State pension 'frozen' for thousands who won't receive Triple Lock hike

The International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP) has warned 453,000 expats are affected by frozen pensions.

The state pension will be frozen for THOUSANDS of state pensioners - who won't see a £900 hike under the Triple Lock next year. The International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP) has warned 453,000 expats are affected by ‘frozen pensions.

The End Frozen Pensions campaign aims to “end the injustice” for Brits who have moved abroad whose State Pension does not rise in-line with the Triple Lock every April. Graham Dodd, board member of the Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners told the Daily Record: “The Government's line is that they only uprate where there is a legal requirement to do so. The folly in this is that it is in their hands to pass the necessary legislation.

“It is true that should the UK make all the existing and future frozen pensioners whole by bringing them to the level they would have been if they had never been frozen then the cost would be £0.94 billion. However, in all previous cases of unfreezing, the UK has never made all the existing and future frozen pensioners whole by bringing them to the level they would have been if they had never been frozen.”

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Anne is 99. She served in the Second World War and worked in the UK up until the age of 76. She paid her National Insurance in full but thegovernment now pays her a ‘frozen’ pension at £72.50 per week after she left the UK for Canada to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren.

Her pension doesn’t increase in-line with inflation so it falls in real value year-on-year. If she had stayed in the UK she would be getting £156.20 per week. Astonishingly there are around 450,000 British pensioners in similar positions.

Most of those impacted live in Commonwealth countries. The highest numbers of affected pensioners are living in some of the largest Commonwealth countries such as Australia and Canada. By definition, Commonwealth countries have close cultural and political links with the UK. Some have been forced to return to the UK to afford their own care.