The DWP has no plans to uprate frozen state pension payments to half a million British expats, pensions minister Paul Maynard has said.
Tory MP for Delyth Rob Roberts told Mr Maynard it was a “matter of simple fairness” to British citizens living in Commonwealth countries to be entitled to an uprating of their state pension.
Mr Roberts, speaking during a debate on Britons living abroad, told the Commons that after Brexit the UK is “rightly able” to move closer to partners in the Commonwealth.
He said: “One of the ways we can do that would be to confirm that all British citizens that live in the Commonwealth should be entitled to the appropriate uprating of their state pension as if they were still in the UK, it would seem a matter of simple fairness.”
The MP invited the pensions minister to meet with him to discuss the practicalities of making that happen and restoring some “much needed common sense” to a “needlessly complicated” situation.
Mr Maynard told his Conservative colleague the Government isn’t planning to look into the matter.
In remarks quoted by the Financial Times, he said the Government continues to uprate state pensions where there is a legal requirement to do so and has no plans to change its longstanding policy or enter into any new reciprocal social security agreements.
He added: “According to the latest estimate, based on data from March 2022, uprating the state pension where we do not currently do so would cost about £0.9billion a year if all UK state pensions in payment were increased to current UK levels.”
Robert Lloyd Crutchlow is petitioning parliament to get the state pensions of about half a million British citizens who reside overseas to rise to current rates and to be entitled to future, yearly increases.
Most of the UK expats affected by the issue live mainly in Canada and Australia, according to the FT.
The petition, which to date has gained 5,054 signatures, adds: “We believe the need for reciprocal social security agreements has long passed as other countries already pay their pensioners in the UK annual increases. We believe the freezing of UK citizens pensioners (sic) is discriminatory, unjust and immoral.”
Yazmin Boden, partner at GSB Capital, which advises expats, told the FT it would be prudent for the policy to be reviewed in full in the aspect of fairness.
She added: “Retirees within the Commonwealth, in receipt of the UK state pension, met the contribution requirements to accrue a full national insurance record in good faith.
“Those whose pensions were frozen over 20 years ago are at a significant disadvantage with limited capacity to improve their retirement income and subsequent lifestyle.”
Ms Boden said recent years witnessed the failure of the triple lock to protect against the rising cost of living for retirees from the UK.
She concluded the issue of inflation proofing and the UK state pension is greater than the subject at hand.
