state pension advice

[aussiebruce]

I am constantly surprised by the depth of knowlage on here, so I thought I'd try you lot on this.

I'm an Aussie who has been living and working here for about 20 years and thinking about going home for good.

Now i have been obviously paying my tax and NI. Am I likely to get some sort of pension when i reach retirement age even if I am living in Oz?

It's still a fair way off. I'm just wondering how it works.

[lunarscope]

No, sorry, I'm getting it all in about 30 years.

You may like to think of it as payback for giving us "Fosters" so-called lager.

[LC23]

There are a minimum number of years contributions required to get the full state retirement pension - I think it's around 31 years now or soon will be. If you pay less than this, then you will not get the full state pension but should be entitled to a pro rata amount based on the number of years you have paid into the system.

Your best bet is to get a pension forecast from HMRC:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/ca3638.pdf