to the online site for HMRC to find out how many contributions I had and see if this opportunity was still available. The good news is I qualify for the UK pension with my 10 years worth of full contributions, the bad news I'm way past any deadline to top that up to a full 35 years for a reduced (class 2) rate.

If my maths are right, my 10 year UK pension would currently be £65 per week currently (€74) and with an inflation rate of 2.5% would be around €109 per week when I reach 67. IF I would have found out on time and been way more pro-active with my UK state pension I would have paid roughly €5k (or £5k sterling?) and that €109 per week would bump up to roughly €391 per week.

Almost €15k per annum for the grand price of a once off fee of €5k.

Ouch!

Are there any other options opened to me regarding my UK state pension? Is going the class 3 route worth it or even a possibility???
Is there a silver lining in here somewhere to help me get over my vexation over missing out on this windfall???

Grrrr...
 
You can still buy-back the previous 6 tax years, and pay the future years from now until retirement. Combined with the 10 years you already have that would get you >30 years which is quite close to the full pension.
 
If you haven't already done so, get the CF83 completed today.

There are literally more than 1k posts on this board alone.

Do a search.
 
Thanks Danny.

I've completed that form and sent it off today so we'll see what transpires. Will update this post when I find out more, or have further questions.
 
Kooljohn.
If you get your CF83 to HMRC before the 5 th. of April 2026, you will probable be accepted to be allowed back pay at Class 2 providing :
1) You left the UK immediately after ceasing work in the UK.
2) You were in insured employment (PRSI) for those years you are back paying.

When sending the CF83 attach a copy of your PRSI statement which you can request on mywelfare.ie.

Also, you should have 3 years of juvenile credits for for 16 th, 17, and 18 th. birth years. These do not show up on the GOV.uk website easily. You may have to dissect you pension forecast on the website to see if there are extra years built into the calculation.
 
KoolJohn,
With 10 years already paid, a possible further 3 years of juvenile credits, 6 years to back pay and then future years to pay you should reach the full requirement of 35 years or very close. Of course the goal posts may have been moved by then.
 
Class 3 considerations:

This is the question I am considering going forward. I only sent in my CF83 yesterday so it will be a while before I get a response from HMRC but my understanding is it is around £17.50 per week for class 3 contributions which, if I pay until I'm 67 will be worth an additional €9270 per year on my UK state pension (based on a CAGR of 2.5% for 16 years which might be a tad ambitious tbh..)

Still, even if I round it down to €9k, that means (please excuse my crude maths here)
£17.50 x 52= £910 (€1045) This represents what I would have to pay to HMRC annually going forward.
51-67=16 years. 16 x €1045=€16720 (let's round that up to €17k)

So, total cost to me is approx €17k over the next 16 years.

The reward is approx €9270 from the age of 67 until I pass and, after that, some sort of widow's pension to my wife.
The €9270 is €390 (what I think the UK state pension will be on a weekly basis when I'm 67, again based on a CAGR of 2.5%)
multiplied by 52 (weeks in a year)
divided by 35 (minimum contributions to qualify for a full UK state pension)
multiplied by 16 (the amount of time I have between now and 67)
Cost = €17k
Reward = €9720 per year from Age 67 until death + a smaller amount for wife thereafter.

Assume I live until 87, I would get 20 years of that additional state pension income which would come to €185k
Maths do seem to stack up, even though my skills do not :)

Assumptions:
UK state pension rises 2.5% annually
UK sterling to Euro conversion rate stays fairly steady and doesn't collapse in the wrong direction
The HMRC doesn't change the rules entirely between now and my 67th birthday
A widow's pension is available to my wife
My wife survives me (please Lord let this one assumption be true)
 
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