The questions everyone asks (and HMRC answers on hold)

A regular payment from the UK government, every four weeks, from UK State Pension age until you die. It's not a pot of money like super. There's no balance with your name on it that goes up and down. It's more like a pay cheque for life that you earned through the National Insurance taken off your UK pay.

More in What is the UK State Pension?.

The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27. That's £12,547.60 a year, or roughly A$23,800 at about A$1.90 to the pound.

Plenty of people get less than the full amount. What you get depends on how many qualifying years are on your National Insurance record (35 for the full amount), and on whether you were "contracted out" before 2016.

At UK State Pension age, which is 66 right now. It rises gradually to 67 between 2026 and 2028, for people born after 5 April 1960. A later rise to 68, between 2044 and 2046, is already in law. It's not the same as the Australian Age Pension age, even though both are 67-ish.

Check your exact date on GOV.UK (opens in a new tab).

No. The UK State Pension isn't means-tested. A big super balance, a paid-off house or a part-time job in Australia doesn't reduce it. It's based only on your UK National Insurance record.

It can work the other way round, though: the UK State Pension can reduce a means-tested Australian Age Pension. See the Age Pension question.

Yes. It's based on your National Insurance record, not your passport. If you had a working holiday in London and NI came off your pay, those years count the same as anyone else's.

The catch is the 10-year minimum. See Aussie who worked in the UK?.

No. You can claim it from Australia and have it paid into an Australian bank account. The big difference from living in the UK is that it's frozen while you live here (see below).

No. You can keep working in Australia, full-time or part-time, and still get your UK State Pension once you reach UK State Pension age.

10 qualifying years to get anything at all, and 35 for the full amount. In between, you get a share: each year is worth about £358.50 a year of pension (1/35 of the full amount).

Say Dave from Croydon did 18 years in the UK before moving to Brisbane. 18/35 of £12,547.60 is about £6,453.05 a year. Not bad for some years of NI he'd forgotten he paid.

Below 10 years you get nothing. Nine years gets you exactly the same as zero, which is why the 10-year line matters so much.

A tax year (6 April to 5 April) where you paid, were treated as having paid, or were credited with enough National Insurance. While you lived in the UK, that usually came from:

• working and earning above the lower earnings limit (NI came off your payslip)
• being self-employed and paying Class 2 or Class 4 NI
• National Insurance credits, for example while claiming Child Benefit for a child under 12, being unemployed, ill or a carer
• voluntary contributions (Class 2 or Class 3), including ones paid from abroad

A year with NI paid for only part of it may not be a full qualifying year. Your NI record shows which years are full. More on NI credits (opens in a new tab).

No. The UK and Australia ended their social security agreement in March 2001, so Australian working years don't count towards a UK State Pension. It works the other way too: your UK years don't count towards Australian Age Pension residence.

That's also why the UK State Pension is frozen for people living here.

Under 10 years you get nothing as things stand. But people who lived in the UK for 3 years in a row, or paid 3 years of NI, can usually buy up to 6 past years from Australia. That can be enough to get over the line.

If you did about 4 years, see Did 4 years in the UK?: 4 plus 6 makes exactly 10, and one of those 6 expires on 5 April 2027.

With fewer than 3 years in the UK, you normally can't pay voluntary contributions from abroad at all.

Before April 2016, many people with workplace pensions (especially in the public sector and big companies) paid lower National Insurance. In return, part of their State Pension was meant to come from the workplace pension instead.

If that was you, your State Pension can be less than your number of years suggests, even with 35 years. Your State Pension forecast already takes it into account. Extra qualifying years can still increase your pension, up to the full amount. GOV.UK on contracting out (opens in a new tab).

Check your forecast first. If it already shows the full £241.30 a week, extra years won't add anything. If it shows less (usually because of contracting out), more years may still increase it.

Either way, you'll still need to claim it, and to make sure the UK has your Australian address.

Online, with Check your State Pension forecast (opens in a new tab) and Check your National Insurance record (opens in a new tab). Together they show how much you're on track for, which years are full and which have gaps.

You'll need to sign in and prove who you are. From Australia that can be a test of patience.

You're not alone. Computer says no to a lot of people living abroad, especially if you don't have a UK passport, a UK driving licence or a UK phone number.

If you're under State Pension age, you can contact the Future Pension Centre (opens in a new tab) and ask for a State Pension statement by post. If you're within 6 months of State Pension age, or over it, the International Pension Centre (opens in a new tab) is your contact. Both lines run on UK office hours, so it's an evening or early-morning call from Australia.

