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MPs from various parties are banding together to turn up the heat on the Government regarding its steadfast refusal to address the divisive issue of ‘frozen pensions’, affecting nearly half a million British ex-pats, many of whom became eligible voters in 2024 due to updated overseas voting regulations.
An estimated 453,000 pensioners residing abroad in countries that lack reciprocal pension agreements with the UK are being deprived of annual State Pension increases.
During an impassioned session in Westminster Hall this Tuesday, MP Gregory Stafford delivered a powerful plea for reforming the State Pension rules, criticising the status quo for muting “half a million voices who feel forgotten, neglected and increasingly betrayed”.
Under the current system, some British retirees living in certain countries are excluded from yearly uprates to their State Pensions, which compensate for inflation – rendering some recipients with as little as £60 per week, a stark difference from the current Basic State Pension of £176.45 received by counterparts in Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The majority of those affected by this Frozen Pensions scandal are situated within the Commonwealth territories, reports the Daily Record.
Importantly, it is only UK nationals residing in particular locations who suffer from this policy, a disparity aptly termed by MP Rebecca Smith as “the ultimate postcode lottery”.
British pensioners living overseas in countries like Australia or Canada are stuck with ‘frozen’ State Pensions, losing value over time, a stark contrast to their counterparts in the USA and France who receive annual increases.
Take Anne Puckridge, a centenarian and stalwart of WW2 who nobly served in the RAF, Navy, and Army, she’s been on a stationary weekly pension of £72.50 since 2001 after moving to Canada for family reasons.
Jim Shannon MP lambasted the policy’s irrationality, saying “the arbitrary distinction between countries with and without an operating agreement lacks logic and smacks of red tape and bureaucracy gone mad.”
Members of Parliament such as Stafford have fiercely challenged the Government’s rationale behind clinging to this policy.
The Minister for Pensions, Torsten Bell MP, faced scrutiny over the cost of abolishing the policy, which is estimated at £55 million annually—just 0.04% of the State Pension budget—contrasting sharply with the £950 million yearly figure cited by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Douglas McAllister MP asserted that what the campaigners and advocates, like himself, are clamouring for is “not seeking a full backdating, but for the Government to introduce some form of yearly indexing to answer that injustice”.
Sir Roger Gale MP added: “It is not a matter of cost. It is a matter of moral responsibility and duty.”
A host of MPs made it plain that “the vast majority of impacted pensioners still report having no knowledge of the policy’s existence prior to moving overseas”.
Greg Stafford MP urged the Minister to engage with the End Frozen Pensions campaign for a discussion on enhancing communication about the policy’s existence, and to definitively ascertain the true cost of ending the policy.
The DWP Minister stayed silent and failed to address MPs’ entreaties to convene with campaigners concerning this issue.
Neil Duncan Jordan, Labour MP, scrutinised the UK Government’s broader strategy in aiding its most vulnerable individuals, positing that “taken alongside recent decisions to means-test the winter fuel allowance… it could appear that the Government are trying to balance the country’s books on the back of some of the poorest members of our society.”
State Pension payments 2025/26
The DWP has published the full list of State Pension and benefit uprated payments on GOV.UK here, which also includes additional elements such as the deferred rates, which are rising by 1.7 per cent (September Consumer Price Index inflation rate).
Full New State Pension
- Weekly payment: £230.25
- Fortnightly payment: £460.50
- Four-weekly payment: £921
- Annual amount: £11,973
Full Basic State Pension
- Weekly payment: £176.45
- Fortnightly payment: £352.90
- Four-weekly payment: £705.80
- Annual amount: £9,175
