News & Insights

Relocating to a new place can be an exciting time. Experiencing different environments is usually a good thing, and moving abroad can open up many opportunities, such as the chance to learn a new language and experience a different culture first hand. Whether you’ve relocated in retirement, because of work, or to be with a partner, the expat life can certainly be a fascinating one.

However, once you have your accommodation and finances sorted out, the absence of friends, family and UK home comforts can begin to take its toll. Homesickness can be hard to shake.

If, as an expat, you are feeling low, there are several things you can do to help make yourself feel at home no matter where in the world you find yourself.

In 2014 the government introduced an additional form of protection against the Lifetime Allowance (LTA) – “IP14” – which offers individuals more flexibility than FP14 in how they protect their pension savings.

The ex-pensions minister Steve Webb is urging the government and the HMRC to do more to alert grandparents to all the pension perks they’re entitled to after it was revealed that the overwhelming majority are not receiving the full state pension. By missing out on a particular benefit, unknowing eligible grandparents are missing out on £231 a year. Over the course of their full retirement, this could possibly lead to a loss of thousands of pounds.

It is a scheme called the Specified Adult Childcare Credit. It is thought that only 1,300 grandparents are taking advantage of it despite 100,000 being eligible (a mere one per cent). The scope of the problem was found out by Webb when he sent a Freedom of Information request to the HMRC.

The purpose behind the Specified Adult Childcare Credit is to allow grandparents who give up work completely to help raise their grandchildren the chance to claim National Insurance (NI) credits.

Representatives of UK nationals who are uncertain as to what to do with their expat regular savings assets have called on MPs to take urgent action so that they do not have to go through a period of extended limbo while waiting for Brexit negotiations to be finalised.

The list of concerns is becoming increasingly longer, particularly now that Prime Minister Theresa May has indicated that she may pursue a hard Brexit, with pension uprating, healthcare and expat regular savings at the forefront of the issues currently challenging British expats living in the European Union.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has issued a strong warning against government proposals to raise the state pension age to 68 (with the possibility of being raised higher to 70). It has said that such a scenario would create significant problems – an “unacceptable detriment” – for those with low life expectancy.

The statement comes in response to a report released by the Independent Review of the State Pension. The review was led by former CBI director general John Cridland.

British expats who are uncertain what they should do regarding their regular savings plans are hopefully reassured by Theresa May’s announcement that she wishes to secure the status of expats in the European Union at an early stage during the Brexit negotiations.

However, the Prime Minister has refused to divulge further details of the Government’s strategy for negotiating the UK’s formal exit from the EU, leaving expats without any further clarity regarding their future options – for example in respect of education fee planning and international pension planning – in relation to their expat regular savings.

There has recently been some worry over the future of the “triple-lock”, a measure put in place to help protect pensions in case of a steep rise in inflation (November 2015 saw inflation reach its highest level in two years).

So, what is the triple lock and what would its removal mean for pensioners across the UK?