Mosha
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Post by Mosha on Nov 28, 2024 7:08:18 GMT 7
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siampolee
Detective
Alive alive O
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Post by siampolee on Nov 28, 2024 14:43:53 GMT 7
Here is an unrestricted reading version from the DT.
Revealed: Labour’s true bill for unfreezing pensions
Charlotte Gifford
Tue, November 26, 2024 at 1:00 PM GMT+7hrs. 3 min read
Successive governments have ignored campaigners’ calls to end the frozen pensions scandal
Ending the frozen pensions scandal would cost far less than the Government previously estimated, according to new figures.
Nearly half a million retired expats are missing out on thousands of pounds a year because their state pension was frozen on the day they left the country.
The Government has struck deals with some countries to ensure pensioners living overseas are protected from inflation. But in the rest of the world, including countries like Canada and Australia, there is no treaty, with retirees left to pay the price.
Successive governments have ignored campaigners’ calls to uprate the pensions in part because of cost constraints.
Figures published by the Government in 2023 suggest that the bill would be £930m in 2025-26, rising to £4.6bn over a five-year period.
However, new statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions suggest that resolving this issue would in fact only cost £55m in 2025-26.
This is because the previously published figures reflect the cost of lifting the frozen state pensions “to the level they would have been if they had never been frozen”, whereas the new figures estimate the cost of applying this year’s 4.1pc triple lock increase to the frozen pensions.
The End Frozen Pensions Campaign, which obtained the calculations via a Freedom of Information request, accused the Government of misrepresenting the true cost of resolving the issue.
John Duguid, chair of the campaign, said: “For decades, successive governments have said ending this injustice would cost almost £1bn and increase annually. They have willfully and persistently misrepresented what we are asking for.
“Their billions figure would be right if we were asking for a full uprating of everyone’s pension retrospectively. But we’re not asking for that.
“We are simply asking that they do what they have always done when unfreezing a country – going forward the ‘freeze’ is ended, and all UK state pensioners get the annual increase on their current pension irrespective of where they live.”
Ordinarily, the state pension would rise every year in line with the triple lock pledge, by the highest of 2.5pc, inflation or wage growth.
Anne Puckridge, a 99-year-old veteran, estimates she has lost £50,000 in state pension income since she moved to Canada in 2001 to be closer to her daughter.
She is travelling to the UK in the first week of December and has challenged the Prime Minister to meet with her to discuss the issue.
She said: “I can’t understand how so many governments have let it go on for so long. I can’t understand the injustice of it. It’s stripped us, and I’m talking for thousands of people, of all dignity and quality of life.”
A government spokesman said: “These figures highlight the cost of a partial uprating only and to fully uprate them would cost nearly £1bn.
“We understand people move abroad for many reasons, and we provide clear information on how this can impact their finances in retirement – with the policy on the uprating of the UK State Pension for recipients living overseas a longstanding one.”
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Jan 4, 2023 21:15:53 GMT 7
Jan 4, 2023 21:15:53 GMT 7
