Undecided about moving back to Oz after 5 years in the UK

[Wanderer Returns]

Hi everyone,

I've always found POI great for advice, and also very supportive when folks are in a bit of a quandary. I just wanted to put this out there and see what those currently living in Australia have to say based on their recent experiences. Especially if they're living in South East Queensland.

I'm an UK/AUS citizen and my wife has AUS PR.

My wife had been living in Australia for 3 years (not quite long enough for citizenship) when we moved to the UK at the end of 2014 to help take care of my elderly mum. She has been absolutely amazing, and I couldn't have done it without her. Mum lived for another three years, by which time my wife had already obtained her second temporary resident UK Visa (called 'further leave to remain' here). Having missed out on Australian citizenship before we left Oz, she's been very keen to obtain British citizenship before we left, so we've stayed here another two years. Our long-term plan has always been to return to Australia for a better life. I should mention that my wife is Malaysian, so travelling anywhere outside Southeast Asia has always been problematic and expensive on her passport. Fortunately we are almost at the end of this journey and she’ll be able to apply for 'indefinite leave to remain' (permanent residency) next month, followed by UK citizenship straight afterwards.

Now that my mum’s gone I no longer have any family left in the UK, and three of my closest friends have also died in the last five years (two from cancer and one from a heart attack). That said, we've adapted to life back in the UK, even though we both hated it at first year. My wife rather likes it because she found it too hot in Australia, but then we were living in Cairns. I am more fond of the pub than the weather, to be honest!

I’m a secondary schoolteacher and I've been keen to get out of the British school system before it drives me mad. I also enjoyed teaching a lot more in Australia. I was offered a job back in Cairns at the start of the year, but I knocked it back because neither my wife nor I were keen to go back to FNQ. Yesterday I was offered a position at a school between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. All the time we lived in Cairns I wanted to move back to Southeast Queensland, but there was never an opportunity to do so. I haven’t given them my decision yet (I said I would let them know by the end of this week), but now I’m feeling strangely ambivalent about going back to Oz. Maybe at 52, selling up here and shipping everything over to Australia doesn’t have quite the same appeal it did when I was 32 - the first time I came to Australia as a backpacker. There's also the fact that we have Europe on our doorstep here and once my wife has her British passport we can go whenever we like, whereas overseas travel from Australia costs a fortune, unless it's to NZ.

I haven’t really been following what's been going on Down Under for the last five years, apart from the various changes in government etc. To excuse the 'how long is a piece of string question', is Australia still as good as it was? I can see that the price of property is now very expensive compared with when we left (at least it is in South East QLD). For what we'd get for our house here (£250,000) it looks we'll be struggling to buy anything in Brisbane or the Gold Coast without a sizeable mortgage, unless it's way out in the suburbs. One of the things I loved about Australia is that there didn't seem to be any real social problems – at least not by UK standards – and I am wondering if this is still the case? I’m guessing that the cost of living is still a fair bit higher, but then I’ll be earning more than I am here in the UK so that’s not really a major issue.

Anyway, please excuse my extended ramblings - I'll leave it at that!

Cheers, Martin.

[Slean Wolfhead]

4 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

Hi everyone,

I've always found POI great for advice, and also very supportive when folks are in a bit of a quandary. I just wanted to put this out there and see what those currently living in Australia have to say based on their recent experiences. Especially if they're living in South East Queensland.

I'm an UK/AUS citizen and my wife has AUS PR.

My wife had been living in Australia for 3 years (not quite long enough for citizenship) when we moved to the UK at the end of 2014 to help take care of my elderly mum. She has been absolutely amazing, and I couldn't have done it without her. Mum lived for another three years, by which time my wife had already obtained her second temporary resident UK Visa (called 'further leave to remain' here). Having missed out on Australian citizenship before we left Oz, she's been very keen to obtain British citizenship before we left, so we've stayed here another two years. Our long-term plan has always been to return to Australia for a better life. I should mention that my wife is Malaysian, so travelling anywhere outside Southeast Asia has always been problematic and expensive on her passport. Fortunately we are almost at the end of this journey and she’ll be able to apply for 'indefinite leave to remain' (permanent residency) next month, followed by UK citizenship straight afterwards.

Now that my mum’s gone I no longer have any family left in the UK, and three of my closest friends have also died in the last five years (two from cancer and one from a heart attack). That said, we've adapted to life back in the UK, even though we both hated it at first year. My wife rather likes it because she found it too hot in Australia, but then we were living in Cairns. I am more fond of the pub than the weather, to be honest!

