Trying to figure out how my state pension will work in future. I have tried reading GOV.UK but I don’t understand it.
I worked the first 11 years of my working life in the UK. Since then been in CH.
Will I get 2 separate partial pensions from each country? Or does an agreement between the Swiss and British mean that Switzerland will pay me a full state pension based on my UK and Swiss contributions?
Thanks
I think BelgianMum posted something on this already, will try to find it.
You’ll get a partial pension from each country.
Thanks. I’ve just requested a NIC summary, want to make sure I have over the 10 years. Think I do. Not sure if I can stilll top up.
Also check any private pensions you have in the UK as some don’t pay out if you’re not resident I think.
You should pay back NI contributions, Class 2 if possible as you will be in profit in the first year of pension.
I will get a full UK pension & 20 years of a Swiss one which I can take from age 63, the only issue as I have to take Swiss Health Insurance, if I wait till 67, I can get a S1 from the UK as I have 35 years of contributions.
I don’t believe that would be legal, unless of course you can provide a link. Whilst certain providers may not wish to do so, they could not prevent you transferring to another provider who will, it’s your money & they can’t steal it. I have already taken my UK private pension & Swiss Pillar 2 in full.
@Island-Monkey I wrote a thread on this here: Voluntary Class 2 NICs When Working Abroad
Thank you!
Before BREXIT it used to be that you applied for all your pensions through the authorities in the state where you currently reside as they fall due. And it was very important to follow this procedure back then because the authority in the state you reside were responsible for maximising your total pension if you did not receive at least a full pension from one of the states you contributed to. All I can say is research it very carefully before doing anything, I know of two cases where people got screwed under the old system because they did not follow the rules, made direct applications to other states who did not apply the max rules etc…
Far as I know you still do. At least husband’s UK State pension came through via the Geneva international office.
Oh this is so confusing 
My husband’s didn’t.
He filled in all the details on the form from the Geneva office but everything after that came directly from the UK pension people.
Likewise for all his other state pensions (France, Germany and Belgium).
They obviously use the info regarding contributions to other countries in their calculations though. Technically he didn’t have enough contributions to be eligible for a German state pension but he gets a small one so clearly the years he contributed elsewhere are taken into account.
Maybe it depends on what age you reach retirement in which country. In Switzerland husband was a year ahead of the UK one. Didn’t even have to provide any details for the UK one; Switzerland already had that info - maybe from the application for the Swiss State pension. Can’t remember now if I needed to provide that or not.
Whereas for my pensions I reached UK age before the Swiss one so applied to the UK and got it paid into my UK bank account.
It’s only beneficial when for example someone has very few years in possibly multiple countries, therefore 1 or more countries don’t pay anything. If you have the min contributions you get separate pensions from each country in any case.
You presumably get an S1 for your health insurance from the UK so the UK is now responsible for your healthcare in retirement. More complicated for your husband as he is getting a Swiss pension first so Switzerland is responsible for his healthcare in retirement. I am interested if that can be changed when in receipt of a UK pension when you move to the UK.
Not as far as I know. Don’t think I’ve got anything about an S1. Still paying Swiss health insurance premium each month. 
Yes but as I pointed out there are exceptions such as getting a whole pension from one of the states… there are several others…
You will recall a member from the other forum, who was Swiss & a school teacher in the UK. The UK pay for her Swiss healthcare with a 300chf excess. You are entitled to the same, you just need to apply to the UK.
You can get an exemption from the Swiss insurance IF you can get confirmation from one of the other states paying you a pension that they are responsible for your healthcare.