Scandal of expats denied full pension
HARRY POTTER star Miriam Margolyes says ministers should end the “great injustice” of freezing the state pension of Britons who move abroad, which denies them thousands of pounds.
The actress warned that the policy “plunges the most vulnerable into poverty” and urged the Government to change the rules.
More than half a million pensioners who moved overseas, often to be near family, do not have their UK state pension updated with inflation.
This has the effect of freezing the pension at the level it was in the year that they moved abroad.
It is feared that one million more pensioners could be affected if they leave the UK after Brexit.
The policy applies in certain countries, including Canada and Australia. In other countries – including the US and the EU – there are reciprocal arrangements and pensions do not remain frozen.
The actress said the unfairness of the policy is highlighted by the case of 94-year-old Second World War veteran Anne Puckridge, who lived in the UK until the age of 76, when she moved to Canada to be near her daughter.
Mrs Puckridge served her country in all three UK Armed Forces but receives only £72.50 per week of the £125.95 per week that she would be receiving if she had remained in the UK.
Ms Margolyes, 77, who played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, said: “I was shocked to hear of this injustice that affects over 550,000 British pensioners and their livelihoods.
“This policy of the UK Government plunges the most vulnerable into poverty and hurts those who have given the most to their country such as former public servants and military veterans. It is one of the greatest injustices and so I give my full support to the campaign and its fight.”
More than 90 per cent of the “frozen pensioners” who are affected by the policy live in Commonwealth countries, such as Australia and Canada, which have close cultural and political ties to the UK.
Many were never told when they left the country that their pension would be frozen.
John Duffy, chairman of the International Consortium of British Pensioners, said: “The aim of the International Consortium of British Pensioners is to end this gross injustice and, as Parliament are unwilling to listen, we need the British public to stand up and tell their elected representatives to do the right thing.”
Last year, Mrs Puckridge met MPs in Westminster to highlight the issue. In 2012 the Government told her because there is no “reciprocal agreement” with Canada, the pension is axed at the same level as when she left Britain. If she lived in the US or the EU, she would receive her full state pension.
A Change.org petition organised by Mrs Puckridge’s daughter Gillian has attracted more than 260,000 supporters.
Tory MP Sir Roger Gale said the Government’s continuing policy meant another million British pensioners could lose out after Brexit.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: “This has been settled Government policy for 70 years. It would cost the taxpayer half a billion pounds a year to change it, enough to hire more than 20,000 police officers.”