{"id":71592,"date":"2026-08-17T11:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/71592\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T11:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:24:08","slug":"rising-pensioner-poverty-in-spain-uk-expats-face-financial-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/71592\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising pensioner poverty in Spain: UK expats face financial struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"

British pensioners in the Balearics<\/a> and other parts of Spain<\/a> have been feeling the pinch due to the rising cost of living<\/a> and a weaker pound against the euro and for some, their financial situation could get even tougher still.<\/p>\n

As the Bulletin reported last month, many who have been living their retirement dream in Spain for the best part of 20 years have been forced to sell up and move back to the UK due to rising costs and a new report have revealed that pensioner poverty has started to rise again after years of falling, with single retirees bearing the brunt of the increase.<\/p>\n

The number of pensioners living in poverty has been climbing steadily since reaching its lowest point in 2013\/14, according to a major new analysis from LCP. And the research suggests single pensioners are facing a particularly serious squeeze, with poverty rates now almost twice as high as among pensioner couples.<\/p>\n

British expats<\/a> retain the right to claim their UK State Pension and private pensions<\/a> from anywhere in the world, provided they meet the standard eligibility criteria. However, where you choose to live significantly changes your financial rights, how much your pension costs to maintain, and how it is taxed.<\/p>\n

While Briton living overseas can receive your UK State Pension globally, it will only increase each year under the triple lock system if you live in specific geographic locations. Your pension grows annually by the standard UK rate if you live in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, Gibraltar, or countries with reciprocal agreements like the US, Barbados, and Israel.<\/p>\n

The UK government has aggressively tightened the rules around buying voluntary National Insurance contributions from abroad to build up your 35 qualifying years. Historically, working expats paid cheap Class 2 voluntary contributions (around \u00a3182\/year). The low-cost option for time spent abroad has officially ended.<\/p>\n

Expats must now pay Class 3 voluntary contributions, which skyrocket the cost to roughly \u00a3910 per gap year\u2014a fivefold increase. To make voluntary contributions from abroad, you must now demonstrate a strong UK tie by proving you lived in the UK for 10 consecutive years or already have 10 qualifying years on your record.<\/p>\n

Your private UK pension pots remain yours, but managing them across borders introduces strict transfer mechanisms and tax traps. You can leave your funds in UK schemes or Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs). You can draw from them abroad, but you face currency exchange fluctuations.<\/p>\n

You can transfer private pots to a Qualifying Recognized Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) to hold your money in local currency. However, unless you live in the exact same country where the QROPS is based, HMRC hits the transfer with a bruising 25% Overseas Transfer Charge. Unless a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) exists between the UK and your new country, you risk being taxed twice on your private pension withdrawals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British pensioners in the Balearics and other parts of Spain have been feeling the pinch due to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1254,1255,27850,1955,605,3177,599,600,8477,27851,17],"class_list":["post-71592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-balearics","tag-british-expats","tag-british-government","tag-cost-of-living","tag-latest-headlines","tag-living-in-spain","tag-majorca","tag-mallorca","tag-pensions","tag-pound-v-euro","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}