State pension freeze: Expats may get lower sum due to where they live | Personal Finance | Finance
British pensioners retiring overseas could be denied a yearly increase to their state pension. As the cost of living increases over time, this could mean their spending power is drastically reduced.
The state pension rises every year in the UK under the terms of the triple lock policy. This guarantees an annual increase of at least 2.5 percent.
However, only expats living in certain countries have the same rights to a yearly boost.
It is believed there are more than 520,000 British people receiving a “frozen” state pension.
Many of these pensioners live in Commonwealth countries.
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But once again, many pensioners living abroad were excluded from the increase.
According to the campaign group End Frozen Pensions, a pensioner aged 90 who has lived in a country where the state pension is frozen for the duration of their retirement will receive a state pension of just £43.60 a week.
That is less than a quarter of the full new state pension.
The state pension is increased every year in countries which are in the European Economic Area (EEA) as well as Switzerland.
It is also increased in the following countries which have an agreement with the UK:
- Barbados
- Bermuda
- Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Gibraltar
- Guernsey
- the Isle of Man
- Israel
- Jamaica
- Jersey
- Kosovo
- Mauritius
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
- The Philippines
- Serbia
- Turkey
- USA.
