Post by Banker on Nov 16, 2011 16:30:51 GMT 7
This is to do with British Pensioners living overseas but the same thing could be tried on us.
PHUKET: British expat pensioners in around 120 countries worldwide are coming together in a new push to do something about what they see as disgraceful and unfair treatment by their government.
The Phuket News - Brits battle frozen pensions policy
Peter Wyborn: ‘It’s the principle.’
For reasons that are at best opaque, the British government pays index-linked (or inflation-linked) pensions only in some countries. In Europe, the US and even the Philippines, British pensions climb every year.
But in the other countries – some 120 around the world, including Thailand – the pension never rises.
There are half a million pensioners living in Thailand, Australia and other Commonwealth countries who still receive the same amount as when they retired. For the oldest of them, that’s as long as 40 years ago.
Over the past 20 years various groups have tried to challenge the rules in the courts. Every attempt has failed, including an appeal to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.
Now the half-million pensioners living on locked pensions overseas are being urged to join a new drive for justice, by signing an online petition to the government. If the number of signatories reaches 100,000, there is a chance of getting the matter debated in the British Parliament.
Heading the drive locally is Peter Wyborn, a spry 79-year-old who has lived in Thailand for the past six years or so. He currently has his home in Thai Muang, in Phang Nga, but travels to Phuket every week to shop and play bridge.
Now he is also lobbying for pensioners in the Phuket and nearby provinces to sign the petition.
Mr Wyborn says that he receives a government pension of £560 every four weeks. That’s about B28,000. As long as he chooses to live in Thailand, it will stay at £560 every four weeks. He will never get more.
The founder of an insurance-related company, he has other sources of income, so the money is not a particular worry. “I suspect the money I’ve missed out on [in the past six years compared with index-linked pensions] is not that much. Of course, as the years go by it will have more effect.
“But it’s the principle,” he says.
He points out, “These ‘frozen’ pensioners made the same National Insurance contributions as those living in the UK who get the increases.”
On top of that, pensioners overseas cost the government less – when they get sick they pay for their own treatment and are thus not a drain on the British National Health Service. Indeed, expat pensioners are estimated to save the British government £7 billion (B350 billion) a year in health bills by staying away.
He is incensed by what he sees as the cynical attitude of British politicians who, when in opposition, agree that the situation is disgraceful, but do nothing when they get into power.
Is the government trying to preserve dwindling pension funds? No, says Mr Wyborn. The National Insurance Fund balance stands at over £45 billion (B2.2 trillion) and is growing about £9 billion (B45 billion) a year.
The International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP), which is sponsoring the petition, estimates that index-linking the 526,000 frozen pensions worldwide would cost about £540 million (B27 billion).
The latest push for pension parity is likely to be backed by far more pensioners than before, thanks to three factors: the formation of the ICBP as a lobbying organisation; the passing of the Freedom of Information Act in 2000, allowing access to government papers that had been kept secret until then; and the internet, which allows aggrieved pensioners from countries as far apart as Australia, South Africa and Canada to “get together”.
Mr Wyborn’s message to frozen-pension Brits is simple: visit the ICBP website at pension-parity-uk.com to learn about the sad history of British expat pensions, then go to epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/16387 to sign the petition.
The petition was launched on September 8 and already has 11,000 signatories. It closes on the same date next year.
www.thephuketnews.com/news-local-brits-battle-frozen-pensions-policy-27640.php
PHUKET: British expat pensioners in around 120 countries worldwide are coming together in a new push to do something about what they see as disgraceful and unfair treatment by their government.
The Phuket News - Brits battle frozen pensions policy
Peter Wyborn: ‘It’s the principle.’
For reasons that are at best opaque, the British government pays index-linked (or inflation-linked) pensions only in some countries. In Europe, the US and even the Philippines, British pensions climb every year.
But in the other countries – some 120 around the world, including Thailand – the pension never rises.
There are half a million pensioners living in Thailand, Australia and other Commonwealth countries who still receive the same amount as when they retired. For the oldest of them, that’s as long as 40 years ago.
Over the past 20 years various groups have tried to challenge the rules in the courts. Every attempt has failed, including an appeal to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.
Now the half-million pensioners living on locked pensions overseas are being urged to join a new drive for justice, by signing an online petition to the government. If the number of signatories reaches 100,000, there is a chance of getting the matter debated in the British Parliament.
Heading the drive locally is Peter Wyborn, a spry 79-year-old who has lived in Thailand for the past six years or so. He currently has his home in Thai Muang, in Phang Nga, but travels to Phuket every week to shop and play bridge.
Now he is also lobbying for pensioners in the Phuket and nearby provinces to sign the petition.
Mr Wyborn says that he receives a government pension of £560 every four weeks. That’s about B28,000. As long as he chooses to live in Thailand, it will stay at £560 every four weeks. He will never get more.
The founder of an insurance-related company, he has other sources of income, so the money is not a particular worry. “I suspect the money I’ve missed out on [in the past six years compared with index-linked pensions] is not that much. Of course, as the years go by it will have more effect.
“But it’s the principle,” he says.
He points out, “These ‘frozen’ pensioners made the same National Insurance contributions as those living in the UK who get the increases.”
On top of that, pensioners overseas cost the government less – when they get sick they pay for their own treatment and are thus not a drain on the British National Health Service. Indeed, expat pensioners are estimated to save the British government £7 billion (B350 billion) a year in health bills by staying away.
He is incensed by what he sees as the cynical attitude of British politicians who, when in opposition, agree that the situation is disgraceful, but do nothing when they get into power.
Is the government trying to preserve dwindling pension funds? No, says Mr Wyborn. The National Insurance Fund balance stands at over £45 billion (B2.2 trillion) and is growing about £9 billion (B45 billion) a year.
The International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP), which is sponsoring the petition, estimates that index-linking the 526,000 frozen pensions worldwide would cost about £540 million (B27 billion).
The latest push for pension parity is likely to be backed by far more pensioners than before, thanks to three factors: the formation of the ICBP as a lobbying organisation; the passing of the Freedom of Information Act in 2000, allowing access to government papers that had been kept secret until then; and the internet, which allows aggrieved pensioners from countries as far apart as Australia, South Africa and Canada to “get together”.
Mr Wyborn’s message to frozen-pension Brits is simple: visit the ICBP website at pension-parity-uk.com to learn about the sad history of British expat pensions, then go to epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/16387 to sign the petition.
The petition was launched on September 8 and already has 11,000 signatories. It closes on the same date next year.
www.thephuketnews.com/news-local-brits-battle-frozen-pensions-policy-27640.php
