After continuing pressure from the public and MPs, coordinated by the International Consortium of British Pensioners, the government has decided to set up an official Working Group to look into the issue of frozen pensions.

 

The Working Group has a number of members including officials from the Treasury and the International Consortium of British Pensioners.

 

This comes at the same time as a government e-petition (bit.ly/BritPensions) on the issue has reached over 13,500 signatures – making it one of most popular petitions in the country. 

 

A Parliamentary motion (Early Day Motion) calling on the government to end the unfair freezing of pensions topping 100 signatures has further added to the moment to finally get justice for British pensioners everywhere.

 

The MP to take it over the 100 mark was the veteran Liberal Democrat and former leader of the party Sir Menzies Campbell. So far 53 Labour MPs, 24 Liberal Democrat MPs and 11 Conservative MPs have backed the motion.

 

The issue of a frozen pension currently affects over half a million British pensioners worldwide. It also affects anyone thinking of retiring abroad – recent polling has shown that:

• Half of 45-64 year olds in the UK would definitely or possibly consider moving abroad 
  
  
• However 62% of them do not know that their Basic State Pension will be frozen by moving to certain countries

A frozen pension means that your state pension will not increase in-line with inflation, so your pension will be worth less and less each year, if they move to one of over 120 countries including some of the most popular retirement destinations such as:

• Australia
• Canada 
• New Zealand 
• Almost all the other Commonwealth countries

The survey also showed that half (43%) of respondents are angry or annoyed at the government that it discriminates between pensioners in this way.

Previous studies have shown that unfreezing pensions would actually save the Exchequer money in the medium term as people retiring abroad means there is less pressure on public services and housing units.

 

The research by Oxford Economics has shown that in 2011 the net benefit to the Treasury of a pensioner moving aboard is £2500 per year.

 

Commenting, John Markham UK Director of the International Consortium of British Pensioners said: “The setting up of the Working Group shows that the government is taking the issue of frozen pensions seriously.

“The pressure being applied by all the MPs supporting the parliamentary motion on the issue and the thousands of people signing the government e-petition has clearly had an effect.

“However, we at the International Consortium of British Pensioners recognise that our work is still not done. We will therefore continue working to ensure that the government takes concrete action on the issue and we urge the British public to help by going online and sign the petition at the link below, so that we can get justice for British pensioners everywhere.”