Adopt an MP

Some MPs reply that they do not sign EDMs, but nevertheless indicate that they support our case - somewhat. For an example see Replies Then read what to do next.

BAPA is running a campaign which will make every UK MP more aware of our situation. It is a huge job and we want to enlist the help of all of you who are frustrated that things are not happening. You would be surprised the number of new MP’s who still do not know of our situation

Your Committee is limited in numbers so we direct our energies to correspondence with influential MP’s but they keep coming back to us with all the same old lame excuses.

Our new initiative is for each member to ‘Adopt an MP’ and correspond only with them, doing this will ensure that we reach every MP with the real facts. You do not need to be a member of BAPA to participate.

ARE YOU WILLING TO TAKE PART IN THIS CAMPAIGN? If so, you can choose your own MP providing no one else has chosen them, or we will give you one with contact details. Once you have an MP to contact we shall cross him/her off our list of over 600 MP’s

If you need them, example letters are here on the website, which you can adapt to your own circumstances but please all mention the surplus in the National Insurance Fund and that pensioners in other parts of the world get the uplift..

You must also be prepared for negative replies and brush off’s, but still keep up the pressure. Also you should be prepared to commit at least 6 months to your contact with MPs. One email will not achieve much.

Once you are accepted you will receive an email after every parliament sitting day giving you a brief extract from Hansard. If your MP has said nothing, there will be no entry for him/her. Even that is worth knowing.

You can then click to the Theyworkforyou web site, and from there to the Hansard record if you wish. The Theyworkforyou web site gives you the opportunity to make a comment, in the hope that it will be passed on to the MP concerned.

Please share replies with us. Forward them to me or to CONTACT BAPA especially if there is something in the reply that needs to be followed up.

Reciprocal agreements are not necessary. James Purnell, Minister of state, Department of Work and Pensions, said so clearly in the Pensions Bill debate on 27th January 2007. Log on to frozen_pension_myths.htm and select myth No 2, or find "Purnell" on the page.

If they say they can't do anything because you do not live in their constituency, tell them this is not a local matter but a national matter. Here is an excellent expansion of that thought composed by an adopter:

"I thank you for taking the time to reply to my e-mail, and I certainly understand that the issues relating to your own constituents are at the forefront of your priorities. However, I believe this is a matter of national and international importance which goes far beyond constituency boundaries, and an issue on which more than 500,000 people would welcome your support (including, without doubt, some of your former constituents, and also relations of some of your current constituents)."

Two common statements by Ministers and lesser lights.

"Before entering into a new agreement, any Government would need to consider whether the advantages to be gained outweigh the cost of negotiating and administering the agreement."

Ask the writer how much would it cost to negotiate and administer an agreement.
Don't elaborate on this question. Let him flounder.

"it would cost around £420 million a year to unfreeze the State Pensions paid to UK pensioners overseas and bring them up to the rate they would have been had the individuals concerned remained in the UK."

Ask how much it would cost to bring them up to the rate they would have if they lived in the Philippines.
Once again, do not elaborate on this question. You could use "USA" instead of "the Philippines".

Some MPs try to pretend that there is no National Insurance Fund

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

Don't copy them slavishly. Write your own letter or email. Just use the ideas in these samples.

John Hutton, when Pensions Minister, said: "The extension of the FAS is a big boost for people who have lost their occupational pensions as a result of their employer's insolvency. We have listened to the arguments of campaigners, and we have complied with the order in the recent High Court judgment that we reconsider the Ombudsman's recommendation that we compensate affected scheme members.”

We frozen expatriate pensioners who are denied annual uprating are delighted by the news that the Government has managed to find the necessary funding – running into billions – but we do wonder why the Chancellor cannot scrape together another ₤400 million (less than 1% of the pensions budget) in order to achieve parity in the state pension, everyone receiving an amount strictly proportionate to contributions made.

In the state pension scheme, the Government as Administrator has a fiduciary responsibility to treat contributors equally. Unlike those insolvent employers, the National Insurance Fund has a huge surplus – over ₤30 Billions – which will more than double by 2010. Ours is not a monetary problem – just a matter of simple morality.

Please help persuade them by signing EDM 1263.

Yours faithfully

Dear Whoever

As a WW2 veteran who has been deemed to be a member of the hero generation who saved the country from a very inhospitable invasion, I am ashamed that the country that I served cannot see fit to pay me the pension that I have paid for on the grounds that I am now living in a country that has been excluded, in quite an arbitrary and illogical fashion from receiving an indexed pension due to the perceived cost, which cannot possibly be justified when the National Insurance Fund surplus is currently £34 billion, rising to an estimated £74 billion by the year 2011/12.

It is a discriminatory, unfair and an immoral situation which any government should be
ashamed to be part of, and I call upon you to end this blatant anomaly.

Dear Mr Boverintgon

I am a 75-year old British age pensioner. When I first found out that my pension would be frozen because I live in Australia I accepted that as just the way it was.

