State Pension update for recipients living in the EU

If you live or move abroad, you are entitled to claim the State Pension if you have met the necessary qualifying criteria. This is based on your UK National Insurance record. You require a minimum of 10 years of UK National Insurance contributions to be eligible for the new State Pension. The New State Pension can be claimed if you reached your State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016.

If you reached the State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you will continue to receive the Old State Pension and not the New State Pension. The Old State Pension is made up of two parts, the basic State Pension and the additional State Pension. Both the basic and New State Pension payments are up-rated annually by either 2.5%, average wage growth or by prices growth as measured by the Consumer Price Index – whichever is highest.

In a recent announcement by the Work and Pensions Secretary, Amber Rudd, it has been confirmed that recipients of a UK pension living in the EU will continue to have their payments up-rated until March 2023, in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

This announcement should offer some comfort to almost 500,000 UK pensioners living in the EU. The Government has also confirmed that during this 3-year period they would seek to negotiate a new arrangement with the EU to ensure that up-rating continues.

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