My mum turns 60 in October and is entitled to a full uk pension however she has lived in Spain for 5 years and worked here, and paid into the social security system for approximately 24 months of that period.

This was the last paid employment she undertook and we have now received paperwork from the UK to say that if this is the case she must process her pension claim through the Spanish system.

Can anyone offer any advice on this situation or put us in touch with anyone in the Malaga region that may be able to advise how to deal with this situation as we have been told that by processing it through Spain may mean that her pension may be reduced and it could take months.

I am entitled to 54% of my pension, I know this because I did a forecast. I don’t intend to work here so will apply for mine when the time comes.
However my husband is also entitled to 58% of a UK pension. He will be working here for 17 years before he retires and we assumed that he would apply and receive the UK pension AND a full Spanish pension from his payments here.
I would also be interested to know the answer to your question.
Does this mean that they combine all Social Security payments and pay you a pension only in the country you live in ?

We have now spoken again to the Dept of Work and Pensions in the UK and they advise that the process changed 3 weeks ago.  If your last place of work was an EEA country other than the UK then you must take all relevant pension paperwork to the Social Security office of that country and they will process it.

I don’t know how it affects someone working in Spain for as long as 17 years but i believe - i may be wrong - that you will be eligible for both, depending on how long you have paid into the UK system.

As to how long the process takes now it has to be actioned in Spain i have no idea, we are off to the Social Security office this morning and hope that there is someone there to assist us.  The UK department did say they are meant to receive all paperwork back from Spain 4 months before the pension payments are due to start….a bit difficult when they only sent the paperwork last week!