British Expatriates
 

 

Read this Special 2 page

Justice Special - pdf

 

February 2007 BAPA Newsletter
 

Newsletters for latest BAPA July 2006
BAPA has teamed-up with all the world expatriate pensioner associations with the objective  of the final  extinction of  the frozen pension regime.

 

British Pensions - Freezing Effect

See numbers involved

 

Reply by James Purnell to letter from Peter Morris (BAPA VP)
 

Please sign the following petition

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/unfreezepensions/

 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

               

The Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners announces that, in conjunction with other expatriate British Pensioner organizations, it is sponsoring a legal case by 13 individuals against the United Kingdom Government before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on the grounds of unfair discrimination. This has now been examined by the Court which has authorised that the documentation in the case be passed to the United Kingdom Government for its written submission on the questions of admissibility and merits.

 

The European Court has indicated that it will expect the United Kingdom Government to submit its observations by May 12, 2006.

 

The Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners has formed a consortium with the British Pensioners Association of Western Canada, the South African Association of British Pensioners,  BAPA -(the British Australian Pensioners Association, and the British Pensioners in Australia to represent the interests of over 430,000 expatriates who contributed to a United Kingdom pension which has been arbitrarily frozen at the level it was first received and which in consequence can decrease in value in real terms every year to the point where it is ultimately worthless.

 

At the same time as requiring a formal response from the Government in relation to the lead case the Court has also formally registered a case filed simultaneously in November 2005 on behalf of all current members of the Associations. The progression of that case will depend on the outcome in the lead case.

 

Alan May - March 23, 2006 

 

Canadian  Alliance of British Pensioners

British Columbia Branch

Mailing Address:   P.O.Box 2224, Vancouver   BC  V6B 3W2

Office:  411 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver BC  

Tel:  (604) 683-3445   Fax :  (604)  681-3589

www.britishpensions.bc.ca   e-mail: cabpbc@telus.net

 

National  Office: 202-605 Royal York Road   Toronto M8Y 4G5    Canada   www.britishpensions.com

British Pensions - The 'Freezing' Effect on Affected Individuals.

Letters & Extracts from Talkback

Real financial hardship is being encountered by many elderly British expatriates, particularly by widows, those who retired some years ago and many living in countries with little or no 'social net'. Although over the years significant improvements to the levels of pensions paid have been made to 97% of all British pensioners, the 3% living in 'frozen' countries are still receiving their pension at the same level, unchanged from when they left the United Kingdom or when they first became eligible for a UK pension.

For example: A 65 year-old man living in Britain (or in 50 countries such as the United States, Spain, Germany, Bosnia, Israel etc.) who became eligible for a full pension in 1974 is now receiving a pension of between£60- £70 . If that same individual upon retirement elected, for example, to move to Canada (or any one of 150 countries, including most Commonwealth countries), to be close to his children, he would be still eligible for a pension, but only for the same level of pension paid to him when he left the country, perhaps £10.00/week. The amount of the pension would never have changed. Discrimination has cost one elderly person over£30,000!

As at November 2007, the date of the most recent numbers available, the total numbers of overseas pensioners receiving pensions are:

Frozen

525,260

102 countries (many with less than 1,000 pensioners)

Unfrozen

538,300

43 countries    (some with less than 1,000 pensioners)

Total           

1063,560

  

Numbers were rounded to the nearest 10 by DWP. 

 

That is only a brief summary of the problem - read the information on their web sites to get more details!

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