Form IPC BR1 is the paper claim form for the UK basic State Pension if you live outside the United Kingdom and reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016.1GOV.UK. Claim State Pension if you live abroad To submit it, download the PDF from GOV.UK, complete every section that applies using UK date format, sign it, and post it tracked to the International Pension Centre in Wolverhampton. There is no online portal for international claims.
Make Sure IPC BR1 Is the Right Form
The dividing line is 6 April 2016. If you reached State Pension age before that date, use the IPC BR1. If you reached (or will reach) State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016, you need a different form, the IPCBR1NSP, which covers the new State Pension.1GOV.UK. Claim State Pension if you live abroad Both go to the same address and the process is largely the same, but sending the wrong one is the most common cause of delay.
Each form has its own guidance notes, called IPCBR1 Notes and IPCBR1NSP Notes, on the same GOV.UK page as the forms themselves. Read the notes for your form first. They walk through every question and tell you which sections you can skip based on your circumstances. If you cannot download the PDF, call the International Pension Centre on +44 191 218 7777 and ask them to post you a paper copy.2GOV.UK. IPC BR1 United Kingdom (UK) State Pension claim form
Get a Forecast First (and Consider Voluntary Contributions)
Before you fill anything in, get a State Pension forecast so you know what you are claiming. The online forecast on GOV.UK is the fastest route and requires identity verification. If you cannot use it, form BR19 gets you a written forecast by post, but only if your State Pension age is more than 30 days away.3GOV.UK. Check your State Pension forecast If you are already past State Pension age, contact the International Pension Centre directly.
The forecast tells you how many qualifying years you have and whether paying voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions could increase your weekly amount. The rate for 2025–26 is £17.75 per week, and each additional qualifying year you buy adds roughly £6.90 per week.4GOV.UK. Voluntary National Insurance To apply for voluntary contributions from abroad, use form CF83.5GOV.UK. Apply to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions for periods abroad (CF83) Do this before you claim: HMRC cannot process a CF83 for anyone who has already reached State Pension age or is within six months of it. Once that window closes, you have to go through the International Pension Centre instead, and the process becomes more complicated.
What to Have Ready Before You Start
Missing information is the easiest way to delay your claim. Gather the following before you open the PDF:
- Your National Insurance number, a nine-character code of two letters, six numbers, and a final letter (for example, QQ 12 34 56 A). If you have lost yours, the guidance notes explain how to request it.6GOV.UK. Your National Insurance number
- Start and end dates for every period of employment and residence in the UK, in chronological order.
- Dates and the social security number used for any employment outside the UK, particularly in countries with a social security agreement with the UK, such as the United States.
- Your marital status and spouse or civil partner’s details, including their National Insurance number if they worked in the UK. Under the old basic system especially, a spouse’s contributions can affect what you receive.
- Your bank details: the IBAN and BIC for an overseas account, or UK bank details if you want payment there. Not all US banks use IBAN format, so you may need your bank’s SWIFT code; check with the bank before writing anything on the form.
If you worked in both the US and the UK and are short on UK qualifying years, the US–UK totalization agreement lets your US Social Security credits count toward the minimum UK threshold, provided you have at least one year of UK coverage.7Social Security Administration. Totalization Agreement with United Kingdom The overseas-employment section of the form is where you provide the US information that makes this work.
Filling In the Form
The IPC BR1 runs to 16 pages, and the IPCBR1NSP is 15. Not every section applies to everyone, and the guidance notes tell you which to skip. A few points cause consistent problems.
Use UK date format throughout. All dates go in as day, month, year (DD/MM/YYYY).2GOV.UK. IPC BR1 United Kingdom (UK) State Pension claim form If you write the month first as you would in the US, your dates will be read wrong. Someone born on March 4 who writes 03/04/1958 will have their birth date recorded as 3 April. A mismatched date of birth against other records is an avoidable delay.
Complete the employment sections in detail. They ask for employer names, addresses, and job start and end dates. If you worked in the UK decades ago and no longer have records, give the best information you can and note that dates are approximate. A reasonable estimate beats a blank, which forces the DWP to write back.
Fill in the overseas insurance section if it applies. This is where your US Social Security number goes if you worked in America. It is how the DWP connects your record with the Social Security Administration under the totalization agreement. Leave it out and those years may not count toward your eligibility.
Sign and date the form. An unsigned form comes back to you.
Where to Send It
Post the completed form to:
The Pension Service 11
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 1LW
United Kingdom8GOV.UK. International Pension Centre
Use a tracked international mailing service. Standard international post from the US to the UK takes roughly one to two weeks, and without tracking you have no proof of delivery. Royal Mail and the DWP will not chase a missing form. If it gets lost, you start over. Keep a photocopy of the completed form for your records.
If you have questions before you send it, call the International Pension Centre on +44 191 218 7777 during UK business hours.
Am I Eligible to Claim?
You can only claim after you reach State Pension age. As of 2026, State Pension age is rising from 66 to 67. The increase began for people born on or after 6 April 1960 and completes in March 2028, when it reaches 67 for anyone born on or after 6 March 1961.9GOV.UK. State Pension age timetables If you were born between those dates, your State Pension age falls somewhere between 66 and 67; check the GOV.UK timetable for your exact date.
Under the new State Pension (IPCBR1NSP), you need at least ten qualifying years of National Insurance to receive anything, and generally 35 for the full amount, though people who were contracted out before April 2016 may need more.10GOV.UK. The new State Pension – Eligibility11GOV.UK. The new State Pension – What you’ll get Under the old basic State Pension (IPC BR1), the qualifying year requirements differ by gender and birth year.12GOV.UK. The Basic State Pension Eligibility does not depend on citizenship. If you are a foreign national who worked in the UK and paid National Insurance, you can claim.
What Happens After You Submit
The DWP will send an acknowledgment letter to your overseas address once your claim is logged, with a reference number to use in all future correspondence. If you don’t receive an acknowledgment within a few weeks of your tracked delivery confirmation, call the International Pension Centre to confirm they received your form.
Processing times vary with the complexity of your contribution history. Claims involving contributions in more than one country, or that rely on totalization, take longer than straightforward ones. The DWP notifies its decision by letter, specifying your weekly pension amount and the date of your first payment. If you claimed after already reaching State Pension age, the initial payment usually includes a lump sum covering arrears back to the date you became eligible.