Australian pension entitlement (FOI)

Request  

A Jersey resident emigrates to Australia and works there for 17 years and returns and works in Jersey until retirement age and retires but is unable to get their 17 year pension entitlement from Australia? 

Can you explain why this is, is it because Jersey is not part of the UK and only part of the British Islas? 

Can anything be done so that they can get their Australian entitlement?

Response

The Family Allowances and Social Security (Reciprocal Agreement with Australia) (Jersey) Act 1992 between Jersey and Australia was rescinded on 28 February 2001, after the Australian Government invoked Article 26 of the Agreement to terminate it.

This agreement when it was in force, meant that anyone reaching pensionable age and claiming their old age pension whilst permanently resident in Jersey, and who had previously spent time as a resident in Australia between the ages of 16 and 65 years, had their pension entitlement from Jersey calculated including the time they had spent in Australia.

The Government of Jersey has no control over another jurisdiction’s actions and as such once the Australian Government terminated the agreement, the rights to reciprocal pensions fell away. Therefore, whether a person not resident in Australia now has any entitlement to a pension from Australia, based on their previous residency there, is solely a matter for the Australian Government.