How to Claim UK State Pensions from Abroad

I'm based in Australia and had to sort out my UK state pension a few years back.

It's doable but there's a fair bit of paperwork involved. I got help from Axis Financial Consultants, since they deal with UK pension transfers and overseas claims.

They made it a lot smoother and explained how payment timing works when living outside the UK

I'm in Australia and the pension I receive is what it was 12 years ago. It's frozen, no increases.

Sorry, my bad. In my case, the pension is a foreign pension. But the DWP are presumably going all out to get it because they don't want one of their citizens being destitute from the shortfall and claiming it in UK benefits. Sounds sensible.
I'm not holding my breath that I will ever see it materialise, but I am impressed that the wheels are in motion by people who know the ropes far better than I do.

My understanding is the same, Calendargirl, but not from experience so I could be wrong. It seems unfair to those who have paid NI for decades to lose their entitlement to increases, but maybe it is to compensate for the fact that they haven’t contributed to the host country’s health system?

I know someone who moved to a European country on marriage, paid no ‘stamps’ thereafter, then returned to the UK at 60 on divorce expecting a pension and to use the NHS. She is entitled to healthcare (including joint replacements, which she has been given) but has had to find work to tide her over from 60 to 66, and will then have to be assessed for eligibility for PC. She is outraged, but I think that’s fair. She has contributed nothing to the UK system and didn’t contribute to the European one either, but thought her husband’s contributions would somehow cover her for a free pension here. They didn’t.

I think in Australia you don’t get any pension increases from when you go there, i.e. if you went 20 years ago, that’s the same rate you will be getting now.

Simples. The DWP will do it for you. You just fill in their form with the dates and the details of your pension scheme abroad, pop it in the Freepost envelope, and let them do all the work!

Cross posts!

I would start here:
www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad#:~:text=Make%20a%20claim,address%20is%20on%20the%20form)

No experience of this but have you looked at this page:-

www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad

You could try emailing or phoning the DWP.