BRITISH “RETIREES” BEWARE

For  those  who  have  traveled, the idea of going to live in the same Country as your family also comes to the fore.

The thought of being able to see one’s family on a much more regular basis is very attractive.

BEWARE.  Just where  are  they living?
Are they in the European Union, Canada,  Australia,  the  U.S.A, South Africa,  the Philippines, here in  Thailand,  or  some  other  exotic location?

Now you are  just about  to find out about  the most  iniquitous plan ever  devised  by  a British Government.

Many  of  the  places  you  pick will  cause  your  hard earned  pension to be frozen when you become an ExPat Retiree.

That means  from  the  date  you resettle until Doomsday your Pension will never increase.

UNFAIR? Of  course  it  is. You have worked hard all your life and you have paid your dues along with every  other  right minded  citizen and now you  are being denied  the right to receive the same benefits as your fellow Pensioners.

This case has been taken to the European Court of Human Rights, and  it  is  a disgrace  that  they have sided with  the British Government although  the  Polish  President  of the Chamber was a very dissenting voice.

He actually  stated  that,  and  I quote,  “Considerations  of  social justice and equity  require  that persons who have duly contributed towards the pensions of others should not  be  treated  differently  in  the subsequent calculation of their own pensions.”

The Australian Minister,  Jenny Macklin, said that more than half of the 525,000 British pensioners  living in Australia are penalized by the frozen Pensions policy.

She  added,  “The  Australian Government believes that the UK’s policy is discriminatory, even if the Court found it technically lawful.

Note those two words:
DISCRIMINATORY & TECHNICALLY. Morally,  the UK Government has not got a  leg  to  stand on.
Recently, morality did influence the UK to take the clearly right decision in the case of the Ghurkhas. Hopefully  it  can  come  into  play again  for  others  who  have  served their  homeland  well  over  many years;  and  this  includes  the many members of  the armed  forces who are  retired  on  disgraceful  amounts of  pensions.  Is  it  once  again  the case  that  to  be  British  born  and bred means  that  you  are  a  second class citizen whilst those migrating to the UK’s shores who have NOT contributed a penny to the funds are given handouts willy-nilly?

If those handouts had been frozen, as  they should have  long ago, there  would  be  vast  amounts  of money  in  the coffers  to more  than compensate for the payment of the increases.

Do Civil Servants, Local Government  Officers  and  MPs  have their  pensions  frozen  if  they  live abroad  in  one  of  the many Countries where  this policy applies?    If this is NOT so, may I point out that it  was  our  taxes  that  contributed significantly  to  their  pensions  and we are being denied the same rights as them.

Further, I have a series of quotes to  sum  up  the  whole  situation. Please do not laugh at the ones by UK spokes persons.
1. According to the D.S.S. letter dated  the  31.10.2000  the National Insurance Act  came  into  being  in 1946  and  at  that  time  sufficient funds had not been accumulated to finance the State pension and it was decided that pensions to people living outside of  the UK should have their pensions frozen but there was a clause inserted into the act to the effect  that  when  people  had  paid sufficient  funds,  their  pensions should  be  unfrozen.  The  Funds will  be  in  credit  to  the  tune  of £56,947,000,000 by  the end of  the 2008/10  period.  So, why  are  they still  frozen  and why  don’t we  get our pensions in full?

2.  If your pension  increase depends  on which  country  you  emigrated to, then of course the policy is  discriminatory  and  the  Court’s decision  should  have  recognized that fact.

3.  The  British  Labor  Government  continues  to  tell  the  voters that “Fairness is in our DNA” (Gordon Brown 2008).   HA! HA!

4.  “Our  commitment  to  fairness  isn’t  opportunistic  or  half hearted.  It’s deep,  real and backed up by action” – Yvette Cooper MP, Chief Secretary  to  the Treasury,  in an  email  to Labor Party members, dated September 2008.     HA! HA! HA!

Finally, may  I  present  an  interpretation  of  the  four  comments made by Lech Garlicki, President of the Court?
1.  Since  all  pensioners  are forced  to  contribute  to  the  pension  arrangement,  then  all  should receive  the  same pension  independent of residences.

2. Inflation happens in all countries so there should be equal treatment for inflation in all countries.

3. As was observed by  the domestic authorities,  it would be difficult  “to  defend  the  logic  of  the present situation”.

4. A violation  that  results  from legislative omissions in the UK like this is still within the reach of European supervision.

Note  those  two  comments, numbers three and four.
The case that has just been lost has been given right to appeal. Now is the time for any right minded UK Citizen  to  petition  their  MP  and The Media  to  right  this wrong before more  of  us  fall  into  this  trap. Did you also know that after ninety days out of the UK you also lose the rights  to  the NHS and can only be treated as an emergency when visiting the UK; another case where we have  paid  our  dues  and  then  have our rights denied.

This  applies  to  many  areas  in the world.

Last  of  all,  when  they  finally concede the moral right, will we get all the back pay due to us?

Les Edmonds, Frozen  British  ExPat  in  Thailand Editor’s note.
This article has been sent to several UK National Newspapers  and it will be interesting to see just how many of  them bother  to publish  it, or investigate it further.

It has also been sent to Andrew Dismore MP, who is a champion of Human Rights and was also the MP for  Les’  old Constituency  in  London.

Les is active within the ExPats Community with  regard  to  contributions and help for the many charities they support.

Les, and his wife, Judith, have a special place in their hearts for the Mercy Centre and have given whole  heartedly,  finance  and goods,  days  out  and  meal  provisions for the children.