Korean Job Discussion Forums

[40w2000]

Hi,

I have read in several places this info about pensions for UK citizens teaching in Korea:

"Unlike the US and Canada, Korea and the UK have only agreed to a 'contribution only' convention, at this time. What this means to UK citizens working in Korea, is that your Korean pension contributions can be added to your accruing pension credits in the UK, of which you can begin to receive when you retire in that country."

So I get that. But how do I go about transferring my pension contributions back to the UK? I can find any informtaion anywhere.

Thanks in advance.

[eamo]

[ttompatz]

[crisdean]

as a Canadian everytime I've left Korea (ie. finished a contract) I've gone to the nearest NPS office shortly before leaving and filled out a bunch of paperwork to get my pension money back. And on the form they have different country options and vaguely remember the UK being on the form.

So I would assume you would need to do the same when you choose to finally leave, you'll need to bring some of stuff with you.

What I needed was my passport, Social Insurence Number, flight information (ie. proof I was leaving), banking information, ... I think that's it.

The easiest thing to do would probably be to contact your local NPS office and just asj them. You may need a Korean to ask for you, but I'm quite certain it'll just be a matter of going into the NPS office and filing some paperwork before leaving Korea, then a few weeks/months after returning the UK you should get some kind of confirmation that the money was transferred into your British pension fund.

[squirrelandgman]

The situation is about as clear as mud. I had my old man on to this and he at one point managed to pin them down and say that our contributions could be transferred. Then he dug some more and dealing with another department it seemed we couldn't.

Having talked to pension officers here and in the UK it seems fairly certain that we cannot send the contributions here to the UK. The only way to reclaim your money would be to retire here I suspect.

Of course, dealing with the UK pension service is a Sisyphean task and there is a chance that we dealt with the wrong department.

I'd say with about 80% certainty that it is dead money for us.

[valkerie]

yeah it is a bit of a bummer but while you CAN transfer the credits this can only be done WHEN YOU ACTUALLY RETIRE (or thereabouts). So if you reckon it would be possible to do in xxx years time...hmmm.

[Davew125]

[b-class rambler]

Unless the agreement between the two countries has been revoked within the last 6 months then I'm certain you CAN have pension contributions made in Korea credited to your pensions contributions in the UK. I know of people who have successfully managed to get it done, and have received confirmation thereof.

HOWEVER...whether or not the pension office official you deal with in either country knows of and give you the correct information about the pension contributions agreement between the UK and the ROK is a completely different matter. And this problem is probably greater in the UK. There, you'll find some staff who'll ask you "Korea? Which one", and it wouldn't surprise me if someone asked goes away to check and comes back with the info for North Korea (which presumably would be that no transfer whatsoever is possible). I've also known of people who worked in other foreign countries and should, by law, have been able to transfer pension payments there to the UK, wrongly told by UK pension office staff that they couldn't transfer it.

So it's possible but can be hard work. Also, bear in mind that if you do get Korean contributions credited to your UK pension account, it'll be money you'll only see when, and more importantly IF your UK state pension starts paying you.

That'll be when you've retired, but will only happen if you have sufficient qualifying years of contributions. It used to be 39 years for women and 44 for men, but IIRC it's about to change to 30 years for everyone. Most people in the UK should easily have the 30 years of contributions, however an EFL teacher who has spent many years outside the UK, perhaps in countries with no pensions agreement with Britain, might not qualify.

Personally, I know I have no chance of making the 30 qualifying years in the UK, so for me there's no point transferring Korean contributions to there. I have heard that it's possible to claim the money here, even if you're no longer in Korea at the age (about 65) you become eligible. Not 100% certain about that, but if that's true that would be a way to get the money back, albeit at a time in the future when it's not worth as much.

[sugarkane59]

http://www.nps.or.kr/jsppage/english/agreement/agreement_02_02_01.jsp#btn05:

"Benefits under this Convention
① Since the Convention on Social Security Between Korea and the UK is a Contributions-only Convention, there is no provision of Totalization of Periods of Coverage for the entitlement to benefit.
② Therefore, there is no pension benefits under the Convention, whether the payment is granted depends on the each country's legislation respectively.
③ And a Korean Lump-sum refund is not paid to the nationals of U.K."


So stop talking about it, you're making me feel sad about the dead money.

[b-class rambler]