We've had the vision - now can we have our pension please?
By Brian Havard - 08/08/2008
Pensions Minister Mike O’Brien’s homily is merely cynical hypocrisy when he writes: ‘We must begin to free our minds from some of the prejudices about ageing, create new life chances for people, and in the decades to come recognise that some of the most happiest years of our life will be spent after the age of 65’.
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Promises, promises ... the politicians who don't deliver on our overseas pensions
Over half a million ex-pat British pensioners have had their pensions frozen - some by more than £55 a week – because they are now living overseas in Commonwealth countries rather than the EU. But, writes Brian Havard, if UK Government Ministers were to implement the promises they have personally made, our pensions would not be frozen.
Government petition for frozen overseas pensions
The Mature Times has highlighted the unfair freezing of overseas pensions. So I am writing to alert people to the fact that there is now an e-petition on the subject.
Injustice, inequality... we paid our contributions but our pensions are frozen
Jim Tilley has drawn attention to the scandalous situation whereby some pensioners overseas receive fully indexed pensions and others like those of us in Australia do not. We all paid in the same way and there is no just reason why our pensions are frozen.
The scandal of overseas pensions being "pilfered" by the Government
“Our shared aim should be to ensure that pension promises are kept and pensioners are secure in retirement...” But what is Mike O’Brien doing to implement his beliefs? Evidently nothing.
Overseas pensions campaigner slams Government promises
It is appalling that Minister Mike O'Brien fails in his article to mention the penalty with which some pensioners are slugged because their UK age pensions will be frozen if they choose the wrong countries in which to retire.
NI surplus? It's worse than that!
The balance of the National Insurance Fund is predicted to be around £70 billion by 2008, £81 billion by 2009, over £121 billion by 2012 and £136 billion by 2013.
Government's age discrimination targets pensioners
'DWP practises discrimination in denying annual pensions uprating to half a million UK pensioners in the major Commonwealth countries, freezing their pensions at the amount which applied when first they qualified or emigrated as existing pensioners. ' - MT Reader Brian Havard has his say.
I can't afford to emigrate
My only daughter and son-in-law are hoping to emigrate to Australia next year and, as I am their only relative on either side, have asked me to go with them. But I cannot afford to go. The basic pension and pension credit are all I am living on at the moment and that gets cut to £87p.w. the day I emigrate - and frozen at that amount. I do wonder how much we are paying Polish workers for Child Allowance for their children back in Poland who have never been to this country and probably never will?
Demand for help for the world's old and poor
Ahead of the G8 summit on June 6th-8th, Help The Aged is demanding that people living in the poorest countries should be given state pensions as a basic human right.
Nothing in Budget for 520,000 ex-pat pensioners
The Budget may have helped the 125,000 private pensioners in the UK. But there is still not a word from Brown concerning the fundamental changes urgently needed for approximately half a million expat British pensioners, many of whom live in Commonwealth countries, and who are making no extra demands upon his purse for those other pensioner "benefits" enjoyed by those living in the UK.
Ex-pats around the world unite to fight pension freezing
Over 500,000 British pensioners around the world have had their State pension frozen at the level it was when they left the UK… because they now live in Commonwealth countries.
Hear the argument for unfreezing overseas pensions
A new "video-blog" has underscored the totally anomalous situation, where half of UK pensioners living overseas have their State pension frozen at the level it was when they left the UK - while others have theirs updated every year. In the blog, available to see on You Tube, two retired people have identical situations, except that one lives in Australia, and the other in the USA.
Pension freezing “a moral, not financial issue”
Over half a million British pensioners are currently having their pensions docked - some by more than £55 a week – because they are now living overseas in Commonwealth countries. Almost half of these are living in Australia, and The British Australian Pensioner Association Inc. says that the decision to unfreeze the pensions is not a financial issue but a moral one.
520,000 British pensioners have their pensions frozen
Over half a million British pensioners are currently having their pensions docked by up to £55 a week – because they are now living overseas. The Government’s decision to continue the freeze on overseas pensions in non-European countries also means that another half a million pensioners who would go to live with family or friends are effectively being prevented from doing so.