I’m a secondary schoolteacher and I've been keen to get out of the British school system before it drives me mad. I also enjoyed teaching a lot more in Australia. I was offered a job back in Cairns at the start of the year, but I knocked it back because neither my wife nor I were keen to go back to FNQ. Yesterday I was offered a position at a school between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. All the time we lived in Cairns I wanted to move back to Southeast Queensland, but there was never an opportunity to do so. I haven’t given them my decision yet (I said I would let them know by the end of this week), but now I’m feeling strangely ambivalent about going back to Oz. Maybe at 52, selling up here and shipping everything over to Australia doesn’t have quite the same appeal it did when I was 32 - the first time I came to Australia as a backpacker. There's also the fact that we have Europe on our doorstep here and once my wife has her British passport we can go whenever we like, whereas overseas travel from Australia costs a fortune, unless it's to NZ.

I haven’t really been following what's been going on Down Under for the last five years, apart from the various changes in government etc. To excuse the 'how long is a piece of string question', is Australia still as good as it was? I can see that the price of property is now very expensive compared with when we left (at least it is in South East QLD). For what we'd get for our house here (£250,000) it looks we'll be struggling to buy anything in Brisbane or the Gold Coast without a sizeable mortgage, unless it's way out in the suburbs. One of the things I loved about Australia is that there didn't seem to be any real social problems – at least not by UK standards – and I am wondering if this is still the case? I’m guessing that the cost of living is still a fair bit higher, but then I’ll be earning more than I am here in the UK so that’s not really a major issue.

Anyway, please excuse my extended ramblings - I'll leave it at that!

Cheers, Martin.

I know a few Brits around your age who've moved from Canberra and Sydney to new northern Gold Coast suburbs, where they're building a lot of new communities at more reasonable prices (4 bed - $700k?).  Some of these areas have social problems with hoons, but not on the scale of the UK. Just a case of picking the right part of town.  At your age, you're probably able to choose a different environment than some of the younger families who need to be right next to everything....maybe far enough away so you don't see them, maybe even a townhouse nearer to the GC beaches and then you get the easier traffic flow both morning and afternoon ?

As a teacher at 52, you could probably expect a longer career than in the UK with better comparative pay and conditions?  My dad was a teacher they started trying to force him out at 54 and he'd reached the top of the pay grade in the UK.  Not that sort of pressure in Australia yet.

[Wanderer Returns]

6 minutes ago, Slean Wolfhead said:

As a teacher at 52, you could probably expect a longer career than in the UK with better comparative pay and conditions?  My dad was a teacher they started trying to force him out at 54 and he'd reached the top of the pay grade in the UK.  Not that sort of pressure in Australia yet.

Many thanks for your reply. You're absolutely right - schools here pay teachers salaries directly so they're always looking for ways to get rid of staff once they hit the top of the pay grade, whereas in QLD the salaries are paid directly from the government. The workload is a lot lighter too - 15-20 contact hours a week as opposed to 24 hours in the UK.

[ali]

Just a  note - that your wife may now need a RRV to return to Aus, these are taking a considerable time for those that don't meet the residency requirement - so it's worth keeping in mind if you make the decision to go back.

[benj1980]

I still have friends who are trying to move over as teachers. They can't see staying in the UK system long term is a realisitic, viable option. I know where I'd rather be! Don't know Queensland at all but if you know the area that's an advantage that you have over new migrants. Hopefully one last big move and it is all over!

[MARYROSE02]

I went back to England for 12 years. Coming back to OZ, just like going back to England, was like emigrating, all over again, for me at least.  I never really noticed major differences each time I made a move. Perhaps the molehills turned into mountains whilst the real mountains stayed just the same. Does that sound dumb?

[Bulya]

10 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

Hi everyone,

I've always found POI great for advice, and also very supportive when folks are in a bit of a quandary. I just wanted to put this out there and see what those currently living in Australia have to say based on their recent experiences. Especially if they're living in South East Queensland.

I'm an UK/AUS citizen and my wife has AUS PR.

