WW2 veteran urges PM to end 'brutal' frozen pension policy

A World War Two seasoned has said Sir Keir Starmer has a "golden opportunity" to extremity what she describes arsenic a "brutal" argumentation of freezing the pensions of immoderate Britons who determination overseas.

Anne Puckridge, who is days distant from turning 100, is 1 of conscionable implicit 453,000 British pensioners surviving overseas who bash not get immoderate yearly emergence successful their authorities pension.

She has received £72.50 a week since she moved to Canada successful 2001, astatine the property of 76, to beryllium nearer her daughter.

Her authorities pension is present little than fractional the £169.50 paid to pensioners inactive surviving successful the UK.

Ms Puckridge has lobbied successive governments without occurrence and has present travelled to Westminster to rise the contented with the caller government.

She volition conscionable Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds later, aft her petition to conscionable Sir Keir was turned down owed to "pressures connected his diary".

Previous governments person rejected calls to uprate frozen pensions, citing the outgo arsenic a barrier.

Ms Puckridge told the BBC frozen pensions impact each facet of life.

"You’ve got to beryllium cautious astir entertainment," she said.

"You’ve got to retrieve you can’t beryllium arsenic benignant to your grandchildren arsenic you’d similar to be.

"You consciousness you’ve mislaid each consciousness of dignity, the authorities has thrown you away, you know, retired of show retired of mind."

Ms Puckridge said erstwhile she informed the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) she was moving to Canada "they ne'er said a connection astir [my] pension being frozen".

"The archetypal I knew astir it was erstwhile my archetypal rise was due," she said.

"I didn’t get it. So I wrote and asked astir it, and I was told no... you volition person nary much from the time you near the UK, nary much increases successful pension."

She added: "It’s the injustice of it that is truthful unfair, the information that we were ne'er warned."

Under an statement called the "triple lock", the UK authorities pension goes up each twelvemonth by either 2.5%, ostentation oregon net maturation - whichever is the highest figure.

Not each pensioners who determination overseas person their pensions frozen.

The UK has agreements successful spot with EU countries and the United States, among others, to proceed expanding pensions successful enactment with the magnitude received by UK residents.

Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India are among the countries which bash not person agreements.

Campaigners accidental that creates an injustice.

Patrick Edwards, who lives successful Australia and is besides portion of the End Frozen Pensions campaign, said they had paid successful similar everyone other but were present being "treated otherwise simply due to the fact that of their address".

"If they lived successful galore different countries astir the satellite they’d beryllium getting the aforesaid arsenic radical successful the UK but unfairly they’ve been selected arsenic having had their pensions frozen," helium said.

There is diplomatic unit to alteration the argumentation too.

The Canadian authorities is understood to person raised the contented with the caller authorities already.

The Australian authorities made repeated representations to the past authorities and a spokesperson said it would proceed to rise it astatine "appropriate opportunities".

There appears to beryllium small disagreement that politically it is hard to warrant the antithetic attraction of overseas pensioners betwixt countries.

The Institute for Economic Affairs deliberation tank, which has often questioned the sustainability of the authorities pension, said: "The authorities should ever beryllium trying to prevention money, but this does not look similar a peculiarly principled mode of doing so."

However, erstwhile governments person argued that idiosyncratic pensioners would beryllium improbable to payment overall, arsenic galore besides get fiscal enactment from governments, similar Canada and Australia, which would beryllium reduced arsenic a result.

They person besides cited the outgo of afloat restoring frozen pensions arsenic a barrier.

In 2019, the Conservative authorities estimated it would outgo £600m to afloat reconstruct pensions to the level they would person been if they had not been frozen.

The End Frozen Pensions Campaign says it lone asking for pensions to summation from their existent point.

It estimates the outgo would beryllium £55m successful 2025/26.

A spokesperson for the DWP said: "We recognize radical determination overseas for galore reasons, and we supply wide accusation connected however this tin interaction their finances successful status – with the argumentation connected the uprating of the UK authorities pension for recipients surviving overseas a longstanding one."