Emigration - NI Refund or transfer to Migrant country scheme

[NJLee]

Hi

My husband and I plan to leave the UK later this year to live in Australia. My husband is an Austrlian national who has lived here and
worked in the uk for around 10 years (on and off), I am a british national and have been in full time employment since leaving school at
16 (I am now 40).

I have read snippets here and there that it may be possible to either re-claim or transfer portions of our National insurance payments after
we have left the uk. Any info on this would be appreciated. I believe that there is probably a time period that we will have had to
be non-resident here but any info would be much appreciated..

Many thanks

[kirstie.williamson@a]

You will not be able to get a refund of NIC but you should both be entitled to a UK pension ( although not the full amount).
You can get a pension forecast by completing form BR19 available from www.thepensionservice.gov.uk
They should also be able to answer your query regarding the possibility of transferring your SERPS to an Australian pension fund.
You will not be able to transfer your basic state pension rights but I don't know about SERPS ( now known as the additional state pension I think).

KW

[mkp]

Hi NJLee,

You and your husband could contract out of S2P for the 05/06 and 06/07 uk tax years, depending on your situation, where by part of your NI is re-directed into an appropriate personal pension (APP). This APP can then be transferred to an Australian Super Fund.

Further to KW's comment, your husband should definately look into paying voluntary NI contributions to ensure he has at least 11 years contribution history - any less and he will not be entitled to any UK state pension. 11 years and he's entitled to 25%. I understand that if you are employed/self-employed in Australia, you can elect to pay class 2 contributions to increase your state pension entitlement. At a little over £2 pw, this would appear to be a prudent investment.

Good luck with you move!

mkp