My wife had been living in Australia for 3 years (not quite long enough for citizenship) when we moved to the UK at the end of 2014 to help take care of my elderly mum. She has been absolutely amazing, and I couldn't have done it without her. Mum lived for another three years, by which time my wife had already obtained her second temporary resident UK Visa (called 'further leave to remain' here). Having missed out on Australian citizenship before we left Oz, she's been very keen to obtain British citizenship before we left, so we've stayed here another two years. Our long-term plan has always been to return to Australia for a better life. I should mention that my wife is Malaysian, so travelling anywhere outside Southeast Asia has always been problematic and expensive on her passport. Fortunately we are almost at the end of this journey and she’ll be able to apply for 'indefinite leave to remain' (permanent residency) next month, followed by UK citizenship straight afterwards.

Now that my mum’s gone I no longer have any family left in the UK, and three of my closest friends have also died in the last five years (two from cancer and one from a heart attack). That said, we've adapted to life back in the UK, even though we both hated it at first year. My wife rather likes it because she found it too hot in Australia, but then we were living in Cairns. I am more fond of the pub than the weather, to be honest!

I’m a secondary schoolteacher and I've been keen to get out of the British school system before it drives me mad. I also enjoyed teaching a lot more in Australia. I was offered a job back in Cairns at the start of the year, but I knocked it back because neither my wife nor I were keen to go back to FNQ. Yesterday I was offered a position at a school between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. All the time we lived in Cairns I wanted to move back to Southeast Queensland, but there was never an opportunity to do so. I haven’t given them my decision yet (I said I would let them know by the end of this week), but now I’m feeling strangely ambivalent about going back to Oz. Maybe at 52, selling up here and shipping everything over to Australia doesn’t have quite the same appeal it did when I was 32 - the first time I came to Australia as a backpacker. There's also the fact that we have Europe on our doorstep here and once my wife has her British passport we can go whenever we like, whereas overseas travel from Australia costs a fortune, unless it's to NZ.

I haven’t really been following what's been going on Down Under for the last five years, apart from the various changes in government etc. To excuse the 'how long is a piece of string question', is Australia still as good as it was? I can see that the price of property is now very expensive compared with when we left (at least it is in South East QLD). For what we'd get for our house here (£250,000) it looks we'll be struggling to buy anything in Brisbane or the Gold Coast without a sizeable mortgage, unless it's way out in the suburbs. One of the things I loved about Australia is that there didn't seem to be any real social problems – at least not by UK standards – and I am wondering if this is still the case? I’m guessing that the cost of living is still a fair bit higher, but then I’ll be earning more than I am here in the UK so that’s not really a major issue.

Anyway, please excuse my extended ramblings - I'll leave it at that!

Cheers, Martin.

It will always be better than Blighty, no matter  what happens.  

[Marisawright]

13 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

I'm an UK/AUS citizen and my wife has AUS PR.

My wife had been living in Australia for 3 years (not quite long enough for citizenship) when we moved to the UK at the end of 2014 to help take care of my elderly mum....

Now that my mum’s gone I no longer have any family left in the UK...That said, we've adapted to life back in the UK...My wife rather likes it because she found it too hot in Australia, but then we were living in Cairns. ....

I’m a secondary schoolteacher and I've been keen to get out of the British school system before it drives me mad. I also enjoyed teaching a lot more in Australia...... Yesterday I was offered a position at a school between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. All the time we lived in Cairns I wanted to move back to Southeast Queensland, but there was never an opportunity to do so. I haven’t given them my decision yet (I said I would let them know by the end of this week), but now I’m feeling strangely ambivalent about going back to Oz. ....There's also the fact that we have Europe on our doorstep here and once my wife has her British passport we can go whenever we like, whereas overseas travel from Australia costs a fortune, unless it's to NZ.

 

I think you're right to be hesitant.   I'm originally British and my husband is Australian.   When his Mum died a few years ago, we had no family left in Australia and thought we'd move to the UK with a view to retiring closer to my family.     I didn't settle at all and we ended up coming back to Australia.

I miss two things about the UK.  One is the proximity to Europe - it doesn't worry me too much, but I know my husband really misses that and there's really no solution, so you have to decide how much that matters to you. 

The other is the fresh, green feeling of the countryside and the change of seasons - and as you've probably noticed, large tracts of Australia are on fire right now.  I've been here 30 years and have noticed the weather getting much hotter in recent years - Sydney now feels more like Brisbane in the hottest months of the year.  We have considered moving to Tasmania because of that, but we're both so accustomed to living in huge cities (Melbourne and Sydney) with all the plethora of choice that offers, and I'm not sure we would cope in a smaller place. 

