Claiming UK and spain pension

Sorry I can't help with the questions in your post, but I note your comment about having your UK pension paid into your UK bank account.

Dozens of UK ex pat pensioners on here will tell you that you can have the DWP pay your UK pension direct to your Spanish bank account. It's always on time and at a very good exchange rate, with no bank fees to pay at this end.

Your UK State/Social Welfare pension will be calculated and paid separately from your Spanish State/Social Welfare pension. So you get a state pension from UK based on your contribution years in the UK and a Spanish pension based on your contribution years in the Spanish system. You declare both pensions on your tax return in Spain and are taxed accordingly.  Social Welfare pensions are not taxed at source. You can have your UK state pension paid into whatever bank and whatever country you nominate.

Bee

I claimed through spainish system for spainish payment

My English pension is paid into UK account and spainish into spainish account

I transfer from UK when exchange rate favourable

Malc 

Thanks for that response. 

Did you make two separate claims UK pension in UK & Spain pension in Spain ? 

Did you have more than 15 years contributions in Spain ?  

Yes two separate

UK rang them and gave them UK bank details

When I knew the amount went to accountant and made spainish claim

I didn't have fifteen years but was pro rata it took about 3 months to process and was back dated when I received to claim date

The spainish payment goes into bank monthly

Malc 

You always get good exchange rates when your UK government pension is transferred directly into your Spanish bank account.

Hi Douglasc, 

When you are eligible to receive your entitled UK State Pension you can decide if you want it paid to you in Euro currency or English pound sterling. You can ONLY once decide what currency you want your English State pension to be paid.  A few years ago HMRC explained to me that for persons who opt for euro currency UK State pension payment (monthly, quarterly or yearly) they put you into one big group to buy the euro currency in bulk at a lower exchange rate and you get a better deal than if you yourself went to the bank to change your English pound sterling pension payments to euro currency payments.  Times have changed, so best to contact HMRC.  

I believe you have to make separate claims for your UK State pension and your Spanish pension, and if you are a permanent resident in Spain declare everything on your Spanish tax forms.  Under the bilateral double tax agreements I think you only pay tax in Spain on your UK state pension, and you have to get a form from UK HMRC.  There are many knowledgeable people on this forum.  One gentleman who knows a lot of very important information is a gentleman called Marcliff.  He is highly active and a very helpful user/poster on the Costa Blanca Forum which is a very popular online community for expats, residents, and visitors in the Alicante province of Spain (he might also cover other areas).

There are tax specialists in Spain (who speak English) so contact one that is either recommended to you or in your local Spanish area.  Many Spaniards told me that completing Spanish tax documents and forms is far too complicated for them, so they pay a Spanish tax accountant to process all their tax paper work. Some charge a small fee for their service, so ask them what their fees are.  If you have friendly Spanish neighbours ask them what ones they use.

Some UK banks informed me that I had to close my UK bank account because I was not permanently residing in the UK, so check this with your UK bank. 

If you have a modern GSM phone that has the free Google translation App installed this is handy. 

We have been having a bit of fun over pensions. My wife had just a couple of years of UK contributions but she had 12 years of Italian/German and Spanish contributions so she had over 10 years so the UK paid her just for 2 years. In 2024 we learned that HRP years counted also for contributions so she made a claim and after about 9 months she got a further 4 years. in March she bought a lot of years and last month she received the confirmation from DWP of her pension and arears etc, Now she must go to the Spanish SS, the last country she worked in and make a claim for the European part, ie Spain, Italy and Germany. I think we need to We need to contact the DWP to get a statement regarding the number years of contributions, or do the Spanish SS do that? We had a letter recently from the German pension authority but it was very mixed up and had data regarding work in Germany and in the UK, obviously the UK situation has been sorted out already. We have the statements of where and when she worked in Europe. My contributins were paid in the UK and in Italy, I think I also have a couple of years here too. I also had the misfortune to work in Italy for 2 years in the 80s, and in 1990 found out the Co had not paid my contributions. I contacted the Italian pension system and was told "Don't worry contact us a couple of years before your pension is due and bring the payslips"  I did just that only to be told that after 10 years from when I worked there that it was prescribed and I would not get anything!! My pension is paid into my UK acc, but I did have to go to a lawyer here and get a document made so that they could inform the Hacienda etc. The bank paid for this afterwards.

M

Hi Mrmike, With all the ongoing confusions with claiming government pensions from different countries try contacting your English MP where you last resided and ask them to help you, and for clarification also ask them to whom you need to contact in Italy, Spain and Germany and any other EU or EEA country.  Whether it is before or after Brexit I believe you can make separate government state pension claims from each country or you can have it all merged together which may give you more qualifying years.  A United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Member of Parliament (MP) can also contact UK HMRC and UK DWP on your behalf, so in your letter to your nearest UK MP give them your permission for them to make enquiries on your behalf.  

To the very best of my knowledge (you can also check this with an English MP, UK DWP and UK HMRC and the UK government office that handles international pensions in the UK) if you have been working in a European Union country for two years this absolutely counts towards your pension.  This is thanks to the EU rules that allow coordination of social security, meaning your contributions in different EU/EEA countries (and Switzerland) are all added together to help you meet the minimum requirements and get a pro-rata pension from each country you worked in.  You will usually apply in your country of residence, and that office will coordinate with others to get records and calculate payments.

How does this work?
Aggregation: If you don't meet the minimum time needed for a pension in one country, they add your time from other EU countries as if you'd worked there.

·  Pro-Rata Calculation: Each country pays you a portion of the pension based on how long you contributed there, not the full amount.

·  Application: Apply in the country where you live, or where you last worked if you don't live in an EU country. That country's authority coordinates the claim.

·  No Transfer: Contributions aren't transferred; they're just added for eligibility and calculation. 

Key takeaway:

Those two years in another EU country are valuable and will be used to build your total pension rights, ensuring you don't lose out on contributions. 

You can also contact the Consulate offices from each country and they can point you in the right direction.
If you are not fluent in all the different languages then type/write your letters in clear simple English using simple sentences and on the other side of the page have a Google translation (e.g. English to German) letter.  At the top of your letter type: Google translation. 

When you receive all your pensions you will probably need to yearly have a Proof of Life Certificate that needs to be dated, signed and stamped by government officials and returned to each country.  For your yearly Proof of Life Certificate I advise you to send it by email and also by registered post, and keep a record of this for your files (if your computer crashes everything may get lost, so I suggest you print out a copy to keep for yourself (also store it on a separate USB Memory Stick).