Mishka Cat Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 I am Devastated I have lived in oz for 26 years and was hoping to go home to Lancashire for good next year when I retire. The new rules are now. Quote from http://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/international From 1 July 2014, the rules on how much you can be paid while living or travelling outside Australia are changing. The changes will affect you if you depart Australia on or after 1 July 2014 and you stay outside Australia for more than 26 weeks, or are paid under the terms of an international social security agreement. To continue receiving your full rate of Australian pension you will generally need to have spent 35 years of your working life in Australia. This is an increase from the current requirement to have 25 years of Australian working life residence. Australian working life residence is the period of time you have lived in Australia between the age of 16 and age pension age. You do not need to have worked or paid tax during this period. You just need to have been an Australian resident for a period of 35 years between the age of 16 and age pension age. If you have less than 35 years Australian working life residence your rate of payment will be reduced. For example, if you have 27 years Australian working life residence, you will get 27/35ths (77%) of the maximum means-tested rate of payment. If you leave Australia on or after 1 July 2014 and receive any of the following payments you may be affected by this change so to get the full pension I cant leave till I am 73 I might be dead by then and certainly too old to be moving to anther country . Unquote I think my dream has just ended i have only minimum super and savings this is just so cruel I doubt I would be able to qualify for a part british pension either as I only worked about 7 years in the uk . I wonder how many people this will effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sustain Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Does it change reciprocal arrangements? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Does it change reciprocal arrangements? I think it will yes, this government are trying to get every penny sucked back off x pats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amibovered Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Mishka Cat, don't panic yet, you say you worked for 7 years in the U.K, if that was before the social security agreement ended with the U.K in 2000 those 7 years might be able to be counted towards your Australian pension, have a word with Centrelink, also you might be eligible for some non contributory benefits in the U.K, housing allowance and so on, that would be worth checking out too. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melbpom Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Have you thought about paying voluntary National Insurance contributions towards a part British pension. I think that you can pay for about 6 years of missed contributions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tastastic Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Oh no! I didn't know about this. How do other people feel about this? We'd have had to have moved about 15 years ago to get the full Oz pension. We haven't even got there yet. Is anyone else worried about this? Or reassessing whether they can afford this move? I just don't know how we're going to manage when (or if?) we retire :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amibovered Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Oh no! I didn't know about this. How do other people feel about this? We'd have had to have moved about 15 years ago to get the full Oz pension. We haven't even got there yet. Is anyone else worried about this? Or reassessing whether they can afford this move? I just don't know how we're going to manage when (or if?) we retire :-( If you intend to retire in Australia this change won't make any difference. you only need 10 years residence to get the pension if you retire here, but don't forget it's means tested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tastastic Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 If you intend to retire in Australia this change won't make any difference. you only need 10 years residence to get the pension if you retire here, but don't forget it's means tested. Ah, OK. That'll serve me right for reading and posting before I've properly woken up! Thanks, maybe the move isn't off after all then...! Still, it's a big change. It'll worry a lot of people I'm sure. Even more pressure for it all to work out in Oz now! I hope you find a way to still move back, Mishka Cat. It must be so hard when a rule change like this affects your life in such a huge way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 I am Devastated I have lived in oz for 26 years and was hoping to go home to Lancashire for good next year when I retire.The new rules are now. Quote from http://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/international From 1 July 2014, the rules on how much you can be paid while living or travelling outside Australia are changing. The changes will affect you if you depart Australia on or after 1 July 2014 and you stay outside Australia for more than 26 weeks, or are paid under the terms of an international social security agreement. To continue receiving your full rate of Australian pension you will generally need to have spent 35 years of your working life in Australia. This is an increase from the current requirement to have 25 years of Australian working life residence. Australian working life residence is the period of time you have lived in Australia between the age of 16 and age pension age. You do not need to have worked or paid tax during this period. You just need to have been an Australian resident for a period of 35 years between the age of 16 and age pension age. If you have less than 35 years Australian working life residence your rate of payment will be reduced. For example, if you have 27 years Australian working life residence, you will get 27/35ths (77%) of the maximum means-tested rate of payment. If you leave Australia on or after 1 July 2014 and receive any of the following payments you may be affected by this change so to get the full pension I cant leave till I am 73 I might be dead by then and certainly too old to be moving to anther country . Unquote I think my dream has just ended i have only minimum super and savings this is just so cruel I doubt I would be able to qualify for a part british pension either as I only worked about 7 years in the uk . I wonder how many people this will effect. Guess they just do not want us to take a loan of the country for a while. There are many problems if you leave the country prior to retirement age not just this one. My friends lived in Fiji, he is Brit she is from Fiji. She lived in Aus for over 25 years before they retired to Fiji when he retired, she is 10 years younger so with the changes if he died she was going to be left without a pension despite being married, what have they done, returned to live in Australia its the only way she will be able to get a pension. Also if one is on disability and goes to live in another country they will have to return every so many weeks to see Centrelink. Many many things have changed and its no longer going to be a gravy chain for people despite the fact they paid their taxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I am Devastated I have lived in oz for 26 years and was hoping to go home to Lancashire for good next year when I retire.... to get the full pension I cant leave till I am 73 I might be dead by then and certainly too old to be moving to anther country . I think my dream has just ended i have only minimum super and savings this is just so cruel I doubt I would be able to qualify for a part british pension either as I only worked about 7 years in the uk . I wonder how many people this will effect. It's worse than that. The 35 years is working life, which means up until the age of 65. Any years after the age of 65 don't count. So staying on for extra years after 65 won't get you any extra