UK rejects Australian bid to index pensions for 167,000 expats that would see rate go up for 39,000 in WA

The UK has rejected a bid from Australia to reach a deal over pensions that would have benefited more than 167,000 pensioners including almost 39,000 West Australians. At the moment, British expats in Australia who are eligible for the age pension from their home country don’t have it indexed. That means pensions are frozen at the rate they were when someone either first applied or left the UK. The British Pensions in Australia advocacy group has highlighted the plight of 101-year-old Patricia Coulthard in a letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. She receives a pension equivalent to $88 a week because it was frozen at the rate when she left the UK to live near her children in Australia. If she was living in the US, where the UK pensions are indexed, she would be receiving $300 a week. Government figures show there are 167,580 people in Australia who receive some form of British pension – more than in any other country outside the UK. Almost a quarter are in WA, the highest number of any state. Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth wrote to her British counterpart in November and again in May asking to formally enter negotiations for a new social security agreement that would resolve the issue of non-indexation and benefit citizens of both countries. She also raised the issue with UK Minister for Work Tom Pursglove when they met on the sidelines of a UN event in June. Australia has similar arrangements in place with 31 other countries, where governments on both sides agree to make sure people living there can access benefits. The government says these types of agreements ensure that responsibility for pensions and welfare is shared between the countries where a person lived during their working years. It has been estimated a UK deal would save the Budget $456 million over the next four years. However, The West understands UK Pensions Minister Mel Stride rejected the request on the basis his country did not want to enter into any new agreement that provided for pension indexation for its citizens living abroad. This was despite the Australian offer for an agreement that could have led to increased access to Australian pensions for British citizens. The UK does index pensions for people living in about 30 European countries along with several other countries with which it has bilateral agreements. However, it doesn’t index them for people living in the Commonwealth countries of Australia, New Zealand or Canada. The British Pensioners in Australia group is meeting MPs in Canberra on Tuesday to urge them to take up the cause.

UK rejects Australian bid to index pensions for 167,000 expats that would see rate go up for 39,000 in WA

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