Applying for UK State Pension

[MacManiac]

I am 65 at the end of February 2018 (hard to believe, I know) and I shall therefore have to apply for my UK State Pension from Cyprus. I have the form (all 26 pages or so) and a list of the original documents required. I'm reluctant to send originals, which they require, so a "guaranteed" delivery is necessary. What suggestions can people make, especially as I realise nothing is guaranteed in reality?

[Varky]

I went through this procedure 6 years ago from Dubai and happy to report that I sent the original documents via DHL (having made copies, just in case) and got the originals back.

[PhotoLady]

Never lost anything sent from Cyprus to UK using Registered Mail (signed for service).

Just don't send it until after the New Year unless you want it to get caught up in the usual hoo ha of the Christmas backlog.

Registered adds an extra day or so onto the normal 3 - 5 day postal service to UK but make sure you send it from a main post office and not a shop that doubles as a post office outlet.

[Mrblobby]

I am 65 in May , got my claim form filled out , ready to send . I intend using the signed for service .

[bromerzz]

Funnily enough I have just posted mine along with the original certificates by regular post.

[Poppy]

I could be wrong here as it is a while but I seem to remember you can send copies as long as they are certified?

[bromerzz]

Yes you can send certified copies.

[MacManiac]

Thanks to all for the advice. I've unearthed the documents I need to send and I've just got to summon the energy to fill in the forms.

[Maverick]

Thanks to all for the advice. I've unearthed the documents I need to send and I've just got to summon the energy to fill in the forms.

Out of interest, what documents do you need to produce?

[MacManiac]

For me it was my Birth Certificate, my Decree Absolute (from my first wife) and my Marriage Certificate to my second, and last, wife ...

[Mrblobby]

If you want to send a copy , here is the list of who can certify it .

[bromerzz]

The Documents you need to submit, depend on your personal circumstances and they are explained in the online application very easily. there is nothing particularly difficult to fill in. Most of my working life centred on 2 careers and whilst i could give the dates for them, the other jobs I had as a teen i kind of waxed over, as no way can I recall when and where they where.
They already know your contributions payment as your NI number never changes so why they want to know old historical figures is strange. when my wife went through the same process a couple of years ago, we just glossed over some of the detail and said we could not recall everything and it was accepted, hopefully my application will be the same.

[trevnhil]

I thought it was a bit crazy that they want the applicant to remember all the jobs they have had, and the stop and start dates. No way could I do that... As mentioned they have all the details (or should have) of your NI insurance deductions..

[ApusApus]

Just send them your CV!


Shane

[Mark]

A couple of points

1) If you do not send the documents by registered delivery, the documents will not be returned registered, but by normal post, they will return by registered delivery if you do.

2) I opted to have my pension paid weekly (very weakly) to my UK account, to give flexibility on bank rates etc, on when money is transferred to Cyprus.

3) do not send documents by DHL etc, as this is not recorded as registered delivery (even if it is signed for) for some obscure reason.

[MacManiac]

What a bloody farce ... I summoned up the energy to fill in the forms and could not believe the detail they wanted. Fortunately I am using Adobe Reader on my iPad and don't have to complete the thing on paper (my handwriting would have qualified me to be a doctor), or at one sitting. They appear to want details of my employment since 1969 until 2012, and I destroyed all my c.v. documents once I "retired". The sheer amount of work to find names and addresses (and payroll numbers for heaven's sake) of the various employers is mind-boggling. Surely my National Insurance number should suffice.

Now I am intelligent, well-organised (well my darling wife is the organised one) and not in the least confused about life but ... the information they require is crazy. Goodness knows how people in their dotage cope.

Ann received her State Pension before we moved to Cyprus and the process was so much simpler. Could it be that expats are being discriminated against? I am all for preventing fraud but this takes the biscuit.

Rant over and back to form-filling.

[Poppy]

No it is exactly the same form whether you live in the UK or not so they are certainly not discriminating against you. I agree the amount of detail they require is ridiculous and I could certainly not remember back to 1965 when I first started work - fill in as much as you can and just put cannot remember where necessary ie exact dates or work no's etc. That is what we did and it was fine, as you say they have all the details anyway based on your NI no and your contribution record.
Good Luck!

[Dominic]

Wow, I better not throw away my old CVs.

[exodus]

Wow, I better not throw away my old CVs.

I don't know anything about the UK Pensions, but why would you have more than 1 CV?
Amos.

[Dominic]

Wow, I better not throw away my old CVs.

I don't know anything about the UK Pensions, but why would you have more than 1 CV?
Amos.

In I.T, nobody cares that much what you were doing 10 years ago, let alone 20 or 30. Because I always like a nice short 2 page CV, I summarise the first couple of decades of my career into a couple of lines. Well I did the last time I needed to write a CV, about 15 years ago.

If I ever had to write another one, my last CV would itself be summarised to a couple of lines. Great for a prospective employer, not so great for the Inland Revenue.