State pension warning – 500,000 Britons miss out on benefit increase

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While the state pension will receive a 10.1 percent boost, over 500,000 people are set to miss out on any rise at all. State pension increases are only permitted if a person lives in certain places.

Expats who reside in certain countries see their state pension payments frozen instead of receiving the same increases that those living in the UK get.

Affected individuals are commonly known as “frozen pensioners” due to the fact their state pension is frozen at the rate it was when they left an eligible country.

Despite these UK pensioners having worked and paid taxes all their life, they will only get payments valued at their retirement date or date of emigration.

The state pension only increases each year if a person lives in: the UK, the European Economic Area (EEA), Gibraltar, Switzerland, and countries with a social security agreement with the UK – but not Canada or New Zealand.

Those on the full new state pension will see their payments increased to £203.85 a week or £10,600.20 a year.

Conversely, older people on the full basic state pension will be getting around £156 a week or £8,100 for the year.

State pension increases will be implemented later this year, with the rise being applied on April 10, 2023.

Despite this, those living abroad are still set to miss out despite this being the first time the state pension has exceeded £10,000 a year.

Anyone who is an older expat residing in specific countries, such as Australia and Canada, will not be awarded a triple lock increase.

This leads to many British pensioners living worse-off as a result and being left behind by the social security system.

This is despite the fact that these same people may have worked in the UK most of their lives, paid taxes and made National Insurance contributions.

The UK also has social security agreements with certain countries, sometimes known as “reciprocal” or “bilateral” agreements.

If a person lives in one of the following countries and receives a UK state pension, they can also usually get an increase each year:

  • Barbados
  • Bermuda
  • Bosnia-Herzegovina
  • Gibraltar
  • Guernsey
  • Isle of Man
  • Israel
  • Jamaica
  • Jersey
  • Kosovo
  • Mauritius
  • Montenegro
  • North Macedonia
  • Philippines
  • Serbia
  • Turkey
  • USA.

If an expat’s current country of residence is not on this list, this means they will not see their pensions go up in line with the triple lock.

According to the End Frozen Pensions Campaign, 492,000 older people are impacted by this policy.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Frozen British Pensions states more than 90 percent of those affected live in Commonwealth countries with close ties to the UK.

The group has argued the current policy is “unjust” and should be reexamined by the Government.

A DWP spokesperson previously told Express.co.uk: “We understand that people move abroad for many reasons and that this can impact on their finances. There is information on GOV.UK about what the effect of going abroad will be on entitlement to the UK state pension.

“The Government’s policy on the uprating of the UK state pension for recipients living overseas is a longstanding one of more than 70 years. We continue to uprate state pensions overseas where there is a legal requirement to do so.”

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