UK state pensions

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 49, No. 7, September 2007, Letters
By: Ralph Jones, MD

There are major changes to the UK state pension scheme in progress. Anyone who worked in the UK for 3 years (and possibly even 1 year) is entitled to some portion of a UK state pension. You can pay back up to 7 years and only 30 years will be required for a full pension.

This is not be sneezed at: the full pension is £93 a week and a spouse (even one not born in the UK) gets 60% = £56. In dollars the maximum current total = $17 022 a year. The amount will be indexed until received at age 65, when indexation stops for Commonwealth citizens. (The Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners is fighting that.) I do not pretend to be an expert or even accurate on this matter. However, I suggest any doctor who worked in the UK should look into it. I did to my advantage.

It would take a considerable lump sum to generate that sort of annual income until death. 

More information is available at the non-profit www.britishpensions.com. There is also a commercial advocate who promises a win-win arrangement for recovering or augmenting your UK pension: Tom Hewetson, www.britpensions.ca.

—Ralph Jones, MD
   Chilliwack

Ralph Jones, MD. UK state pensions. BCMJ, Vol. 49, No. 7, September, 2007, Page(s) - Letters.


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