Frozen Pensions Day

Tuesday 2nd November 2021

Today, the End Frozen Pensions campaign is launching Frozen Pensions Day to challenge Prime Minister Boris Johnson to address the long-standing pensions policy denying half a million British pensioners annual inflation adjustments on the basis of where they live.

We are marking this day by releasing new research showing one third of British pensioners living overseas on ‘frozen’ state pensions have been forced to work in their retirement, with some living on pensions as low as £22 per week. The study also includes the testimony from frozen pensioners on the impact of living on a frozen pension. Read the booklet online here.

We presented these findings yesterday to the Prime Minister by delivering the research to Number 10 Downing Street. Here, we warned that complacency from the UK Government has led to a situation where British citizens are denied the retirement that they were promised and expected.

Our survey also found that:

• Half of frozen pensioners feel financially insecure in their retirement
• 28% of frozen pensioners cannot access medication or health treatments due to financial costs
• One quarter of frozen pensioners rely on family members for financial support
• 38% of frozen pensioners feel they have lost their independence because of this policy

The End Frozen Pensions campaign is calling for the UK Government to reverse an ‘historic injustice’ and provide pension parity for all British pensioners, no matter where they live.

John Duffy, Chair of the International Consortium of British Pensioners, comments:

“Today we mark the shameful truth that our government is callously pushing hundreds and thousands of British pensioners into poverty year on year. It should make no difference whether that pensioner lives in the US or in Canada, they have each paid into the system and are entitled to the full payments they deserve – anything less is unconscionable.

“It is a moral failure to protect our most vulnerable in old age and often, ill-health. No pensioner should be forced to work in the last years of his or her life, all because our government has neglected its own citizens and failed to uphold their part of the bargain.

“We urge the Prime Minister to take action to end this morally bankrupt policy once and for all and allow all pensioners the retirement to which they are entitled and deserve.”

Sir Roger Gale MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Frozen British Pensions, comments:

“We must never forget that behind discussions about ‘legal requirements and long-standing policies’ are real people, people who feel abandoned by their own country and face the real-life consequences of this cruel policy.

“That we continue to uphold a policy that leaves over half of frozen pensioners feeling financially insecure and over a quarter reliant on family members for financial support is a scandal and national shame. It is past time for this injustice to be addressed fully, fairly and finally.”