Britain’s exit from the European Union could affect the state pension rights of citizens who have worked in other member states.

According to the House of Commons Library briefing paper on Brexit and State Pensions, under current rules, UK citizens who work in other member states are still able to build up their right to a UK state pension, due to an agreement which allows for a state pension built up in one member state to be drawn in another.

“As part of the EU, the UK is currently part of a system to co-ordinate the social security entitlements for people moving within the EU. The rules also apply to EEA countries and Switzerland. The aim of these provisions is not to harmonise social security systems, but to remove barriers to workers moving between member states,” the report explained.

The report stated that until the UK formally leaves the EU all existing rules will stay the same. However, it noted that future systems will depend on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. Therefore, the report suggested the government needs to clarify whether it will seek to continue to cooperate on EU wide mechanisms to enable pension contributions in different member states to be aggregated.

The European Parliament has previously said that if current rules ceased to apply, both UK citizens working or having worked in the EU and EU citizens working or having worked in the UK, would see their pension rights curtailed.

In addition, there is also concern for the pensions in payment to British citizens living in the EU. The UK state pension is payable overseas but is only uprated if the pensioner is in an EEA country or one with which the UK has a reciprocal agreement requiring uprating.

However, as it currently stands both the British government and European Parliament have agreed to continue this arrangement as long as each party reciprocates the agreement.

“A joint technical note on the comparison of EU-UK positions on citizen’s rights published on 19 July 2017 identified lifetime uprating of state pensions as an issue on which both parties were agreed. Aggregation of state pension rights (for individuals insured in more than one member state) was an area needing further discussion to deepen understanding,” the report said.

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