Backpay NIC for pension outside UK

[Shitstix]

Dh and I worked in the UK for 10 years. I received my amount to backpay 6 years NIC (taking us to 16 years contribution). The amount I think is reasonable.

Just wondering if anyone else is doing this. We've no plans to return to the UK but we can't rule it totally which is why I looked into it.

I do wonder what the pension will look like in a couple of decades tbh. I strongly suspect it will be changing as completely unaffordable in current state.

I think governments everywhere are hoping that people mostly rely on personal pensions (which we have in Aus) but because we were out of the country for so long, we're behind our peers with our pension pot amount.

We're working hard to catch up but we're just not sure where we'll end up in retirement. AUD does not go far in Europe which is where I think we might be if dc go back.

Good thread OP; we're looking in the opposite direction - we've paid exclusively into the UK for about 15/16 years each and are now looking at emigrating to Australia in a couple of years and wondering how to sort it all out. I wish it was easier to consolidate it all and for it to follow you around the world. We have private pensions as well as NICs, but apparently due to UK rules, we can only transfer them to Australia if the pensions we're transferring into meet certain very stringent requirements or we lose something like 55% of the pot value!

At present, we're thinking of not backpaying the UK ones and instead putting that money into a private pension or savings account when we arrive in Australia. I know that will possibly mean a slightly lower monthly amount when we retire but at least we'll definitely be able to get our hands on our own money.

I'm very concerned with how much the unaffordability of pensions has been in the news in the UK lately, that potentially they're paving the way for major changes to pensions for those of us who aren't retiring for a good few years which might make the payments into the NICs a less good option.

It's about £182 a year if you're outside the UK and working to top up NIC. If you don't leave the UK for a few more years you'll have paid around 20 years. I think I'd be topping up that.