Following a parliamentary event today, 22nd Oct, campaigners will deliver a letter jointly signed by over 150 UK and Canadian politicians to Downing Street calling on the Prime Minister to address the so-called ‘Frozen Pensions’ policy.
Such joint cross Atlantic working is believed to be unprecedented on this issue. The Frozen Pensions policy denies approximately 453,000 UK State Pensioners their full pension because they moved, often in later life to be near family, to a country without what’s called a reciprocal agreement. Over 100,000 of the affected pensioners live in Canada. Many of these pensioners are in poverty receiving on average a UK State Pension of just £65 or less, in contrast to the current full UK State pension of £169.50.
Campaigners are acting in response to growing tensions between the UK and Canada over the policy. The Canadian Government has been calling for an end to the UK’s so-called ‘frozen pensions’ policy for more than 40 years and is now regularly raising the issue in both public and formal diplomatic settings, including approaches to the new Labour Government.
This initiative comes just weeks before the expected trip to the UK by soon to be 100 years old World War Two veteran Anne Puckridge, who is making the journey to challenge the UK Prime Minister to meet her with a view to resolving the issue. Anne’s daughter Gillian has launched a petition on Change.org to demand that Sir Keir Starmer meets with Anne to discuss the issue.
One of the End Frozen Pensions lead campaigners, Edwina Melville-Gray will speak at the Parliamentary drop in event. It is hoped that the UK Pensions Minister will attend. It is expected that the Canadian Government will be represented. The letter has been signed by Steven MacKinnon, the Canadian equivalent of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, 50 UK parliamentarians and over 100 Canadian parliamentarians.
