Pattaya Brits Left Frozen

Most of you are now aware that living in certain countries, including this wonderful one we are in, means your State Pension is frozen, so for the rest of our lives it will never increase.

Mean spirited British Governments over the years, of all political persuasions, have seen fit to penalise those of us who have made our own choice of where to retire. That choice should not be predicated by financial restrictions. The fact we are struggling caused in part by this unfair posturing , has caused successive governments to show they care by crying crocodile tears.

They have made statements, hypocritical by most standards, but in particular, from Gordon Brown, "Fairness is in our DNA" and "Our commitment to fairness isn't opportunistic or half-hearted. It's deep, real and backed up by action" from Yvette Cooper MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Most Americans are appalled at the treatment meted out to British pensioners as no matter where they live in the world their pensions are given a cost of living increment. Australia has two types of pensions: one you and your employer pay into a scheme and this can be taken anywhere in the world either as a pension or as an annuity purchase.

The second is the government pension if you are on a lower incomes; all employers must, by law, pay into this scheme which is similar to the US 401k scheme. This also can be taken anywhere and it is index linked.

The Norwegian government will pay all the medical costs for their ex-pats as we know from a friend of ours.

What does the UK do: it has paid around GBP12 billion to shore up the Euro to which we do not belong to fund ailing Countries like Greece that has more public holidays, overpaid public sector workers and medical care in excess of any other EU Country.

That money would more than pay the pension increments to ALL UK pensioners and instead of a heating allowance for the cold, we could get the ฃ200 as a cooling allowance to help pay for our air conditioning.

Prime Ministers of other countries, including Australia and Canada have all called for the British Government to give parity to all pensioners. The Australian Minister, Jenny Macklin, said that more than half of the 525,000 British pensioners living there are penalized by this restriction.

In the meantime it is nice to know that when you land on British soil as an ex-pat from wherever you came you can ask for money to live, accommodation, transport, health care and a multitude of other benefits without ever having paid anything into the system.

Try doing this in France or Germany and you will get very short shrift. No wonder all and sundry queue up at the Channel tunnel to get to the UK. Dick Whittington said the streets of London were paved with gold.....but today, only if you are not British.

Another significant point to be made about expats abroad is they are not a drain on any of the home based social services such as health care. By being absent we are in fact contributing by not drawing valuable resources from others. On our "fixed" pensions many of us are paying 20,000 baht to purchase services we would get free if we were living back home. Many other Countries either pay all their ex-pats costs or subsidise them. If the British Government was more selective and fair about who qualified for benefits maybe they could do the same for those who have, without missing a beat, paid into the system for 40 plus years.

We also forgo free travel passes, disabled parking and many more small perks of being retired at home. These add up and contribute to the system too.

But not everyone is being honest. Many pensioners are "living" in Thailand under false pretences, claiming an address in the UK that may be their parents, brothers, sisters, aunts or uncles and in some cases even friends. But beware, "Big Brother" is watching you. In this computerised age it is very easy to check on people leaving and returning to the UK, so you can be spied upon to confirm the truth. We are all in favour of this because from our perspective all we are asking for is fairness and those who misuse the system should be heavily penalized. Basically these people are committing fraud and their home based accomplices are aiding and abetting. At the very least you will be told to repay the money that you have illegally gained, but as yet no one has been convicted of a crime. But then, going to prison could be very beneficial because you get all the benefits that otherwise you could be denied by living overseas.

Free accommodation, access to showers, hobbies and walks, unlimited free prescriptions,dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc. and they'd receive money instead of paying it out. Bedding would be washed twice a week and all clothing would be washed, ironed and returned to them. They could have family visits in a suite set aside for it. Access to a library, weight room, spiritual guidance, pool and education.

O.K. A bit tongue in cheek, but that is the stupidity of a system that treats criminals better than its honest Senior Citizens.

How about preaching in the streets inciting violence and racial hatred.... you can get over ฃ25, 000 p.a. in benefits doing that, without having paid anything into the system, whilst a pensioner, who has paid into the system for his or her whole working life, struggles along on roughly ฃ8,000 per annum and, if they have a little extra pension, they then get taxed on that extra.

The Court of Human Rights has decided twice in its wisdom that the ex-pat pensioner living in a Country where their pension is frozen is not discriminated against. Just where do these people keep their commonsense but then what can be expected from political appointments.

Whatever courts may say, our government has a moral right to do the right thing and not to hide behind technicalities in avoiding correcting an unjust situation.

According to a D.S.S letter dated 31.10.2000 the National Insurance Act came into force in 1946 and at that time there were insufficient funds to finance the State pension so it was decided that people living outside of the UK should have their pensions frozen. However a clause was inserted into the Act to change this when the pension pool was able to pay normal, unfrozen pensions to people living overseas. It has often been quoted that the pool will be in credit to the tune of over half a billion pounds by the end of the year 2010. So, why are they still frozen and why don't we get our pensions in full? Simple. Because government is allowed to use accounting practices which would land you and me in jail. They borrow from Peter to pay Paul and ignore the fact that by doing so, they are impacting the rights of their overseas pensioners.

The President at the first Human Rights Court made the comment, "Since all pensioners are forced to contribute to the pension arrangement, then all should receive the same pension independent of place of residence." It was also observed by the domestic authorities that it would be "difficult to defend the logic of the present situation."

The fight is continuing: other avenues are being explored by Australian, Canadian and South African pension groups.

What we need now is a coordinated and concerted move by all pensioners in Thailand. This should take the form of our own pensioners organization to ally with the other groups and bring pressure to bear in whatever way we can. We will need funding, there's no such thing as a free lunch, so if you feel strongly about this situation and are prepared to take some action please join with us in starting our own Thailand British Pensioners organization.

At the moment we have roughly ten interested parties, but we need more, not only those who are retired, but those close to retirement. Come on, help us carry the fight forward.