For me, neither of those things were important enough - for a host of other reasons, the Australian lifestyle day-to-day suits me much better.  I'd say you need to look at your lifestyle and work out where it fits better.

You also need to consider things like pensions and superannuation.  If you leave moving till too close to retirement, you may have trouble qualifying for pensions etc.   On the flip side, Australia is quite an ageist place, so if you don't move till your mid-fifties or later, you may struggle to get a job.

Edited November 15, 2019 by Marisawright

[Wanderer Returns]

14 hours ago, ali said:

Just a  note - that your wife may now need a RRV to return to Aus, these are taking a considerable time for those that don't meet the residency requirement - so it's worth keeping in mind if you make the decision to go back.

Many thanks for the reminder - the five-year travel condition on my wife’s PR visa would have ran out by now, so we applied for an RRV back in August because I’d heard that it could take up to 3 months to process. As it happens, we applied on the Monday and they granted it on Friday! I assume that because I’m already an Australian citizen, it was a lot easier for her to demonstrate significant ties with Australia.

[Wanderer Returns]

13 hours ago, benj1980 said:

I still have friends who are trying to move over as teachers. They can't see staying in the UK system long term is a realisitic, viable option. I know where I'd rather be! Don't know Queensland at all but if you know the area that's an advantage that you have over new migrants. Hopefully one last big move and it is all over!

I hope your friends make it over soon, if that's what they want. They should think about applying sooner rather than later, firstly because of age affecting the points you receive, but also because teachers are now on the list of approved professions for migration. What with Brexit continuing to provide even more uncertainty over here, I can imagine there being a mass exodus of teachers to Australia in the not-too-distant future!

[Wanderer Returns]

12 hours ago, MARYROSE02 said:

I went back to England for 12 years. Coming back to OZ, just like going back to England, was like emigrating, all over again, for me at least.  I never really noticed major differences each time I made a move. Perhaps the molehills turned into mountains whilst the real mountains stayed just the same. Does that sound dumb?

No, that doesn’t sound dumb at all. I think when we're younger and more carefree we just blast through stuff which we perceive as a problem when we get older. When I was younger I owned a house in the UK, which I (foolishly) sold when I went to Australia the first time, and the few belongings I had left were stored at my mum’s place. I never got around to buying a property while I lived in Australia because I moved around a fair bit - first Sydney, then Brisbane, and finally ending up in Cairns. Since returning to the UK we bought a house so that will need to go on the market pretty soon. Both my wife and I absolutely love this house – is the nicest place we’ve ever lived in – so that will be a bit of a wrench when it happens. I already looked into the possibility of renting this place out when we moved to Australia, but it just didn’t make sense financially, as we'll be paying tax on our UK rental income whilst having to pay rent somewhere in Australia. I think if we were still renting here then the decision to return to Australia would be more straightforward, to be honest.

[Wanderer Returns]

7 hours ago, Marisawright said:

I think you're right to be hesitant.   I'm originally British and my husband is Australian.   When his Mum died a few years ago, we had no family left in Australia and thought we'd move to the UK with a view to retiring closer to my family.     I didn't settle at all and we ended up coming back to Australia.

I miss two things about the UK.  One is the proximity to Europe - it doesn't worry me too much, but I know my husband really misses that and there's really no solution, so you have to decide how much that matters to you. 

The other is the fresh, green feeling of the countryside and the change of seasons - and as you've probably noticed, large tracts of Australia are on fire right now.  I've been here 30 years and have noticed the weather getting much hotter in recent years - Sydney now feels more like Brisbane in the hottest months of the year.  We have considered moving to Tasmania because of that, but we're both so accustomed to living in huge cities (Melbourne and Sydney) with all the plethora of choice that offers, and I'm not sure we would cope in a smaller place. 

For me, neither of those things were important enough - for a host of other reasons, the Australian lifestyle day-to-day suits me much better.  I'd say you need to look at your lifestyle and work out where it fits better.

You also need to consider things like pensions and superannuation.  If you leave moving till too close to retirement, you may have trouble qualifying for pensions etc.   On the flip side, Australia is quite an ageist place, so if you don't move till your mid-fifties or later, you may struggle to get a job.

 

 

@Marisawright I think we are on exactly the same page here!

I love the outdoor lifestyle – running, swimming, surfing, kayaking, hiking etc – I do the lot, which was what brought me to Australia in the first place. However, I’m starting to become a little more cultured and a bit less active as I get older.