My step-by-step guide has a whole chapter on getting through the sign-in from abroad.

Yes, but you'll need it for nearly everything, including form CF83. Old UK payslips, P60s and HMRC letters show it. If you can't find it, GOV.UK explains how to get it (opens in a new tab).

Not necessarily. The online record often shows the standard Class 3 price (£956.80 a year for 2026/27). Some people abroad can fill older years at the much cheaper Class 2 rate instead, and some gaps can't be filled from abroad at all. HMRC confirms what you can pay, and at which rate, after you apply with form CF83.

Often, yes. It's called paying voluntary National Insurance contributions, and plenty of people living abroad can do it. You apply first with form CF83, and HMRC tells you which years you can pay for and how much.

The rules changed in April 2026, and which rules apply depends on the year you're paying for:

• Past years up to 2025/26: you need to have lived in the UK for 3 years in a row, or paid 3 years of NI in total.
• 2026/27 onwards: you need to have lived in the UK for 10 years in a row, or paid 10 years of qualifying NI in total. Credits and voluntary contributions paid from abroad don't count towards the 10.
• Transitional rule: if you applied to pay for 2024/25 or 2025/26 on or before 5 April 2026, pay those by 5 April 2027, and apply for 2026/27 by 5 April 2027, you can stay on the 3-year test.

GOV.UK's rules for people abroad (opens in a new tab).

Same result (a qualifying year), very different price:

• Class 2: £3.65 a week, about £189.80 a year. For years up to 2025/26 only, and only if you worked in the UK immediately before you left and have worked in Australia (or elsewhere abroad) since.
• Class 3: £18.40 a week, £956.80 a year. Open to more people, and from 2026/27 it's the only option from abroad.

You can't choose Class 2 just because it's cheaper. HMRC decides which you're eligible for after looking at your CF83.

Each extra qualifying year adds about £358.50 a year to your pension, for life, once you're over the 10-year minimum.

A Class 3 year costs £956.80, so it pays for itself after about 2.7 years of pension. A Class 2 year costs £189.80 and pays back in about 6 months. Past years are usually charged at today's rate, not the rate back then.

See how the numbers work, or put in your own years in the calculator.

Normally the last 6 tax years. The deadline is 5 April each year, and each 5 April the oldest year drops out for good.

Right now the oldest year is 2020/21, which can only be paid for until 5 April 2027. The one-off extension that let people go back to 2006 closed on 5 April 2025.

GOV.UK on the deadlines (opens in a new tab).

From 2026/27, only Class 3 (£956.80 a year), and only if you meet the 10-year test (or the transitional rule above). With fewer than 10 years of UK residence or contributions, the only years you can usually buy are past ones up to 2025/26.

I can't tell you what's right for you. That depends on your age, health, plans and other income, and I'm not a licensed adviser. The facts that usually matter:

• If you won't reach 10 years, any years you buy are worth nothing.
• Once your forecast shows the full amount, extra years add nothing.
• It's frozen in Australia, but only once you reach State Pension age. Until then, the rate you'll start on rises every April with the UK triple lock, the same as for people in the UK. From State Pension age it stays at that starting rate, so the payback is slower in real terms.
• It's taxed in Australia and can reduce a means-tested Age Pension.
• You need to live long enough after State Pension age to get your money back.

Is topping up worth it? goes through each one.

No. There's no pot, so nothing is refunded or passed on as a lump sum. That's the trade-off for a pension that pays for life, however long that is. A husband, wife or civil partner can sometimes inherit some State Pension, depending on dates and your records. The International Pension Centre can tell you what applies.

It's HMRC's application to pay voluntary National Insurance for time spent abroad. You must apply first. Don't send HMRC any money until you get a letter telling you what you can pay, how much, and your payment reference.

Yes. GOV.UK's CF83 page (opens in a new tab) takes you to HMRC's online service. You'll need a phone with a working camera and one photo ID: a UK passport, a UK photocard driving licence, or a non-UK passport with a biometric chip (an Australian passport has one), among a few others.

Doing it online also means you're not relying on two postal services and an HMRC mailroom.

• your National Insurance number
• your UK and Australian addresses
• the date you left the UK
• what work you did in the UK just before you left
• what work or self-employment you've done in Australia
• how long you plan to live abroad, if you know
• any UK benefits you were getting

Have dates ready. Nobody remembers which month they flew out in 2011 without checking.

