17th Mar 10
Expats lose fight over equal pensions
by Paul Russell
British Expats have been refused the right to be given the same pensions as those living in the UK.
In a long running battle for equal rights abroad, judges in Strasbourg deemed that by denying index-linked state pension rises to the 500,000 retirees who have settled in another country did not breach any human rights.
The largest pensioner organisation, the National Pensioners Convention, described the ruling as shameful and morally unjust.
NPC general secretary Dot Gibson said that about 500,000 UK pensioners who have spent years paying national insurance contributions had been hoping to see some justice, however have been severely let down by the European Court of Human Rights.
She went on to say that it was shameful and morally unjust that you could pay a lifetime into a state pension, but the Government didn’t have to increase that pension every year if you retire to Canada, but if they would if you lived in America.
Following the verdict, John Markham, director of UK parliamentary affairs for the International Consortium of British Pensioners which supported the case said the ruling was completely indefensible and would leave 500,000 pensioners facing the possibility of destitution.
If the ruling had been in favour of the pensioners, a significant rise for over 500,000 retired expatriates whose UK state pensions are currently frozen, including 220,000 in Australia and 151,000 in Canada would have taken place.
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