Fresh attack on Britain over expat pensions

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Fresh attack on Britain over expat pensions

By Ava Hubble in Sydney, the Telegraph.co.uk

October 13, 2003

A fresh attack on the British Government's refusal to index-link expatriates' pensions was made last week by the new Australian minister for family and community affairs.

Within hours of being sworn in, Senator Kay Patterson issued a statement condemning Britain for stubbornly ignoring her government's repeated requests for a policy change.

"The British Government has refused to accept its responsibilities to the 226,000 UK pensioners living in Australia," she complained. "This is not fair. It is unacceptable for Britain to expect the Australian tax payer to pick up the bill."

It currently costs Australia $A100 million a year to support expatriates who cannot survive on frozen UK pensions.

Senator Patterson issued her statement as UK pensioner organisations around the world wait to hear if the House of Lords will consent to hear an appeal for pension parity by the South Africa-based expat Mrs. Annette Carson.

As a result of the present policy, Britons who retire to 48, mainly Commonwealth, countries have their pensions frozen at the UK rate in force at the date they emigrate (or reach pensionable age after emigration). Yet Britons who retire to EU nations, the USA, Israel, Turkey and several other countries maintain parity with UK-based pensioners.

Senator Patterson has stressed that nearly half of the 480,000 adversely affected expatriates live in Australia. The annual cost of providing support to the most needy of these retirees is expected to rise because of the increasing value of the Australian dollar against Sterling. In little more than a year it has risen from 36p to 41p.

One expat, Mrs Vee Hill, 83, explains that her frozen pension of £161.28 a month, which was worth $A457 in August last year, is currently worth only $A386. Consequently, the purchasing power of her pension has been cut, in the space of a year, by about $A70 a month.

Mrs Hill, a widow and a member of the British Pensioners in Australia organization, paid into the UK national insurance fund throughout a long working life. Yet her British pension has been frozen for l8 years at the UK rate in force when she retired to Sydney.

Mrs Hill came to Australia to join her two children who had settled in Sydney. She is not entitled to a severely means-tested supplementary Australian pension because of dividends she receives from investments.

She concedes she is relatively lucky. Other frozen pensioners who have suffered investment losses have become dependent on Australian social service payments.

Loss of dignity is one of the depressing consequence. Australians tend to refer to those who become reliant on the taxpayer as "dole bludgers" (spongers). About 160,000 British frozen pensioners currently receive a means-tested Australian part-pension.

In her statement, Senator Patterson said: "Australia is not asking the UK for a special deal. We do not want to be treated differently.

"All we ask the British Government is to treat its pensioners living in Australia in the same way it looks after the 420,000 UK pensioners who also live outside of Britain and receive indexed pensions."

She says she will continue to push Australia's case strongly that the British Government's policy is discriminatory and unfair.

Senator Patterson replaces the equally outspoken Senator Amanda Vanstone, who has taken over the portfolio of immigration, multi-cultural and indigenous affairs.