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A 100-year-old World War Two veteran, Anne Puckridge, has urged Sir Keir Starmer to put an end to the “brutal” policy of frozen pensions for some British pensioners living abroad. There are reportedly over 453,000 British pensioners in this position who do not receive an annual rise in their state pension. Puckridge has received £72.50 a week since moving to Canada in 2001, aged 76, but her pension is now less than half of that currently paid to pensioners still living in the UK. Previous governments have cited the cost as a barrier to uprating frozen pensions.
Puckridge has unsuccessfully lobbied successive governments and has now travelled to Westminster to raise the issue with the new government. She will meet Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds as her request to meet Sir Keir was turned down due to “pressures on his diary”. Puckridge has said that the frozen pensions affect every aspect of life, adding, “You feel you’ve lost all your sense of dignity, the government has thrown you away, you know, out of sight out of mind.”
The UK state pension rises each year, under the “triple lock” arrangement, by either 2.5%, inflation, or earnings growth, whichever is the highest figure. The UK has agreements in place with some countries, including EU countries and the US, to continue increasing pensions in line with the amount received by UK residents, but campaigners say this creates an injustice. They argue that those affected have paid in like everyone else but are now being treated differently because of their address. Diplomatic pressure to change the policy is mounting; the Canadian and Australian governments are both understood to have raised the matter with the new government.
The Institute for Economic Affairs, which has often criticised the sustainability of the state pension, has said that the different treatment of overseas pensioners between countries does not seem like a particularly principled way of saving money. However, previous governments have argued that individual pensioners would be unlikely to benefit overall, as many also receive financial support from local governments, which would be reduced as a result. The cost of fully restoring frozen pensions has also been cited as a barrier; in 2019, the Conservative government estimated that this would cost £600m. The End Frozen Pensions Campaign say that they are simply asking for pensions to increase from their current point, which they estimate would cost £55m in 2025/26. A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions stated that the uprating policy was “longstanding” and that the department provides clear information on how moving abroad can impact finances in retirement
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