If you're over State Pension age, or within 6 months of it, HMRC can't process a CF83. Contact the International Pension Centre (opens in a new tab) instead. They'll check your gaps and tell you what you can pay.

It varies, and it can be months. My wife's paper application took 4 to 5 months to get a reply. HMRC's current reply times (opens in a new tab).

Because of the 5 April deadlines, apply well before you need to. Leaving it until March is asking for trouble.

GOV.UK only says the deadline is 5 April each year. It doesn't say whether getting your CF83 in on time gives you extra time to pay. Don't count on extra time. Apply early, and chase HMRC if you hear nothing.

HMRC writes to you. The letter says whether you can pay, which years, which class (2 or 3), how much, and the reference to use when you pay. Sometimes they ask for more information first.

Usually by international bank transfer, in pounds, to the HMRC account on GOV.UK's payment page (opens in a new tab), using the reference from your HMRC letter. The reference is how HMRC matches your money to your record, so get it exactly right.

Your bank or transfer provider will charge fees and set its own exchange rate. Compare the total cost before you send.

Yes, you can pay for more than one year. Remember the oldest year is always the next to expire. Right now that's 2020/21, on 5 April 2027.

Check your National Insurance record online a few weeks later. The year should change from a gap to a full year. It can take a while to show, so don't panic on day three. If it still hasn't shown after a couple of months, contact HMRC with your payment details.

No. You have to claim it. From Australia you can claim once you're within 4 months of State Pension age, by contacting the International Pension Centre (opens in a new tab) or sending them the international claim form. GOV.UK on claiming from abroad (opens in a new tab).

Make sure the UK has your current Australian address, or the letters meant to remind you will go to a flat in Clapham you left in 2009.

Every 4 weeks or every 13 weeks, your choice. It can go into an Australian bank account, usually converted into Australian dollars at the exchange rate on the day (GOV.UK says there's a 0.39% conversion charge), or into a UK bank account in pounds.

Because it's converted, the Australian dollar amount moves with the exchange rate.

Until you reach State Pension age, nothing is frozen. The rate you'll start on goes up every April under the UK triple lock (currently the highest of earnings growth, inflation or 2.5%), exactly as it does for people living in the UK.

The freeze starts at State Pension age. You start on whatever the rate is then, and while you live in Australia it stays at that amount for life. No more yearly rises.

So if you start on the full £241.30 a week, you'll still get £241.30 a week in ten years' time, while someone in Bournemouth gets the yearly rises. It only goes up to the current rate if you return to live in the UK. GOV.UK on yearly increases abroad (opens in a new tab).

Yes. If you defer for at least 9 weeks, you get 1% extra for every 9 weeks, which is just under 5.8% a year. Living in Australia, that extra amount is frozen too, and GOV.UK says it takes over 15 years to get back a year of deferred full pension, so think carefully before deferring.

GOV.UK on deferring if you live abroad (opens in a new tab).

Yes, in Australia. Under the UK–Australia tax treaty, pensions paid to an Australian resident are taxed only in Australia. You declare it on your Australian tax return as a foreign pension, converted into Australian dollars.

The ATO's instructions also describe an 8% "undeducted purchase price" deduction for some UK State Pensions. Whether it applies depends on your pension, so check with the ATO or a registered tax agent. ATO: foreign pensions (opens in a new tab) · The UK–Australia tax treaty (opens in a new tab).

It can. Services Australia counts your UK State Pension as income under the Age Pension income test, and they expect you to claim any foreign pension you're entitled to.

Above the income-free area, the Age Pension drops by 50 cents for each extra dollar of income. So each dollar of UK pension can cost you up to 50 cents of Age Pension (plus any tax). Whether that matters depends on your other income and assets.

Services Australia: preparing to claim the Age Pension (opens in a new tab).

No. Your super and your UK State Pension are completely separate. Paying voluntary NI doesn't touch your super, and having super doesn't reduce your UK State Pension.

• 5 April 2027: last day to pay for 2020/21. It's also the payment deadline under the transitional rule, and the last day to apply for 2026/27 under it.
• Every 5 April after that: another year drops out of the 6-year window.
• 6 months before your State Pension age: after this point HMRC won't process a CF83. Deal with the International Pension Centre instead.
• 4 months before your State Pension age: the earliest you can claim from Australia.

HMRC replies can take months, so the real deadline for applying is well before 5 April. Check where you stand with the calculator.