THE INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM OF BRITISH PENSIONERS
Retirement should be all about doing the things that make life worthwhile, not walking hand in hand with poverty…..
…and not having to exist on a frozen UK State Pension……
PETITION TO THE CANADIAN HOUSE OF COMMONS – 19 April 2023
On the day of the CABP drop-in event at the House of Commons in Canada, MP Gord Johns presents a petition to unfreeze pensions for UK pensioners living in Canada…
ORGANISATIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT – FEBRUARY 2023
Towards the end of last year, we are sorry to report that the ICBP Chairman, John Duffy had to resign from the post due to ill health. We all wish him the very best in his recovery.
So, earlier this year, the former Chair of ICBP, Sheila Telford, already a board member of ICBP and a long time campaigner for our cause agreed to take over the Chair again and lead the organisation forward towards our declared goal of having British pensions unfrozen all over the world.
Sheila will be issuing periodic updates via a newsletter and if you would like your name to be added to the list of recipients she can be contacted at chair@pensionsjustice.org.
Please note that there is a website that ICBP used to own (www.pensionsjustice.org), that sells financial instruments. However, we lost control of this website last year and purchased a new one that has a very similar name – www.pensionsjustice.org,(note that “pensions” is in the plural) so it would be easier to remember, please click on the new website name and bookmark our new site, and welcome to it…..All of the old website “content” was converted successfully to the new one…..
ICBP Chair: Sheila Telford
British expats in Thailand warm to the idea of unfreezing their old age pensions
“This is hugely disappointing news for thousands of British pensioners in Canada and completely undermines the UK Government’s own position on these frozen pensions. “These pensioners deserve answers and that’s why I have written to the Work and Pensions Secretary. “At the very least, she needs to explain what on earth the Government is thinking, but really she needs to go further and reopen the dialogue with the Canadian Government.”
Most British Citizens overseas retain deep ties to the United Kingdom. Many still have family here, some will return here, others are drawing a British pension after a lifetime of hard work and some have fought for our country. Given these strong links, British expats have a right to influence decisions on foreign policy, trade and many other issues that directly affect their lives. Now we have left the EU, it is more important than ever to strengthen the UK’s ties with the British Expat Community”
– Boris Johnson, 18 February 2020
UK Government turns down Canadian Government's request for bilateral agreement......
‘Callous’ ‘disgraceful’ ‘staggering betrayal’ ‘not all pensioners are viewed equally’ ‘wash their hands of those who served their country’ 
‘tried and tired excuse’ ‘turn their backs’ ‘closest and most important allies – betrayed’
‘morally wrong’ ‘scandal of frozen pensions’
YOUR VOICE IN PARLIAMENT
“It is cruel and unjust to deny to half a million UK pensioners overseas the full UK state pension that they paid into during their working lives. Canada has offered a potential route to ending this injustice. The UK should welcome this opportunity to right a historic wrong and ensure every pensioner receives the full state pension they are morally entitled to regardless of where they live”
– Sir Roger Gale, Chair, All Party Parliamentary Group for Frozen British Pensions
ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP ON FROZEN PENSIONS (APPG)
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Frozen British Pensions is pleased to announce the release of the report from its 2020 Inquiry, revealing the Governments of Canada and Australia are ready and willing to work with the UK to end the ‘frozen’ pension policy, and have been calling on the UK Government to do so for many years.
– APPG 2020 Inquiry
The report also exposes the financial impact of the ‘frozen’ pension policy on UK pensioners overseas, finding that:
- 1 in 2 ‘frozen’ pensioners receive a UK state pension of £65 per week or less
- Over half struggle financially because of their frozen pension
- Almost 90% of ‘frozen’ pensioners were not informed that their pension would be frozen before they left the UK
As a result of this inquiry, the APPG recommends that the UK Government end the ‘frozen’ pension policy and seek to provide UK pensioners living in ‘frozen’ countries with their full uprated UK state pension as soon as possible.
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Sir Roger Gale, MP
APPG Chair
“There is no requirement upon the Government of the United Kingdom to enter into any “reciprocal agreement” with another country before honouring its obligation to pay the full and uprated State pension to any UK citizen who has paid the requisite National Insurance contributions upon which State pensions are based. As the Chairman of the APPG on Frozen Pensions I regard it as a disgrace and a matter of national shame that the United Kingdom has for so long denied to elderly citizens, very many of whom have proudly served our country in the Armed Forces or the Civil Service, the funds that they need to live on in old age and, sadly, sometimes in ill-health. It is past time for this injustice to be addressed and the wrong of decades righted”.
I returned to St Lucia to care for my ailing mother after the death [of] my father, when it became clear that she could not care for herself. She too lived and work[ed] in the UK from 1959 to 1990. Her pension was meagre to say the least. I joined my parent in 1964, I had no choice but [to return] to St Lucia in 2008 to care for my mother. With the falling £ rate it became increasingly difficult financially as mother deteriorate[d].
Chris Elmore (Lab): To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government of Canada has made representations to the Government on negotiating a reciprocal social security agreement that covers the uprating of pensions. Guy Opperman (DWP): The Department has recently received representations from the Government of Canada to negotiate a reciprocal social security agreement covering the uprating of pensions.
Letters from Winston S Churchill in 1993 denigrating the Government’s position on Frozen Pensions
75th ANNIVERSARY OF VJ DAY
15-Aug-20: The Express – Nursing WW2 Veteran, 99, pens letter to Boris urging him to act over pensions poverty
16-Aug-20: Sunday Express – Save heroes from pension poverty pleads nursing
“In your VE Day remarks, you pledged that all World War Two veterans would be remembered. On behalf of the thousands of military veterans who served our nation during times of need, I urge you to honour that promise and to end the injustice of frozen pensions without delay. Thank you for reading my message. At 99 I can’t believe I’m writing to 10 Downing St, but it’s important”
OUR ORGANISATION
International Consortium of British Pensioners
Chair: Sheila Telford
Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners (CABP)
Chair: Ian Andexser
All Party Parliamentary Group on Frozen British Pensions (APPG)
Chair: Sir Roger Gale, MP
Bringing together parliamentary supporters of the case to unfreeze British state pensions overseas and to campaign for reform.”
BCPA, BPiA, the CABP, the ICBP and the APPG believe that all UK state pensioners – no matter where they choose to retire overseas – ought to be paid the pension that they have contributed towards and are rightfully entitled to receive. Help us fight this battle as every voice helps!