Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wainy316]

My friend tells me that many British teachers have found out in the last few weeks that all the pension they have been paying cannot be claimed as they are from the UK.
Does anybody know anything about this?
Are you able to request not to pay into a pension scheme when you get a job?
Thanks in advance.

[fl4mers]

You cannot claim a refund of your paid in pension as a UK citizen, as the UK has only agreed to a "contribution only" scheme. However, when you leave Korea, you can arrange for the pension you have paid in in Korea to contribute to your UK pension credits. You therefore wouldn't lose out when you retire and get your UK pension later on, so it's not all bad.

I'm not too sure about opting out of a pension...

[probablylauren]

My understanding is that you can not opt out of the pension.

Some countries can receive the refund, and others get nothing. Kinda lucky in some regards that you can get it transferred to your UK, so you don't lose out in the long-term.

I don't know how they only just found out, its been common knowledge for a while.

[Hyeon Een]

I think I read of one way for British people to get a pension payout. I haven't tried it myself and I don't know whether it will work, but I might give it a go.

(1) Get a job with a PRIVATE pension scheme. The only common way I've heard to do this is to get a job at a private university. Maybe private schools also have this pension? Anyway, it is the private teachers pension.
(2) Have your previous national contributions transferred into this private pension scheme. Obviously, have your current contributions paid into it.
(3)Leave the job and ask for your contributions.

I'm really not sure about step 3 though. I think a poster here before did it. Maybe Tzchek??

If anyone, British or not, has withdrawn money from the private teachers pension, could you please post how you did it? Did you get the money here in Korea or somewhere else? Did they check your nationality?

It seems to me that this method, since it is a private pension, may work. I currently teach at a national university and pay into the national pension. I will probably try and get it switched to the private pension and test this theory out. The only problem is I don't want to leave this job just yet.

British people can not withdraw money from the regular pension. I heard a funny story of a Brit who had about 8 years of contributions and thought he was getting a sweet $20k or some such. He was not a happy camper when he found out that he couldn't!