British ex-pats fight for pension rights

The decision by the British Government to essentially selectively "freeze" the pensions of those residing in Canada and other Commonwealth countries is both totally unfair and outrageous. Why should British Pensioners residing in Canada be excluded from cost of living adjustment when they have (a) contributed to the pension plan on the same basis as all other pensioners and (b) those pensioners resident in the USA and elsewhere in the world receive annual cost of living increases? and finally (c) there is reported to be a massive surplus in the British Pension funds? This situation is indefensible and I hope the European Courts agree!

Are Canadian living in the UK receiving the full CPP including indexing?

This is just par for the course, the UK has been waging war against its people for years now. They have closed down thousands of pubs, banned the St. George flag, have sharia courts up and down the country, military gives their soldiers old crap, brought in thousands of cheap foreign labour, and when the soldiers do come home they allow ethnics to hold up signs calling the soldiers butchers and that Islam will rule Britain.

Thank your lucky stars if your family immigrated to Canada from England, I do!

(EU courts? look up the Lisbon Treaty Mr. Gooding, within 50 years we will see Brits coming here seeking asylum)

Yes, CPP is paid in full.

And how many of you are paying tax on your british pension? My mother didn't and decided to claim it as she did't want her children to pay after her death. She had to pay the canadian government $10,000 in back taxes. You are out there and you know who you are. Don't think the government won't catch up with you, because they will.....

England has been very good to my Mum who left England, her birth country taking up residence and a carreer in Canada at age 20; she is now 82. As she had worked in England for a few years in 1940's, when my Dad passed away in 1985, my Mum was advised by a relative in England that my Mum's few years of working in England 45 years earlier would make her eligible for a pension!

My Mum had no difficulty being acknowledged as entitled even though she had taken Canadian citizenship 20 years earlierin the 1960's!

I agree status should be the same regardless of where one retires but England has been very good to our family and my Mum so I believe they must make the decisions based on what is feasible for England's economy and resident citizens first. I remain grateful for any assistence my Mum gets and she has always had the same opinion.

JM (Toronto)

My 92 year old mum is one of those receiving a non-indexed UK pension in Canada. I hope she lives to see a positive resolution to this situation.

Unfortunately, both her parents were in the same situation coming to Canada. They received a non-indexed UK pension. Too late for them.

We look forward to the eventual decision in this legal matter. And if the outlook is in the ex-pats favour and backdated; that would be wonderful!

Remeber it was the Canadian Gov't fault for this as they didn't sign the agreement to get indexed pensions for UK pensioners in Canada. They thought because we were part of the commonwealth that we didn't have to sign, guess what they were wrong.

I know my grandad was one of these people fighting for an indexed pension but it is unfortunately too late for him. I agree it is not fair if some people are getting indexed pensions and others aren't. They all paid in to the same plan so should they not all get treated equally.

Good luck because all these people deserve to be at the same rate no matter were you live.

This affects me directly. I live in Canada and will begin receiving my British pension in January 2010.

As a young person who is paying for these pensions and will receive a government pension at retirement age I have a hard time feeling sorry for these spoiled people. Sorry, suck it up.

Suck it up? I'd like to figure out how my father was spoiled! My dad recently died at 88 years old. He fought for Britain in Europe, the Middle East and after 1945, in Palestine and was wounded three times. He was never in his life was unemployed, and before coming to Canada at 55, paid up what he would have owed for his pension to 65. After he retired at 65, he spent the rest of his life subsidizing his family in England and helping his older sister who didn't have much. His pension stayed the same from 1986 until this year. He never bought anything for himself, unless it was from a thrift store and saved his money all year to help family members in England. He was also a single father and brought up two children on his own at a time when it was a very difficult thing to do. My father paid for his pension entitlement in full and as such, should be eligible for the same entitlement as everyone else, in England or not! Your remarks are highly insulting and my wonderful dad was worth 50 of someone like you.

Oh Steve,

I hope I am around when you hit retirement age and wonder where your pension is. We have all paid into the pension system. I am supporting pensioners now, you will be supporting my pension. I hope the babies of today have a better attitude than you or you will be a very unhappy person.

My mother receives a pension from England which was frozen in 1989 when she came to Canada. But, she has never worked in Canada and after being here for 10 years she gets old age security pension from the Canadian government. I don't imagine the US government does that for its senior's who have never worked in the country.

It really makes you wonder why the British government discriminates against its own people so badly and why they are so anxious to flood Britain with turd world scum.

http://www.muslimscum.com

The poor Brits get ripped off left and right by their government and its horrendous taxes. A ridiculous - but telling - example is gasoline and Rimmel mascara. I pay $5.75CAD for Rimmel mascara here in Canada - less than £3. In England - where it is MANUFACTURED, they charge £5.55 for the identical item. Gasoline is DOUBLE over there - £1.05 a litre compared to $0.99 a litre here in Canada (east coast - probably even cheaper out west!) Way to go UK government - selling off the North Sea oil rights. Everything is almost double in cost in England - but they don't make double the salaries - not even close. Shameful.

Mom is spelled with an 'o' in this country. It seems immigration to Canada is already too popular.

My Dad is one of those fighting for the increase, we the middle class are always getting screwed.....

Perhaps Linda, Pat & others should break out a calculator do a little math for a moment or two before getting so worked up. Government pension contributions were initially set when few people were able to retire for 5 years much less the 23 retirement years of Linda's fortunate father. There is NO MONEY for future retiree's, especially with today's expanding lifespans & health care costs. So it was not with malice that I wrote, merely to denote that at the moment there is money & there is no guarantee that this will continue.
PS My first sentence should have read "will NOT receive a government pension at retirement age" no one of my generation will.

My wife and I are two of the affected UK pensioners - we paid voluntary UK Class 3 contributions for about 18 years from Canada - the contributions were from Canadian after-tax monies. The whole pension amount received is taxed in Canada. I am hoping that the European Court supports the Canadian and other UK pensioners overseas who have this - non-escalating UK pension. Anyone who is entitled to receiving this UK pension should make the necessary enquiries and pay the maximum voluntary contributions they can - best investment that you can make!!!!!! Our 18 years voluntary contributions will be repaid within 3 years - 4 years if you include the Canadian taxes!!!

Britain has gone to the dogs! I am absolutly disgusted by the way the British Government treats it's Senior Citizens, in the UK and abroad. It is obvious the government does'nt care about it's pensioners or this problem would have been solved long ago by a simple act in parlaiment. To say there isn't enough money is in my mind is total BS! If the government there would stop the flow of immigrants to only those who have jobs or to those with special circumstances, they would not be paying out so much in social assistance, money that could best be put to better use. The MP's are not in the government for the people but for themselves, as uncovered by the recent scandal, claiming expences which have nothing to do with government obligations, such as claiming the expence of having a swimming pool cleaned. My mother is affected by a frozen pension and with the pound losing power to the dollar she is just scrapping by. I have become a proud Canadian Citizen and for what it's worth what ever pension is due to me from the UK for military service and time worked they can keep it if they are that hard up. The British Government should clean up it's act.
Sorry this is so long but I am ashamed of a government of which I once had faith in.

what a joke they've turned Britain into - a doormat for immigrants and a police state for native British

Vote for the BNP and donate to their cause if you hold out any hope of saving the once 'great' Britain

http://bnp.org.uk/