Your State Pension if you live abroad
Your UK State Pension is paid wherever you live, but it only goes up each year in some countries. Elsewhere it's frozen at the rate when you moved.
Your answer
Enter your weekly State Pension to see the answer.
About this calculator
For anyone getting, or about to get, the UK State Pension who is moving abroad or already lives abroad.
What happens to your answers
We don’t keep them. Your answers go to our server to do the sums and aren’t stored or logged. If you copy a link to your answers, they’re in the link itself, so only share it with people you trust.
How it’s worked out
The State Pension goes up every year if you live in the EEA, Switzerland, Gibraltar, or a country whose social security agreement with the UK includes the rises: the USA, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Israel, Barbados, Bermuda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jamaica, Kosovo, Mauritius, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the Philippines, Serbia and Turkey. Canada and New Zealand have agreements, but not for the rises. Everywhere else, including Australia and South Africa, it's frozen.
We take your weekly pension when you move, paid for 52 weeks a year. If it rises, the first rise comes in year 2, and every year after by the rise you choose. If it's frozen, it stays the same. The difference over the years is what the freeze costs you.
Worked example
In Australia your State Pension is frozen at £241.30 a week, so over 20 years you'd get about £155,284 less than if it rose by 4.8% a year.
Australia · £241.30 a week · 20 years · 4.8% yearly rise (rough guide)
| Your State Pension a week when you move | £241.30 |
|---|---|
| In Australia your State Pension is frozen at the rate when you moved | Frozen |
| Assumed yearly rise (a rough guide: the April 2026 rise was 4.8%) | 4.8% |
| Year 1: £241.30 × 52 weeks, the same either way | £12,548 |
| Year 20 if it rises: £588.06 a week × 52 weeks | £30,579 |
| Over 20 years if it rises by 4.8% a year | £406,236 |
| Over 20 years if it's frozen: £241.30 × 52 weeks × 20 | £250,952 |
| The difference: what a freeze costs | £155,284 |
Worked out using HMRC's published rates for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027), on a yearly basis.
Questions people ask
What if I come back to the UK?
Your State Pension goes up to the current rate once you're living in the UK again.
Do I pay tax on my State Pension abroad?
It's taxable. Whether you pay tax in the UK or where you live depends on where you're resident for tax and the tax agreement between the two countries. Talk to us before you move.
Can I live in two countries?
You choose one country to be paid in. You can't be paid in one country for part of the year and another for the rest.
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