When Will You Call Thailand Your Home?

[pe7e]

The £144 flat rate pension doesn't come into effect until 2017, and then it does not apply to those who have already retired, they are stuck with the old scheme.

[radioman]

 

If you live LOS the UK Govt doesn't inccreaqse your pension each year, they do in the Pl.

 

I understand about index linking or lack thereof in some countries. Didn't know PI was on the list, useful info, thanks.

 

From some near future date, the pension is going up to £140 a week I understand. Other annual increases will be on top of this.

 

Currently a full basic state pension after a minimum of 30 years N.I. contributions would be £107.45 a week. An increase to £140 a week seems, umm, unlikely! Unless you meant this:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20989050

or this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11619379

 

Which is actually quite a radical change, not just an increase, and looks as if you will require at least an additional 5 years of N.I. contributions to qualify plus possibly limiting your ability to claim the maximum if you are contracted out of SERPS. So you might get a partial increase, the full increase, or a decrease, depending on what they decide to do about people with other pension plans. With 4 years before this is due to come into effect.

 

I have another question arising from this, yes I know I should go ask HMRC but maybe one of you old fart retirees knows the answer already. Does being married to a non-NI paying spouse, such as Thai, qualify you for the married couples allowance? There seems to be some provision for collecting more than the single mans allowance, even when the partner has not paid NI, not sure how this would apply to non-UK nationals.

 

 

If you were in LOS say on a current held back pension of say £90 a week, then you'd be £2500 worse off in year one, with that amount rising each year. If you maintained a retirement address in the Pl and perhaps visited each year during Songkran, then your £2500 would way more than cover the annual trip.