jackson982

I'm sure most people know that if you return to the UK and claim a State Pension, any years spent in Australia prior to 5/4/2001 can count towards your pension amount. What we have discovered to our cost is that these years are only paid if you are resident in the UK. We didn't know this and only found out after we had moved to France and were told that the 13 years we spent in Australia would only be paid if we returned to the UK. In our case the full State Pension requires 30 eligible years so the 13 'Australian' years account for almost half our UK Pension. This seems unreasonable to us as there is supposed to be free movement within the EEC and we were never informed that moving within the EEC could affect our pension. Are any other members caught in this same situation?