pension. You will get 26/35ths, assuming you don't leave before you reach pension age (you have to be in Australia to register at Centrelink to get the pension). The other alternative is to claim the full pension from the UK. If you're resident in the UK, you can use your years of work in Australia before 2001 to count towards your UK pension - in your case that would be about 14 years? Add the 7 you've already got, that makes 21 years. Write to the UK pensions people and ask for a pension forecast, they'll explain how you can pay for extra years to make up the difference. http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@over50/documents/digitalasset/dg_180219.pdf I'm assuming (though I don't know for sure) that if you use your Australian work record to claim a UK pension, then those years won't count towards your Aussie one. But I can't find anything which confirms that one way or the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 It is worrying when people are reliant solely on state pensions and benefits in either country at the end of their working life. These payments will only ever provide a subsistence living in retirement however you cut it. Anyone young enough to do something about it should look at threads like these and use them as a wake up call to start making proper provision for the day when they will no longer be working. In Oz that means Super contributions and in the UK either employee contributions to a workplace pension (soon mandatory for employers to have one) or a personal pension. Relying on a government to support you, especially if migrating once or multiple times, carries significant risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playghirl Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Geez, quite confusing. So Scottish hubby and I will have 1:2 working lives in both OZ and UK, no private pension, so I wonder what our best option will be. 20 years of super unlikely to be enough... I still can't imagine asa teacher working so many years.. The generation gap will be astonishing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 new rules mean you can buy back missing years even after you receive your pension at 65 or 66, I think it is about £700 for every year which they reckon you will get back after about 3 years so well worth doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playghirl Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Does sound worth it PB! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizzybangs Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 The poster is quite correct. In UK now they have changed it to 35 years so Australia has done the same. To get a full pension in the UK you need to have worked 35 years as it is worked out on your contributions unlike in Australia. People will also have different retirement ages depending on when they were born in both countries. I only get a UK part pension because of being married to a man who has worked in the UK for many years before emigrating to Australia. I did not have enough working life credits. I am therefore on a spouse pension. You can only purchase a few years UK tax credits and it was well worth my husband doing that and in fact, we received more back in back payment than we sent them both times he did it. The article posted is about Pensions - full stop. It is not about Disability Pensions which cuts out in 6 weeks of being out of australia. I am due to get my aged pension next April in Australia. I will have been resident since 1981 so I will be affected if I return for more than a year to live in the UK as I will only have been resident here for 34 years prior to retirement age. Any exit and return to Oz under a year is classed as a holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 new rules mean you can buy back missing years even after you receive your pension at 65 or 66, I think it is about £700 for every year which they reckon you will get back after about 3 years so well worth doing it. I wouldn't be waiting to do it, either. If you buy the missing years while you're still working, you can pay Class 2 contributions which are much, much cheaper. Plus the longer you delay paying, the more the rates go up. I thought of paying extra years a few years ago and got a quote, then did nothing about it. I then decided to do it this year, and it's cost more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Geez, quite confusing. So Scottish hubby and I will have 1:2 working lives in both OZ and UK, no private pension, so I wonder what our best option will be. 20 years of super unlikely to be enough... I still can't imagine asa teacher working so many years.. The generation gap will be astonishing... Well, superannuation is a private pension - it's just that the Australian government insists you have it. It's up to you to manage it effectively. If you don't see yourself working till retirement age, then it may be worth pumping more into super now while you're earning. Also, make sure it's with the right company and that you've chosen the best option (e.g. balanced, growth or whatever the super company offers). Personally I trust the industry funds more than the retail funds (I can't see how someone trying to make a profit can have my best interests at heart) but that's just me. How many years did you make NI contributions in the UK? Say that's x, then you'll get x/35ths of the UK pension when you retire. Are you planning to stay in Australia for the rest of your lives? If so, then you'll only need 10 years' residency to claim the full Australian pension - and you'll be able to claim your UK pension as well, though it will be frozen at the same amount forever, unless you go back to the UK. If you think you may return to the UK in your old age, then it's worth topping up the UK pension. You can buy extra years cheaply while you're working - they're called Class 2 contributions (if you leave it till you've retired you have to pay Class 3, which are dearer). You can set up Class 2 contributions to be paid automatically every year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playghirl Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Thanks Marisa, I might have about 16 years, and hubby over 20 years. Apparently my years in OZ prior to 1994 can be used and I might have some there to add. I will look into those Cont 2 contributions. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playghirl Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I just realised I will need to work until 70 to get a full Australian pension, as a teacher the generation gap would be astounding. I'm still paying off my HECS, and I have two pre schoolers. Better top up super eh, and pay cont 2... Sigh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 One would have thought that the minimal aged pension paid in OZ, would have been small change to the potential health costs of later life. As such it would have been a big saving to allow folk to retire, wherever they wish in the world. I'd suggest it already hard to manage on the so termed pension as it is. With the new measurement apparently coming in it will rise by less, along with cuts to allowances, making life even harder for many in their twilight years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I just realised I will need to work until 70 to get a full Australian pension. Not really, if you stay in Oz then you need only 10 years' residency to qualify. You won't be able to claim it until you're 70, but that's not really any different to now, for most people. The Aussie pension is means-tested and we expect we'll have too many assets to qualify until our mid-70's - and I wouldn't say we're hugely well-off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 You have to be pretty poor to qualify for the full Australian pension but you can sometimes get a part pension which gives you other benefits once you can say you are a pensioner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Playghirl Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 Oh good point. I will have to many assets also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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