Pensions World

The government has set up a working group to look into the issue of frozen pensions which affect 500,000 British pensioners in 120 countries.

A frozen pension means that the state pension will not increase in line with inflation, so a pension will be worth less and less each year, in over 120 countries including some of the most popular retirement destinations such as: Australia, Canada, New Zealand  and almost all the other Commonwealth countries.

A Parliamentary motion (Early Day Motion) calling on the government to end the unfair freezing of pensions has topped 100 signatures.

It states that “That this House notes that under regulation 3 of the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations 2011 more than half a million British people who have retired to any one of more than 120 countries including the majority of Commonwealth countries have their rightful British state pension frozen and are denied their rights to annual up-rating to that pension, meaning that they continue to lose money to which they are entitled having paid National Insurance contributions during their working lives; further notes that the continuation of this regulation will impact on the freedom of choice of country of residence for many constituents upon their retirement in coming years; and calls on the Government to review regulation 3 of the Up-rating Regulations and thus treat all British pensioners with the dignity and fairness that they deserve.”

Commenting, John Markham UK Director of the International Consortium of British Pensioners said:“The setting up of the Working Group shows that the government is taking the issue of frozen pensions seriously. However, we at the International Consortium of British Pensioners recognise that our work is still not done. We will therefore continue working to ensure that the government takes concrete action on the issue and we urge the British public to help by going online and sign the petition at  http://bit.ly/BritPensions so that we can get justice for British pensioners everywhere.”