The UK government has annoinced the introduction of legislation that will have significant impact on many Irish residents' entitlement to UK state pensions:
- Survivors' pensions seem set to be abolished from 2016...widow/ers will have pensions based on their own contribution records, not their deceased spouses'. So an Irish person married to a UK pensioner would see their income from the UK state stop on death of spouse if the survivor has no significant UK contributions record.
- Whereas the current system gives (part) pension rights to people with as little as a year's cotributions, this will be raised in 2016 to a minimum of between 7-10 years. This will exclude many returned Irish emigrants who worked in the UK for a number of years.