Technical article

If You Are British: the S1 Health Form and the State Pension in Hungary, Malta, Bulgaria and Finland

Will the State Pension keep rising once they leave?

By Neil Solomon · 4 min read

Picture a couple named Colin and Pat. Both are 67 and British. They are looking at Malta and Finland. They have two questions. Will the State Pension keep rising once they leave? Who pays when one of them needs a doctor?

Both answers sit on UK government pages. I read them. I also read the GOV.UK pages for living in Hungary, Malta, Bulgaria and Finland, which name the S1 and say little else.

The State Pension abroad

GOV.UK says: "Your State Pension will only increase each year if you live in" the European Economic Area, Gibraltar, Switzerland, or a country with a social security agreement with the UK (not Canada or New Zealand). It adds: "You will not get yearly increases if you live outside these countries."

The page does not list Hungary, Malta, Bulgaria or Finland by name. All four are EU member states, and the page says "European Economic Area," so the rule appears to cover them. I have not seen a page that says it country by country. The page shows an update in November 2024 and a later system date of 9 September 2026.

For scale, GOV.UK gives the full rate of the new State Pension as GBP 241.30 a week, up from GBP 230.25. A GOV.UK press release dated 4 April 2026 places this in the 2026 to 2027 tax year, from Monday 6 April (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/over-12-million-pensioners-to-receive-575-state-pension-boost). The release itself contains one line that reads "6 April 2025", which looks like a typing slip, so I would check the rate for the year you retire.

The S1 health form

The NHS says that if you live in an EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland and receive a UK State Pension, "you and your dependants may be entitled to an S1." The S1 gives "state healthcare paid for by the UK" in the country where you live.

A few details from the page:

• You can apply up to 90 days before your move. The S1 starts from the date you move.
• You need an address in the new country. It can be temporary.
• If you also get a state pension from the country you live in, "you cannot get an S1."
• If you have lived in several of these countries, the one where you paid social security for the longest period is responsible for your healthcare.
• Dependants can be added to the application.
• The Overseas Healthcare Services office takes calls Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, on +44 (0)191 218 1999.

The four countries

Each of the four "Living in" pages also says that a UK State Pension is calculated differently if you previously lived in Australia, Canada or New Zealand and now live in the EU, and points to the general guidance on where the UK government pays an annual increase. None of the four gives a registration office or a country-specific S1 rule.

What the UK pages do not cover

• Rules from the Hungarian, Maltese, Bulgarian or Finnish authorities on how an S1 holder registers. Ask the health office in the country, or call the Overseas Healthcare Services office.
• Which doctors or hospitals in each country accept an S1, and what you would still pay at the counter.
• Whether a small pension from one of these countries would remove the right to an S1. The NHS page says it does if you receive a state pension there, and it does not describe how that is measured.