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EPETITION |
We are pleased to announce that a new e-petition on the frozen pensions issue, sponsored by the International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP), has been successfully posted on the UK Government’s DirectGov website. It reads as follows:
Responsible department: Department for Work and Pensions
Under regulation 3 of the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations British pensioners who retire to any one of over 120 countries, mainly in the Commonwealth, have their rightful state pension frozen. Meanwhile, those who retire to other countries have their pension uprated annually, just as though they never left the UK. This discriminatory policy currently impacts on the lives of over half a million British pensioners and curtails the freedom of choice of all British pensioners in retirement. We call for this Government to heed the plea of the International Consortium of British Pensioners to repeal this Regulation.
The petition was lodged by Peter Morris,
President of BAPA and will remain open till 8/9/2012.
It was composed in collaboration with other members of ICBP and our P/R
advisors.
The easiest way to access it is to click HERE which will take you to the correct web page.
Press the "Sign this petition" button to be taken to the signing page.
One question that may worry some people is one that asks if you are a UK Citizen on resident. The answer should be "Yes". They are not asking you which of these two you are, just asking if you are one or the other or maybe both. Only answer "No" if you are neither a citizen nor a resident.
They do ask for your country, and give you an enormous list to pick from, so it is ok to sign if you live in one of these countries and you are a British citizen. As they will not be checking against a citizens' data base register it is ok to answer "Yes".
They ask for name and email address and home address. Select your country of residence from the drop down list before entering your postcode. If you live in Australia then your postcode will be an ordinary 4-digit postcode. No need to worry about it not being a UK postcode.
At the bottom of the page they have one of those annoying "Captcha" boxes. Usually one of the two words is difficult to read. But don't worry. If you get it wrong the first time they give you a fresh text to try with.
When you have completed all of the above, click the box next to "I agree to the Terms & Conditions”, then click on the box "Sign this e-petition".
Give them the correct email address, because they will send you an email for confirmation. Unless the system is very busy that should come in a few moments. You then click on the link they give you in the email, and hey presto!
They will not accept further votes from the same email address. If you and your spouse have the same email address put both names on the "Name" line. Otherwise one of you could borrow an email address from a cooperative grandchild. Two names on one submission will probably not be counted as two signatures in the automated counting system.