But then I found out that if I had retired to the Philippines or the USA my pension would not be frozen. This made me angry. And I am still angry.

Please, Mr Boverington, why am I, living in an old loyal Commonwealth country, treated like this, while pensioners just like me living in other countries get full value for their compulsory contributions?

Have a look at http://www.britishpensions.org.au/video.htm to see what I mean.

By my National Insurance contributions record I am now fully eligible for my annually uprated state pension. But because life has brought me in my later years( alternatively "because my child/ren settled in...) to live in ......................................., I am denied the yearly cost-of-living pension increase which is strangely allowed for expatriates in weirdly-selected places such as the Philippines, Pennsylvania and the rest of the United States, Poland, Portugal and many others.

Yours sincerely,

Dear ------- MP

After a lifetime of working in the UK I came to - ------- to be with my
----------. It is a great shock to discover that the British State Pension
I receive here is not only frozen at the amount it was when I first arrived,
but that, after several enquiries, I am told that there is no intention of
ever indexing it and that no British government would, in any case, be able
to afford the £400 million or so every year to index our frozen state
pensions. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that there are
billions (not millions) of pounds in the National Insurance kitty with which
any government could afford to put this horrific injustice to rights, should
it wish to do so. The will is just not there, although the means are
available.

However, this situation could be changed within the next few weeks as I find
that there ARE Members of Parliament who understand our plight and, with
determination, could remedy the situation for us. I am asking if you would
please be willing to join them (if you have not already done so) and put our
case firmly and strongly during the discussions on state pensions now taking
place in Parliament. There is a current EDM 1263 which gives the whole
picture and, if implemented, would remove this injustice that only some of
us are suffering. After all, our compatriot pensioners in the USA, Bermuda
and in many other countries who paid exactly the same National Insurance
contributions, already receive the indexing we request. Only a small percentage
of extra expenditure is needed.

Please help by signing this EDM and putting our case for us.

Yours sincerely

This sample letter explains the difference between the Uprating Order and the Uprating Regulations.

Dear Mr and Mrs

I understand what prompted you to write.

Whilst I certainly support the sentiment of Early Day Motion 1263, you
may be aware that it is my policy not to sign EDMs. I fear people are
understandably misled into believing EDMs make the Government take
notice and action, whilst in fact, they do neither. Last year over
2,000 EDMs were tabled; none as far as I know were debated and the press
took little notice of the content of any of them. EDMs have, in the
words of a former Deputy Speaker, "lost all credibility". The up-rating
of pensions is an issue that has been going on for some
years and the Government has shown very little interest in doing
anything about it. Unfortunately, there is little we can do about this
matter until we are back in No. 10 Downing Street. I do hope you are now
enjoying life in Australia.

Yours sincerely,

Anthony Steen Member of Parliament for Totnes

Thank you for your response. While I am disappointed that you have not signed the EDM I am encouraged to read that you support our cause.

Another EDM has now arisen, 1313, which seeks to annul the current annual regulation which imposes pension freezing yet again. It is important to distinguish between the annual Uprating Order, and the annual Regulations.

The Order confers annual indexation of state pensions and other benefits. The Regulations clause 3 denies this indexation to pensioners in the so-called "frozen" countries. The annulment motion, EDM 1313, does not attempt to cancel this year's pension increases; it only seeks to annul the denial of indexation to the selected disadvantaged few.

If you should be chosen to sit on the committee to handle this matter please bear the vital distinction in mind.

The cost of abolishing freezing is well within the annual surplus arising in the National Insurance Fund.

Dear Mr.
Thank you for your email. The fact that pensions are not uprated to
those outside the European Union is a well-known scandal. I am sorry
that you have been caught by this.

I prefer not to sign the Early Day Motion because my personal
preference would be to uprate pensions for those living within the
Commonwealth.

I am really very sorry that consecutive governments have failed to
deal with this matter.
Yours sincerely
Peter Viggers MP

NB Don't pick him up on the Commonwelth matter. If Commonwealth residents got parity the freezing regime would not last long.

Dear Mrs ,

Thank you for your email.

Mr Turner has asked me to take responsibility for ensuring that this matter is dealt with promptly and to your satisfaction. The office is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, if you have any questions or concerns please do let me know.

Along with many of his colleagues of all parties Mr Turner is not in the habit of signing Early Day Motions. They are expensive to administer and are neither debated by the House of Commons nor receive any attention from the Government.

Mr Turner prefers to raise the issues directly with Ministers for two reasons, firstly, you then receive a full response to the matters you have raised and secondly Ministers are made aware of the levels of support or opposition to these issues. We will therefore ensure that the matters you raise within your email are addressed with the appropriate Department.

Obtaining information from others often takes some time, so please forgive me if I cannot always provide that reply as quickly as I would wish.

Kind Regards,

Vicky Hayward