Pension question

[PensQues]

I’ve been working for the same company in a UK office and an EU country office. Total of 24 years. While working in the UK my employer there paid into a workplace pension. The years spent in EU country, no workplace pension which is common for the country.

Apparently, once you’ve worked in the EU country for 15+ years you qualify for a higher rate of state pension. I’m currently at year 12.

I have another 9 years until I qualify for state pension in each country. It will be a combined state pension as the two countries have an ‘agreement’. FYI I’m from the UK and have worked far more years there than the EU country.

I’m thinking of transferring back to the UK so I can take advantage of the workplace pension and contribute to it too until I retire. I don’t think its worth staying here to qualify for the higher rate of EU country state pension.

What would you do/advise?

Thank you.

I guess it depends on the difference in rate of the EU higher pension. It might be worth sticking another 3 years in the EU to secure the higher?

I assume there’s nothing stopping you opening a SIPP here in the UK if you wanted, but you might only be able to get tax relief on annual contributions up to £2,880 (making it upto £3,600) when not working in the UK?

What’s the difference between what you’d get from the higher EU pension and what you’d get from the workplace pension? Impossible to say what’s better from the details given, but I might be inclined to stay in the EU country until you get your 15 years in and then transfer back.

Thanks for your replies.

I've been waiting for a few months for a meeting to find out the difference in the different pension rates.
I didn't think i could pay into a SIPP in the UK while living and working elsewhere but I will look into that.

Obviously no one can know what's best for you without knowing the pension in the EU country and whether there are different rates depending on how many years you have contributed. On the whole, the UK state pension is very low which means you might be better off paying into the EU one. Here's a comparatively recent (2022) comparison which could help while you are waiting for your personal quote:

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn00290/

Do't forget to factor in when the age at which you qualify for a state retirement pension kicks in. That briefing shows that women in Austria and Poland get a pension aged 60 but it's 65 for men.

You could look into international SIPPs, they are designed for people who are internationally mobile, expats etc.

Thank you for the link Nettie434.
The EU country I'm in is Spain, the retirement age here is 67.
I'm going to read-up on international SIPPs.

While you’re researching international SIPP providers you could also look at Spanish compliant investment bonds. There are a few independent review sites. Good luck.

The EU country I'm in is Spain, the retirement age here is 67.

Oh so that's the same as the UK for everyone born after April 1960. That seems to be the trend in most countries. The exception is France. When there were protests in France earlier this year, I was surprised to find out that it was because Macron wanted to raise the pension age from 62 to 64.