OAPs abroad on just £50 a week
WORKERS dreaming of retirement in the sun could lose out on tens of thousands of pounds worth of state pension if they pick the wrong country, campaigners say.
As many as 550,000 Britons living overseas are existing on “frozen pensions”, with some receiving only £50 a week instead of a full state entitlement currently worth £165.
Despite paying national insurance all their lives, their state pension could be frozen at the rate when they move – meaning they face a decline in their real-term income every year – joining hundreds of thousands of British pensioners struggling to make ends meet overseas.
Frozen pensions occur in more than 120 countries, the majority of which are in the Commonwealth, including Australia, Canada, South Africa and India. But 76 per cent of workers are unaware of the risk, according to a poll by the International Consortium of British Pensioners.
If British pensioners move to countries like the US, the EU, the Philippines and Israel, they still receive the same annual indexation as their UK counterparts.
There are currently more than 1.2 million older Britons who live overseas and receive the state pension. Of these, more than 550,000 are arbitrarily excluded from receiving the annual uprating due to their location, missing out on the “triple-lock” rises which have been credited with lifting many UK pensioners out of poverty.
More than a quarter, 26 per cent, of respondents were “shocked” that the government policy leaves some OAPs living on as little as £50 a week.
The campaigners are delivering their message to Commonwealth leaders at the current Heads of Government meeting and are issuing a court summons to Chancellor Philip Hammond to try to reclaim “lost” payments.
The group’s director John
WE KNEW THAT YEAR-ON-YEAR WE’D BE PROGRESSIVELY WORSE OFF
RITA Young, 82, is living a very lonely retirement.
After retiring as a market researcher in 2002, Mrs Young, from Peterborough, Cambs, and her husband Gordon planned to relocate to Australia to be closer to their son Colin and his family.
But they were horrified when they found out their state pensions would be frozen – and abandoned their dream. “We knew that year-onyear Duffy we would become progressively worse off and wouldn’t be able to afford to live without being a burden to our son and daughter-in-law,” Mrs Young,
said. “That was something we weren’t prepared to do so we had no choice but to stay in the UK.
“I’m now alone, with no family around me since Gordon died in 2004, and having to make do with a weekly Skype call to Australia. At said the overseas pensions rules form part of a package of benefit changes so they are not discussed as a separate issue.
He said: “This shames our democracy. The Government should do the moment I live an independent life, but I worry about the future and what will happen to me if my health deteriorates and I have no one to call upon.
“The frozen pension policy is grossly unfair and I consider myself lucky that I found out about it when I did. Thousands of British pensioners move overseas, only to find their pensions will be frozen when they are already there.” the right thing and allow it to be debated individually rather than slipping it through with a raft of technical regulations.”
The poll showed 88 per cent agreed that the state pension should be increased each year and the rise should go to all those overseas. Almost half, 42 per cent, said they would refuse to vote for a political party which they thought would not treat pensioners fairly.