FROZEN PENSIONS

All the latest news and opinions can be seen at

Pension Parity  <<Click here

This site includes a transcript of the oral evidence presented by our counsel, Tim Otty. This is the script handed to the Court, but may not have been followed word for word by Tim when he made his speech.

The government tried to spring a dirty trick by presenting more written argument after the "deadline". Typical of their cynical attitude.


PRESS RELEASE

Press Release <<Click here

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.

MEETING WITH JENNY MACKLIN

As reported by Jack (see below) BAPA was invited to attend a meeting with the Minister, Jenny Macklin. This meeting was attended by our President, James Nelson, and also by Jim Tilley, Chairman of BPiA.

The date of the meeting was rescheduled several times for different reasons, but it took place at the Federal Government offices in Melbourne on 2nd July at 2.30 pm. It lasted for one crowded hour. As well as the Minister and us the meeting was attended by Peter Hutchinson and Ryan Batchelor. Peter is a senior official in the department, and has been very helpful to us over the years. Ryan is an Adviser to the Minister.

The discussion covered a wide range of topics, including reporting on what we had been doing to bring the fight up to the ministers, the size of the NIF, helping pensioners to get the right to pay Voluntary Contributions - too many to report in detail here.

The Minister told us that she has been in touch with the appropriate minister in the UK, and Peter told us that they had been writing to Sir Leigh Lewis, the head honcho in DWP.

We thanked the Minister for her support. I raised the question of financial support, and she seemed to be favourably inclined. However there will be no immediate financial support. We will raise the matter again when the case is further along and we know what commitments for legal expenses the Consortium incurs.

James Nelson, President

THE FOLLOWING IS A REPORT ON THE MEETING PREPARED BY JIM TILLEY

addressed to members of BPiA

I have delayed this “June” report because on Wednesday July 2nd, for about 1 hour, I met with Minister Jenny Macklin in Melbourne. Also attending was BAPA’s President James Nelson. We were given a cordial hearing attended too by one of her advisers together with Peter Hutchinson an officer from the Dep’t of Family Affairs and Social Security Canberra, who has been known to us for several years.

Probably the 2 most significant outcomes of the meeting were that the Minister was interested in discovering how she might best support us, undertaking to have her staff investigate several alternative ways in which we suggested this might happen. Among them was to ask the Foreign Minster, Steven Smith, whether and how our pension indexing issue might be considered at the next CHOGM, [2009] if the issue is still unresolved at that time. Also she agreed to see how she might approach Canada’s equivalent Minister to investigate how they might work together, as the Consortium does, to achieve, if necessary, our joint goal of UK age pension parity with other countries.

We also asked that various kinds of assistance to promote our organisations might be considered, while finally I did suggest the level of taxing the UK pension, having regards to the 40/60% Centrelink pension adjustment for those on the Australian pension, might be the subject of  review. Time constraints resulted in this latter request generating no further discussion but I will follow it up in a letter of thanks to the Minister hoping for further discussion with her or a senior department staffer in the future on this subject.  All in all the meeting went well.

THE BAPA FEDERAL ALP CAMPAIGN

 
Subsequent to our previous pre-election Senator campaign, we have now canvassed all of the current ALP members seeking their support for a new reciprocal agreement which would include indexation. I have received a very positive commitment from Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs who recognises the injustice and unfairness of the current situation and has stated that seeking a new reciprocal agreement would be given priority, and that the government is considering the most appropriate action to address this issue. BAPA has currently been invited to attend a meeting with the Minister to discuss all of the aspects which can be developed to overcome the intransigence of the UK government to end this immoral and discriminatory anomaly.
 
Furthermore, due to our campaign, Amanda Rishworth, the Member for Kingston intends to introduce into the House of Representatives a Private Members Bill seeking the support from the HoR members for a new reciprocal agreement  to be placed before the UK  government  The National Insurance money is there, all that is needed is the will to end this long suffering saga of denial imposed upon expatriate pensioners.  
 
Jack Stoner   Hon Secretary

Action by Mal Washer

More good news from West Australian's Federal Member for Moore Dr. Mal Washer. A strong supporter of  UK pensioners living in Australia, Dr Washer, a Liberal, wrote to UK's Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking him to personally explain why he refuses to uprate the SERP (State Earnings Related Pension) that remains frozen to many ex-pats since arriving in Australia. Dr Washer has for many years been critical of the UKs past intransigence and we offer him our heartfelt thanks in his endeavours.
 
Derrick Prance BAPA Committee member

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.

 


New Rules for Basic Pension

See New UK Pension Rules

These rules do not come into effect until April 2010. So if you are already retired or will reach pension age before that date, you are not affected by the change. These changes are, at present, of most interest to people who will reach state pension age in April 2010 or later, and who are considering voluntary contributions.


Adopt an MP

BAPA is running a campaign which will make every UK MP more aware of our situation. This can only be done by members and supporters. If you want to help, see Adopt an MP

If you have adopted an MP and would like to take part in an email group to share your successes (and failures), then send an email to adoptmp discussion group  <<== Just click here. Leave the text blank if you like, but just send the email.

Tracking Your MP

This is something worth doing.
 
You can track your MP using http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
 
Log on and click on the third item - "Sign up....."
 
You can then register with them. You need to specify what you want. There is a long drop down list of current MPs so you will have to eyeball for the one you want to track.
 
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.

 
More important than the comment is that you will find out what makes your MP tick. Tack him/her regularly, and be ready to include appropriate comments in your next letter.

Educating MPs A quick summary of the true facts about the frozen pension regime. Use it to inform your friends, and also to inform your MP - both UK and Australian MPs.


House of Commons Library paper

HoC Library


Frequently Asked Questions
Also see our
 Pension Guideline, No 6, re advantage of gaining indexation
 

If you do not receive a copy of our newsletter in the post, this may be because you are not on our mailing list, or have not advised us of a change of address.
In either case, use the form at Mailing List Form

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

If you have a visa class 410 or similar, you would be welcomed to the Beria discussion group.
See 410 sub visas

e-mail addresses for most UK MPs
Conservative  -  Labour 1  -  Labour 2  -  Lib Dem  -  Others

SERPS & GMP

 

Latest update Friday, 18 December 2009