Pensioners living outside of the UK can have their pension paid into a UK bank account or an account in their country of residence.
If your pension is paid into a UK bank account, you can view and change your account details via My Pension Online. Alternatively, you can contact us. Please note that, if you would like to change your bank details, you will need to send us a bank statement to verify that the account is in your name as we are unable to carry out our usual identity checks on members who live abroad.
Pension payments into overseas accounts are made via Crown Agents Bank. If you would like to change the account your pension is paid to, please download the relevant Payment Mandate Form which can then be completed and returned to us via My Pension Online.
You usually have to pay tax on your pension from us even if you’re not a UK resident. The country where you live might also tax you on your UK income. If there is a double-taxation agreement in place between the UK and your country of residence, you may be able to claim tax relief in the UK to avoid being taxed twice.
We will automatically deduct tax from your pension until instructed otherwise by HMRC.
You can find more information regarding tax on UK income if you live abroad and double-taxation agreements on the HMRC website.
Every year, we validate the existence of our pensioners living outside of the UK in order to prevent and detect fraud. We carry out these checks in partnership with Crown Agents Bank to allow members to carry out their verification electronically from home using your phone, tablet or laptop.
The process involves taking a picture of yourself and a picture of your photographic ID (passport, driving licence, government ID card). The system then verifies that the two pictures are of the same person.
Once you've submitted your photos, you will receive an email from us within five working days, if we hold an email address on record for you, to confirm if these have been accepted. You can check and update your email address via My Pension Online.
Following the completion of the exercise, sensitive data including your pictures and any reference numbers shown on your photo ID is deleted from the system after three months.
You can register and log in to the portal at https://pensionsportal.crownagentsbank.com and follow the instructions provided by Crown Agents Bank to complete the process. If you have any technical queries during the exercise, please contact Crown Agents Bank directly on + 44(0) 203 903 2990 or by email to PensionsServices@crownagentsbank.com.