THE EFFECT OF PENSION FREEZING

Here are tables showing the effect of pension freezing. The first table shows how much in total you have lost since the date your pension became frozen. The second shows the future losses of people whose pensions have not yet become frozen, either because they have not yet reached state pension age, or because they have not yet emigrated to a frozen country.

Table of losses

Freezing affects nearly all countries outside the European Union, except for a mere handful. Most Commonwealth countries are affected.

For a list of frozen and unfrozen Commonwealth countries, click HERE

PETITION ON FROZEN PENSIONS

There is a new petition on the subject of frozen pensions. It was composed by the Board of ICBP and members of the Committee of BAPA. You can find details about it at petition.htm. We ask you to sign the petition and to invite your friends and relatives to sign.

There is no guarantee that the government will initiate a debate in the House of Commons, but we hope to get a lot of support not only from individual pensioners but also from organisations that have expressed support for our cause.

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If you want to keep up with the latest news from BAPA, send email to:
BAPANews

To take part in informal discussions with other frozen pensioners, send email to:
Bep discussion group

PUBLIC SECTOR PENSIONS

If you have a pension from the public sector derived from employment between 1978 and 1997, you may  be getting less pension than you should - and you will not be aware of it.

Public sector covers civil service, local government service, armed forces, police and other emergency services, National Health Service, teaching service, and of course, MPs and judges.

To enquire about your own public sector pension, email to Public sector pension enquiry

Note: Pensions paid by the National Insurance Scheme are not Public Sector Pensions.

To enquire about the state national insurance pension, email to Pension Enquiry

Another Victory.

A retired teacher has finally got the indexation of the GMP. Back pay with interest!

See Public Sector Pensions

More and more people are writing to us regarding their own public sector pension, not only from Australia but also pensioners in Canada and Argentina. In one case the DWP agreed that the mistake - a recent one - was due to an "oversight". One wonders who is "overseeing" the system. DWP claim that the system is working; we know that it is not. Pensioners learn about their rights only when they read about them from British pensioner associations.

Discuss this with your pensioner friends; there may be a lot more people whom we can help.

CONTACTING DWP AND INTERNATIONAL PENSION CENTRE

If you need to contact the DWP or the International Pension Centre, it is time-consuming, frustrating, and possibly expensive to try to telephone them. The best advice we have received from the horse's mouth is to send them an email at tvp.ipccsst@thepensionservice.gsi.gov.uk

Give them your full name and address and a telephone number where they may contact you, plus times that may be convenient for you to talk.

If you are doing something like reporting the death of a pensioner, find the National Insurance Number. This can often be found on bank statements and has the form ZY123456D. Two letters, six numbers, one letter. Don't forget to ask about a pension for the surviving spouse, who need not be a British citizen to qualify.

You can also find your own NI number the same way.

If time is critical (for example, applying for a pension) then you may prefer to use Fax 0011 44 191 21 87025.

Using snail mail, write to

International Pension Centre
Tyneview Park
Whitley Road
Benton
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1BA
 

TAX ON UK PENSIONS

Following pensioners' recent experience of problems with UK tax authorities, we have uploaded a copy of the form you should use to advise HMRC that you are taxed in Australia and should be exempt from UK tax on your UK pensions.

This does not apply to people who have a visa, such as 410, which treats them as temporary residents.

Click on Tax on UK Pensions to find out a little more, and then click on the link to the pdf form.

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The National Insurance Fund

Is there a National Insurance Fund, or is it just "paper money"? See National Insurance Fund

We are supported in what we say by an item in the House of Commons Library.

snsg-0797.pdf

APPLYING FOR A PENSION

After much frustration with the DWP web site we finally located the form on which you apply for a pension. This form should be used for any kind of pension, including the wife category B pension.

It can be found at http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pdf/br1/br1apr09.pdf  Download, print, complete, and send to them.

For details of the category B pension, see pension_guidelines_7.htm

VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS

DWP have produced a pamphlet setting out how you can pay voluntary contributions and increase the amount of your basic pension. You can find a copy at Voluntary Contributions

BAPA advises that if you were not told about VCs at the time your pension started you may be allowed to pay VCs on the basis that they will take the money out of any back pay you are due. They seem to be less insistent that you must demonstrate that it was not your fault that you did not know.

But there is a problem. Centrelink will assess you on the gross back payment of pension even though you actually receive only the net amount. If you are receiving an Australian pension they may compel you to refund any pension in excess of what you would have received if the new UK pension had been paid when it should have been. If you are not receiving an Australian pension, the lump sum could affect your right to a Commonwealth Seniors' Health Card. And, worst of all, the gross amount of back pay is taxable.

Do your sums, and seek professional advice.