I absolutely love travelling to Europe and I would even consider moving there instead as an option after my wife gets her British citizenship, but of course Brexit has thrown a big spanner in the works regarding that! Even without the B-word, employment is not easy to find in some European countries, even if you can speak the lingo. Ironically, we haven’t done as much travelling in Europe as we would have liked because my wife needs a Schengen visa every time we go somewhere, which usually means an expensive trip down to London or Manchester, so it’s not possible to take advantage of those last-minute deals. I say 'ironically' because once she becomes a British citizen it will be easy, but then if we move back to Australia...

I also miss the seasons too, and if every summer here was as fantastic as 2018 I don’t think I consider moving, but there's a good seven months of the year when the British weather can be pretty grim. It just drags you down in the end. However, if you believe what they say on the BBC News it seems Australia is just getting hotter and hotter, which can’t be much fun at all as it was always bloomin' hot in the first place!

As you mentioned pensions, if I could briefly asked your advice please? My understanding of the Australian state pension system is that you need to have lived and worked in Australia for 10 years to get it, with at least one uninterrupted period of five years. If you meet this criteria are you entitled to a full state pension on retirement, or is it pro rata like it is here in UK? What I mean is, would you just received 10/35 years (or about a third) of the Australian state pension, or do you get the full amount (assuming you don’t have significant savings, and your superannuation is exhausted)? Also, as a matter of interest can you get the full Australian state pension if you wanted to retire in New Zealand? (This should have been a separate post really, but hey ho!)

Many thanks,

Martin.

[Marisawright]

8 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

As you mentioned pensions, if I could briefly asked your advice please? My understanding of the Australian state pension system is that you need to have lived and worked in Australia for 10 years to get it, with at least one uninterrupted period of five years. If you meet this criteria are you entitled to a full state pension on retirement, or is it pro rata like it is here in UK? What I mean is, would you just received 10/35 years (or about a third) of the Australian state pension, or do you get the full amount (assuming you don’t have significant savings, and your superannuation is exhausted)? Also, as a matter of interest can you get the full Australian state pension if you wanted to retire in New Zealand? (This should have been a separate post really, but hey ho!)

Many thanks,

Martin.

If you can fulfil the 10 year requirement and you're resident in Australia, you're entitled to the full pension, it's not pro rata.   It sounds like you're aware that it's means-tested, which means how much you get depends on how much you have in assets and income.  Your family home is exempt but private pension/superannuation balances are not.  You can work out how much you'd get with this calculator:

http://yourpension.com.au/APCalc/index.html

If you want to live overseas, then the pension is pro rata.  There is a social security agreement with New Zealand so I think you'd be able to get your pension there (there isn't one with the UK which is why you can't claim your Australian pension there).  You'd need to check how the NZ agreement works to understand how much you'd get. 

[Slean Wolfhead]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

There is a social security agreement with New Zealand so I think you'd be able to get your pension there (there isn't one with the UK which is why you can't claim your Australian pension there).  

Fixing the various pension anomalies is a juicy target for Australia in a potential FTA with the UK, as is the need for the UK to index-link UK pensions in Australia the same as they do in other countries.  The pressure of British retirees on the Australian benefits system will only grow if the value of a British pension is ever decreasing. 

The last time it was discussed publicly (in the early days of UK austerity), William Hague admitted it was unfair but that the UK had no extra money...end of conversation.  They might be minded to find that money now if the UK holds a weaker hand in negotiations, both economically and politically.

[Wanderer Returns]

11 hours ago, Slean Wolfhead said:

Fixing the various pension anomalies is a juicy target for Australia in a potential FTA with the UK, as is the need for the UK to index-link UK pensions in Australia the same as they do in other countries.  The pressure of British retirees on the Australian benefits system will only grow if the value of a British pension is ever decreasing. 

The last time it was discussed publicly (in the early days of UK austerity), William Hague admitted it was unfair but that the UK had no extra money...end of conversation.  They might be minded to find that money now if the UK holds a weaker hand in negotiations, both economically and politically.

