State pension 'injustice' will see some receive £7,000 less than others

MPs have called on Sir Keir Starmer to end an injustice impacting state pensioners. Currently, state pensions are frozen for OAPs who live abroad, in territories which are outside the European Union, Labour Party leader Sir Keir has been told.

To get the increase each April in line with the triple lock, you have to live in the UK, a country in the European Economic Area, Gibraltar, Switzerland or a country that has a social security agreement with the UK. 13 MPs have signed the motion, calling on Parliament to note "the so-called frozen pensions policy" as well as "the scale of the injustice which sees 453,000 British state pensioners impacted by the policy".

MPs signing the motion include Christine Jardine, Dr Roz Savage and Ian Sollom as well as Jim Shannon, Claire Hanna, Ayoub Khan and Charlotte Cane. The Motion state "that this House notes the so-called frozen pensions policy" and "further notes this sees British overseas state pensioners living in certain countries denied access to index-linked uprating of the UK state pension".

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Thousands of retired Britons living abroad receive just £3,000 on average each year from a “frozen state pension” - £7,000 less than retirees living in the UK - according to new analysis. It "believes the level of the UK state pension paid should not be dependent on the pensioner’s country of residence in later life; acknowledges the scale of the injustice which sees 453,000 British state pensioners impacted by the policy, many of whom reside in Commonwealth countries such as Canada and Australia" and "notes that the cost of indexing all overseas state pensions without a retrospective uprating is estimated at approximately £50 million in the first year".

It "calls on the Government to index all overseas state pensions equally on a going-forward basis" and "further calls on the Prime Minister to meet with affected pensioner and World War Two veteran Anne Puckridge, who is planning to travel from Canada to the UK this December, requesting a meeting on behalf of all those impacted by the policy."