Hosie accuses UK Government of "hypocrisy" over pensions

Pension arrangements are leaving older people living abroad out of pocket, the Dundee East MP has said.

Earlier this year the Dundee East MP was listed as a supporter of the campaign to end ‘frozen’ pensions – a group seeking to end a UK Government policy leaving an estimated 500,000 British pensioners without money they are owed.

Britons who moved abroad, often to be closer to family, to countries with whom the UK lacks reciprocal pension agreements, have found themselves receiving much less of their state pension than those living in the UK.

The UK state pension rises regularly in line with inflation but not for the tens of thousands of British pensioners living in countries such as Australia and Canada, despite their governments demonstrating a willingness to end the practice.

Mr Hosie attacked the Government's current policy.

Research published by campaign group End Frozen Pensions to mark the first ‘Frozen Pensions Day’ found that 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.

Reiterating his support for the campaign on ‘Frozen Pensions Day’ last week, Mr Hosie said: “Thousands of people who have moved, in many cases to be closer to family, are being punished despite paying into the system all of their lives - all because successive Westminster Governments have failed to come to the table and form reciprocal agreements with a number of countries.

“It rather lays bare the hypocrisy of the Tories who’ve spent the years following the Brexit vote hailing the result as an opportunity to reconnect with commonwealth countries like Australia and Canada when they have, for so long, failed to work with those countries to help British pensioners living there.”

“It’s a downright disgrace that this has been allowed to go on for so long, though it’s nothing new to see the Tories sit back as watch as people are plunged into poverty through no fault of their own.”

“I hope the UK Government will soon see sense and end the financial suffering that so many British pensioners are being forced to endure.”