The head of a large financial advisory company says hundreds of thousands of expat pensioners could be missing out on a financial boost. The CEO and founder of the deVere Group says many of his clients could be excluded from the return of the state pension triple lock.
The Government is preparing to reintroduce the triple lock in April, which will see the new and basic state pension go up by 10.1 percent. The triple lock policy is a UK Government commitment to uprate state pensions annually by the highest between inflation, average earnings, or 2.5 percent, the Daily Record reports.
It means those on the full new state pension will see payments increase from £185.15 per week to £203.85 and those on the Basic State Pension will see weekly payments rise from £141.85 to £156.20. But Nigel Green, the deVere CEO, said: "An estimated 500,000 retired Brits who live abroad will not receive any boost at all. Outrageously, they will continue to have their pensions frozen in value at the point of retirement date or date of emigration.
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"Having a frozen pension means that your retirement income falls in real terms year on year due to inflation - and never has this been more true than as the cost of living has soared. It seems completely unjust that someone living in the USA will receive an extra £1,000, yet someone just across the border in Canada, in the same situation, will not."
Retired expats in the European Economic Area (EEA) will continue to receive annual increases to their State Pensions under the triple lock scheme, as will those in a host of other countries including the United States, the Philippines and Turkey. But the majority of affected State Pensioners live in some of the biggest Commonwealth countries, such as Australia and Canada, and, despite paying taxes all their working lives in the UK, and National Insurance Contributions in full, these Brits will miss out on the rise given to others.
Below is everything you need to know about the increase to State Pension payments from April.
You are eligible for the Basic State Pension if you are:
- a man born before April 6, 1951
- a woman born before April 6, 1953
Basic State Pension payment rates
- Weekly rate: £156.20, an increase of £14.35 from £141.85
- Four-weekly rate: £624.80, an increase of £57.40 from £567.40
Widow's Pension
- Standard rate: £139.10 (from £126.35)
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