Guide · updated 2026-10-16
Teaching abroad and your UK pension
Your Teachers' Pension benefits stay in the scheme, but you generally cannot stay an active member abroad unless your school has been accepted into it. Voluntary National Insurance contributions may protect your State Pension.
Two separate UK pensions matter to a teacher who moves overseas: the Teachers' Pension Scheme, which is a workplace pension, and the State Pension, which is built on National Insurance. They follow different rules, and moving abroad affects each one differently.
What follows summarises what the official bodies say. It is not financial advice. Pension rules change and your own record decides the outcome, so confirm the position with Teachers' Pensions and the International Pension Centre before you resign.
What Teachers' Pensions says about moving abroad
Teachers' Pensions says that if you move abroad to work you generally cannot continue as an active member of the Scheme, unless the school you are going to has been accepted into it. Your benefits can stay in the Scheme, and the sterling value of your pension is not affected by the move.
Death benefits continue while you work overseas. If you are no longer an active member you receive the deferred member death benefits, and if you are active you receive the active member ones.
The COBIS exception is narrow
The same page says that schools belonging to the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) can take part in the Scheme under certain conditions. Those conditions are specific. Eligible schools must be in an EU member state outside the UK and must have been participating on 31 December 2020, and they continue for as long as the employer decides to remain a participating employer.
Former members who worked at a COBIS school before 1 January 2021 can rejoin if they take a post at a participating COBIS establishment, elect to join and the employer consents. So being a COBIS member school does not by itself mean a school offers TPS membership. Ask the school directly, and ask for it in writing.
Claiming later, and bringing overseas pension savings home
Teachers' Pensions says that applying for retirement from abroad works the same as from the UK: you state your country of residence and bank details, which can be British or international. When you claim, the amount you receive in local currency may change with exchange rates.
If you build up a pension with an employer abroad that is not part of the Scheme, you may be able to transfer it into the TPS on returning to teach in England or Wales. The page says the overseas scheme must be a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme for the purposes of Part 4 of the Finance Act 2004, and that HMRC publishes a list of those schemes.
The State Pension and voluntary National Insurance
GOV.UK says you can claim the State Pension from abroad if you have paid enough National Insurance contributions to qualify, and that you need at least 10 qualifying years to get any new State Pension. GOV.UK also says you might be able to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions while working abroad, and that these payments can protect your benefit entitlement and State Pension. It adds that voluntary contributions do not cover your health insurance in the country where you live.
There are deadlines for paying for any year with a gap, so do not leave it to retirement. GOV.UK has an eligibility checker for people living or working abroad, and says to contact the International Pension Centre if you are over State Pension age or within six months of it.
Questions teachers ask
Can I keep paying into the Teachers' Pension Scheme if I teach abroad?
Teachers' Pensions says you generally cannot remain an active member unless your new school has been accepted into the Scheme. Ask the school and Teachers' Pensions before you accept the job.
Do I lose my Teachers' Pension if I leave England to teach?
No. Teachers' Pensions says your benefits can stay in the Scheme and the sterling value of your pension is not affected by moving abroad. The local-currency amount can change at claim.
Do COBIS schools offer the Teachers' Pension Scheme?
Only some, under conditions. The official page refers to eligible COBIS schools in an EU member state outside the UK that were participating on 31 December 2020. Do not assume a COBIS badge means TPS.
Should I pay voluntary National Insurance while abroad?
That depends on your record. GOV.UK says you might be able to pay and that it can protect your State Pension, and it offers a checker. Check your forecast and eligibility first.