Anne Puckridge is no stranger to tough challenges, having helped defeat the Nazi’s by breaking codes during the Second World War.
Anne Puckridge – Frozen pension payments case study (Image: End Frozen Pensions Campaign Group)
Now, approaching her 100th birthday, she is taking aim at Sir Keir Starmer to end the “Frozen Pensions” scandal.
Ms Puckridge is among almost half a million retired Britons living overseas whose state pensions do not rise with inflation.
Their weekly payments were frozen on the day they left the country, meaning many are missing out on thousands of pounds a year compared with their domestic counterparts.
The decades-long policy means they get less than half the amount of those living in this country.
Some of these pensioners live in poverty while many others are struggling to get by.
Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
“This policy is unbelievable for a country that calls itself Great Britain, it is draconian,” she told the Express from her home in Calgary, Canada.
“We have all paid our dues and it makes us very, very angry. People are suffering.”
Her rallying cry comes as campaigners launch a new petition on Change.org – Frozen pensions petition – calling on the government to end the injustice.
It urges Sir Keir – who is already facing the wrath of pensioners for cruelly snatching away the winter fuel payment – to meet with the war veteran when she travels to the UK in December, just days before her 100th birthday.
And Ms Puckridge, who served in all three branches of the Armed Forces, has the Prime Minister firmly in her crosshairs.
“If I get to meet him I will ask; how can Britain treat its pensioners so badly? “It is discrimination and leaves many people in a desperate situation. It is a crime.”
Labour promised to uprate pensions for British expats living overseas in its 2019 general election manifesto but didn’t include the pledge this time around.
There are 150 countries where British expats have their state pension ‘frozen’ (Image: End frozen pensions campaign)
The policy has been left unchanged by successive governments for around 70 years.
In 1955, British state pensions became payable anywhere in the world – but were not inflation-linked.
Reciprocal arrangements with only certain countries to uprate pension payments have been made in the ensuing decades.
But there are still around 150 countries where there is no agreement, including many Commonwealth nations like Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
Campaigners argue the cost of changing the policy would be around £300 million over five years and just £50 million in the first year as it would start from the day any deal was signed, rather than being backdated.
The basic state pension is now worth £169.50 per week.
End Frozen Pensions campaigners say this means the 40% of all British pensioners living outside the UK who are hit by the policy are losing out on £3,085.16 a year if they retired in 2013 and up to £7,042.36 a year if they retired in 1983.
Ms Puckridge, who lived and worked in the UK until she was 76, believes she has lost out on an estimated £60,000 since moving to Canada in 2001.
Tory MP Sir Roger Gale, the former chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Frozen British Pensions said: “This iniquitous policy has been a running sore for successive governments whether it is the Conservatives, Labour or the Coalition.
“It is totally unjust for almost half a million people.”
MP Andrew Rosindell who is campaigning for an extra Bank Holiday (Image: Chronicle)
Fellow Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell, a previous member of the APPG, said: “This is a matter of basic fairness.
“British citizens who have worked hard, paid their taxes, and contributed to our country should receive the same benefits as any other Briton, no matter where they choose to live in retirement. The current policy, which leaves pensioners in certain countries without the yearly uprating of their pensions, is unjust and must be brought to an end.
“We cannot allow this unfair treatment to continue.
“They are not asking for anything unreasonable, only that their pensions are uprated in line with other pensioners.
“This is not about retrospective payments or compensation for the years they have missed out on, but about ensuring that they are treated fairly moving forward.
“It’s time the government addressed this issue and ensured that all British pensioners, wherever they live, receive the full and fair pension they deserve.”
Campaigners estimate that a permanent resolution to the issue would cost less than 1% of the total state pension budget, at around £50 million in the first year.
A Government spokesperson said: “We understand that people move abroad for many reasons, and we provide clear information on gov.uk about how this can impact their finances in retirement.
“The International Pension Centre is a source of advice for people who are already retired.
“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 and we continue to uprate state pensions overseas where there is a legal requirement to do so.”