@Slean Wolfhead I'm sure that would be something that those of us with a significant UK pension entitlement would welcome but given there are a quarter of a million British pensioners in Australia, I think the chances are pretty slim. There are only a few countries which have reciprocal social security agreements with the UK. All the other countries where the UK state pension is index-linked are part of the EEA. When the UK leaves EU (which now seems likely), it’s quite possible that the UK will freeze the pensions of those retiring to these countries too. It wouldn't be surprising as there are three times as many Brits retiring to Europe’s sunnier climes than there are Europeans retiring to the UK, so an nice little saver for GOV.UK.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/investmentspensionsandtrusts/articles/pensionersintheeuanduk/2017-09-05

[Wanderer Returns]

13 hours ago, Marisawright said:

If you can fulfil the 10 year requirement and you're resident in Australia, you're entitled to the full pension, it's not pro rata...

Thank you once again @Marisawright. I think I’ve previously been resident in Australia for a total of around 8 years, although not for one continuous period of five years. However, based on all the other positive reasons I can think of for returning to Australia, and also that I would also be entitled to the full Australian pension if I lived there for another five years, it seems something of a ‘no-brainer’ to come back and see how it pans out - at least for another 5 years!

As a matter of interest, is there any way you can check how many qualifying years you have towards receiving the Australian age pension? I logged into my myGov account, but I can't find anything in there. The reason I ask is that I was in and out of Australia a fair bit between 2003 and 2011, so I don’t know which years I would qualify as resident for?

[Quoll]

3 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

Thank you once again @Marisawright. I think I’ve previously been resident in Australia for a total of around 8 years, although not for one continuous period of five years. However, based on all the other positive reasons I can think of for returning to Australia, and also that I would also be entitled to the full Australian pension if I lived there for another five years, it seems something of a ‘no-brainer’ to come back and see how it pans out - at least for another 5 years!

As a matter of interest, is there any way you can check how many qualifying years you have towards receiving the Australian age pension? I logged into my myGov account, but I can't find anything in there. The reason I ask is that I was in and out of Australia a fair bit between 2003 and 2011, so I don’t know which years I would qualify as resident for?

I wouldn't be banking on getting the Australian age benefit - is not a pension, it's a welfare payment and nobody is "entitled" to it as such. If you have income from uk - as you would - you'd probably not be eligible. If you did return then you might be wise to pour absolutely everything you've got into your superannuation then you wouldn't need the welfare payment. 

Is a shame you live your house where you are, it's so much easier if you don't have any emotional attachment to a place especially if you then struggle to find somewhere equally desirable.

[Marisawright]

9 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

As a matter of interest, is there any way you can check how many qualifying years you have towards receiving the Australian age pension? I logged into my myGov account, but I can't find anything in there. The reason I ask is that I was in and out of Australia a fair bit between 2003 and 2011, so I don’t know which years I would qualify as resident for?

To be honest, I don't think Centrelink keeps any kind of record.   In the UK they can, because they just look at when you made NI contributions. There's no equivalent here, so I suspect the onus would be on you, when you come to claim, to prove that you've been resident for the required length of time - unless they're able to check passport records? 

One problem is that if you do return for another five years and then decide you'd rather go back to the UK, your ten year residency will count for nothing - you can't claim the Australian pension while living in the UK 

Edited November 16, 2019 by Marisawright

[Slean Wolfhead]

9 hours ago, Wanderer Returns said:

@Slean Wolfhead I'm sure that would be something that those of us with a significant UK pension entitlement would welcome but given there are a quarter of a million British pensioners in Australia, I think the chances are pretty slim. There are only a few countries which have reciprocal social security agreements with the UK. All the other countries where the UK state pension is index-linked are part of the EEA. When the UK leaves EU (which now seems likely), it’s quite possible that the UK will freeze the pensions of those retiring to these countries too. It wouldn't be surprising as there are three times as many Brits retiring to Europe’s sunnier climes than there are Europeans retiring to the UK, so an nice little saver for GOV.UK.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/investmentspensionsandtrusts/articles/pensionersintheeuanduk/2017-09-05

I'm not sure if the chances are slim.  It'll just come down to cost, and how much the UK wants a deal with Australia.  When Australia issued industry consultation on what they wanted as a national benefit from a potential post-Brexit FTA, this was pretty high on the agenda as a precursor to allowing more UK exports and services inside.  Whether that compensation is directly attributable to the pensioners themselves, or the UK makes an ex-gratia payment each year....who knows what will happen?

The question to ask would be that would the removal of index-linking pensions prevent people retiring overseas, especially those who rely mainly on a state pension to supplement a fairly cheap life in the Costas or the rural areas of France, and then the Europeans start imposing charges on UK immigrants who are not EU members anymore and are not paying their way into the system.

