Fresh Appeal To Unfreeze Expat Pensions

The International Consortium of British Pensioners has launched a fresh appeal to get British Expat Pensions Unfrozen

London, UK (Pryce Warner International) February 21st, 2012 – The ICBP initially launched the campaign last year on the UK government's e-petition website. They are presently pushing for Expats to sign up before the deadline of September 8th 2012.

If the petition reaches over 100 000 signatures by that time, the issue will be debated in the House of Commons. At the moment there are only 15 000 signatures, despite the issue affecting millions of Expat pensioners across the world.

Present regulations mean that for many Expats their pension rates are frozen at the rate they are first drawn. This means that their pensions do not rise in line with the CPI or inflation. This rule is highly controversial, as it does not apply to all overseas pensioners, just certain jurisdictions.

The jurisdictions currently affected are Australia, New Zealand and Canada, among others. These are among the most popular destinations for retired Brits.

Tony Bockman, chairman of the ICBP, commented: “It's time to ask all overseas recipients of the British state pension to understand that if we are ever going to get the Government to pay attention to the frozen pensions issue, then everyone needs to get involved.

He went on to say: “That's not just the current 550,000 plus pensioners overseas whose pensions are already frozen, but all of you who are not yet of pensionable age but might qualify for a state pension later on. I know there is no guarantee that our case will be debated in the House of Commons when we reach 100,000 signatures, but there is every guarantee that it certainly will not be debated if we don't participate. So get involved and get all of your friends and relatives in the UK involved too.”

Expats wishing to sign the petition can do so through the ICBP website or through the UK government’s e-petition website.

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By Aneil Fatania
Financial Editor
Pryce Warner International Group
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