UK ex-pat pensioners lose out in ruling
The European Court of Human Rights has upheld a British ruling that the United Kingdom does not have to inflation index-link the pensions of the estimated 250,000 British ex-pat pensioners living in Australia.
Unlike British pensioners living in the European Union where an agreement is already in place whereby pensions are up-rated through an index-linked reciprocal bilateral agreement, no such arrangement exists in countries like Australia, Canada and South Africa.
The UK government argued that British pensioners living overseas were not contributing to the national economy and were now living in quite different economic conditions — where the cost of living was in most cases lower — and therefore were not entitled to index-linked pensions.
The court’s decision is a response to an application brought by 13 British nationals who claimed they were the victims of “discrimination” as British pensioners by being treated differently depending on their country of residence.
As the ruling stands, British pensioners living in a country with no reciprocal index-linked agreement with the UK have their basic state pension frozen at the rate payable on the date they left the UK.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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