The calculation would be if the UK wants to end up funding the growing age crisis and extra medical/social security costs rather than just the weekly pension payment.  As most people are living longer and in the UK especially, don't have adequate super balances on top of the state pension entitlement, they're getting more illnesses that they would previously not have lived long enough to develop.  There's a huge ongoing cost attached to this as the rising cost of medical care/social housing is outstripping the value of the existing systems that fund it. 

Index-linking their pensions abroad might be the cheapest way to ensure that elderly people don't return to the UK which would put more pressure on the UK system.  Stopping existing index-linking might exasperate the problem and force pensioners to return to UK when they'd otherwise be happy to retire overseas and remove themselves from the home system altogether.

It'll be interesting to witness the overhaul that's coming for the NHS.  If Johnson gets in and allows America to start expanding its health industry principles into the UK as part of any FTA requirement, the financial cost will rocket.  It's obvious that NI and supplementary grants don't cover the cost of existing treatments being delivered and there is no published plan to say where the extra money will be coming from to cover the existing and expanding aged population, who are also living longer, even before they reform the system and offer more to private companies who need to make a profit for shareholders. 

[Marisawright]

On 16/11/2019 at 00:12, Wanderer Returns said:

I absolutely love travelling to Europe and I would even consider moving there instead as an option after my wife gets her British citizenship, but of course Brexit has thrown a big spanner in the works regarding that!

I hear people saying this all the time and I'm perplexed.  I'm old enough to remember a time before Britain was in the EU and surprise, surprise, lots of British people settled in Europe then, too.   As an Australian, my husband could go and settle in some European countries more easily than he could in the UK.  So why is everyone assuming the EU will slam the doors closed?

It's much more likely that Brits will be subject to the same entry rules as every other non-EU nation. Look them up - they're not insurmountable.  And by the way, there are several European countries where you can claim the Australian pension because there's a social security agreement.

[Toots]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

I hear people saying this all the time and I'm perplexed.  I'm old enough to remember a time before Britain was in the EU and surprise, surprise, lots of British people settled in Europe then, too.   As an Australian, my husband could go and settle in some European countries more easily than he could in the UK.  So why is everyone assuming the EU will slam the doors closed?

It's much more likely that Brits will be subject to the same entry rules as every other non-EU nation. Look them up - they're not insurmountable.  And by the way, there are several European countries where you can claim the Australian pension because there's a social security agreement.

Same as you Marisa -  old enough to remember Britain before the EU.  I worked in three different European countries prior to the EU  -  did need a work permit but that wasn't a problem.  My parents had friends who retired to Spain and Portugal in the 60s.  No problem.

[Paul1Perth]

If you've been offered a job and it seemz to be in a nice place, at a decent school I would go for it. 

We've been back to the UK from Perth this year and I didn't notice much difference with the cost of living. We were in England, Greek Islands and France and there really wasn't much to choose on costs. Even Greece is not cheap any more.

If you sold your house you could get something pretty decent over in Queensland. The climate is much better down the sunshine or gold coast than Cairns.

Get it sorted as soon as possible I reckon. Give you something to look forward to.

[Paul1Perth]

On 17/11/2019 at 00:03, Quoll said:

I wouldn't be banking on getting the Australian age benefit - is not a pension, it's a welfare payment and nobody is "entitled" to it as such. If you have income from uk - as you would - you'd probably not be eligible. If you did return then you might be wise to pour absolutely everything you've got into your superannuation then you wouldn't need the welfare payment. 

Is a shame you live your house where you are, it's so much easier if you don't have any emotional attachment to a place especially if you then struggle to find somewhere equally desirable.

You would need a pretty big income from the UK not to get any retirement income from Aus. The financial cutoofs are pretty generous I reckon. I work with a bloke who's planning to retire at 50, get acces to his super, have a blast travelling and going on cruises for a few years while he's still fit enough then when he gets to 67 he'll have spent enough to get a full pension.

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Paul1Perth said:

 I work with a bloke who's planning to retire at 50, get acces to his super, have a blast travelling and going on cruises for a few years while he's still fit enough then when he gets to 67 he'll have spent enough to get a full pension.

Sounds pretty short-sighted to me.  I hope he's got a fully-paid off house that's worth a fortune, which he can sell when he's struggling to survive on the pension in his old age.

[Skani]

3 hours ago, Paul1Perth said:

 I work with a bloke who's planning to retire at 50, get acces to his super, 

Just how is he going to get access to his super at age 50?