450,000 British pensioners, 3.5% of all recipients of the State Pension and half the pensioners living overseas, are currently adversely affected by the Government’s ‘frozen’ pensions policy.
WASPI women who’ve retired abroad face a double whammy of losing MORE money in their fight for Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) compensation following last year’s Ombudsman report.
450,000 British pensioners, 3.5% of all recipients of the State Pension and half the pensioners living overseas, are currently adversely affected by the Government’s ‘frozen’ pensions policy.
It means that rather than the annual uprating received by UK pensioners, their pension is frozen at the level first received for the rest of their life abroad. In practice, this means that their state pension decreases in real terms year-on-year.
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It means pensioner aged 90 who has lived in a frozen country for all of their retirement would now still get a state pension of just £64.70 per week. If they had lived in the UK, they would currently receive £156.20 – £92 a week, or £4,784.
And a pensioner aged 72 who became pensionable in a frozen country in 2016 would receive a state pension of £119.30 per week. This is in stark contrast to the £203.85 they would be receiving in the UK under the new state pension.
The ‘End Frozen Pensions’ policy comes amid a battle for WASPI women to be repaid £2,950 from the DWP after historic injustices in the state pension.
Rachel Gilmour, a Liberal Democrats MP for Tiverton and Minehead, said: “People who receive a pension income have worked throughout their careers for that money, and they deserve to be able to access it fairly and with the proper information, lest we see a repeat of the WASPI scandal.”
Ms Gilmour said: “For people receiving a UK pension, uprating should not be a lottery of land borders, and that His Majesty’s Government should redouble their efforts to find reciprocal arrangements with countries currently without an agreement with the UK?”
David Chadwick said: “Members have drawn attention to the fact that we now have many constituents living abroad who have the right to vote. To better represent their needs and make more progress, the Government might wish to consider the idea of overseas constituencies.
“That would give Members the opportunity to represent the needs of people living abroad who certainly warrant their full pensions.”
Labour Party Pensions Minister Sir Torsten Bell said: “I gently note—very gently, so that I get out of this room safely—that many of the people calling for pensions to be uprated are also calling for reverses to the winter fuel payment policy and compensation for WASPI women, but are not calling for less investment in the NHS or higher taxes. In the current financial climate, there are real choices, and there have been no suggestions in this debate about how any of these policies would be funded.
“I fully recognise the issues raised by Members today. I hope that I have explained why that recognition sits alongside the long-standing policy in this area, and I look forward to hearing the closing remarks from the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon.”
