Pension contributions vs pension payouts (U.K. and japan)

[Beaglehound]

I am positive I can pay for my U.K. pension for the total amount of time, Japanese pension less sure. But my wife (English), has no contributions in the U.K. at all, and has so far been exempted in japan for 2-3 years. Very unlikely she’ll ever be working to the point of being able to pay. And I’m not sure if I’ll ever earn enough to fully pay pension here either (both of us have autism and mental health issues (and more recently looking into a chronic fatigue diagnosis)). How’s it looking for us? (I’m 30, wife is 26). And I really don’t want people telling me to go back to the U.K., or just work more or suck it up etc.
Thanks in advance.

For Japanese kokumin nenkin, even with exemptions you will build up some entitlement, although the payouts are not generous. U.K. is a better deal as Ben said, especially if you can pay class 2s. Your wife should be eligible to pay class 3s on my understanding of the current rules, and it would probably be worth it to do that.

wouldnt his wife also be eligible for class 2 if she worked part time jobs? even for a short time seems to qualify as I understand?

What happens if I earn less than the weekly/monthly threshold?
If you have earnings above the lower earnings limit (£120 per week or £520 per month for 2021/22) and below the primary threshold (£184 per week or £797 per month for 2021/22) you will not have to pay any Class 1 NIC. Your NIC record will be credited, however, as you have paid Class 1 NIC at a zero rate. These may earn you entitlement to contributory benefits and the state pension.

If you earn less than the lower earnings limit (£120 a week for 2021/22), you pay no Class 1 NIC and you do not get any contributions attached to your NIC record.

Criteria for class 2 are:

You can pay Class 2 NICs if you’re employed or self-employed abroad and if you satisfy the following conditions.
1. You’ve lived in the UK for a continuous 3-year period at any time before the period for which NICs are to be paid*, or
2. Before going abroad you paid a set amount in NICs for
3 years or more (this will be checked when you ask to pay Class 2 NICs*), and
3. In addition to conditions 1 and 2, you must also, immediately before going abroad, have been ordinarily an employed or self-employed earner in the UK.

You are right, she may qualify as she satisfies condition 1, and we don’t know for sure that she doesn’t satisfy condition 3. It may be that she was working part time immediately before leaving the UK, though not earning enough to pay NI. So if she is employed or self employed in Japan she may qualify.

[bryanc]

thanks to everyone here,I have become interested in it..!
seems if you pass the weekly threshold for contributions this might trigger it..
however what immediately prior means i am not sure

[kuma]

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/United_Kingdom includes information about the UK state pension.

however what immediately prior means i am not sure

The sentence from the source reads:

you must also, immediately before going abroad, have been ordinarily an employed or self-employed earner in the UK.

There are two parts dependent on definition and/or interpretation here: 'ordinarily' and 'immediately'.

I presume that if someone has been a full-time employee in the UK for a decade, but takes a two-week break prior to a move to Japan, they will satisfy the criteria. Technically the person was not an employee immediately before leaving, but they ordinarily were, by any reasonable interpretation.

If someone is mainly a non-working student but undertakes a two-week full-time envelope-stuffing job immediately prior to leaving the UK, they would probably satisfy the 'immediately' bit but not the 'ordinarily' bit, so would be ineligible.

There will be a complete spectrum of circumstances. It's possible that HMRC publishes further info about the definitions and interpretations available to the public, but it's also possible that this information is not publicly available. I haven't seen details, but haven't looked extensively. I was lucky in that my case was not open to interpretation; I was self-employed up until my point of departure.

NI38 publishes guidance on the determination of 'ordinarily resident', which is related, but different. It does however give an insight into the type of thinking HMRC might employ to reach their decisions. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... broad-ni38

[bryanc]

this is very interesting..
can someone point me in the direction for info on the below:

1.website for calculating japanese pension will get

T

There is a retirewiki article about nenkin net and the online tool for building projections. I may have had a hand in its creation.

https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Nenkin_Net

Not mentioned, but step one is to pour yourself a large drink.

have ckd the wiki and followed as instructed!many thanks..
trying to do the same for my wife,but is it correct that you cannot see the kyousai pension on this?