UK Pensioners in Thailand Face New Scrutiny Over Pension Fraud

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Raindancer said:

Total rubbish.   The Taiger as usual taking everything out of context,  in order to fill their pages.

 

They would do better at reading the actual statement by the Chancellor.    As opposed to this hyperbole and this deliberately misleading article.

A worried member..............🤣

[transam]

Just now, proton said:

 

Who wrote this scaremongering rubbish from the Thaiger? There is no way they can tell if you are in the UK or abroad by looking at your bank account. Also, it has been stated they will only do so if you are claiming means tested benefits, at the moment the state pension is not means tested, so if thats all you are claiming they will not be looking at your accounts. Claiming pension credit etc they will/could be, although given that they are so overworked not a certainty.

Another worried member................😂

[billd766]

18 minutes ago, crazykopite said:

My UK pension was frozen years ago I pay UK taxes so I’ve got nothing to hide

Me too.

[bradiston]

24 minutes ago, hardblogger said:

 If you get your OAP paid direct into Thai bank, it is then TAX free, it is not paid from UK,, it is paid from outscorcing company actually in USA. But if it paid into UK bank, then yes it will be subject to tax over 12570. But may or may not suit you to check that out. Mine goes in to my Thai bank every 4th Friday at 9.01am its very good. 

OAP is paid every 28 days. So a different day of the month every month. At least, that's my experience.

[hardblogger]

4 minutes ago, bradiston said:

OAP is paid every 28 days. So a different day of the month every month. At least, that's my experience.

Yes that is what I said, every 4th Friday, 28 days. Next payment is Dec 6th  and the one after that is Jan 3rd.  It is a different Date, but not a different Day, 
 

[Phil1964]

5 hours ago, Chivas said:

On an aside Britain currently provide £13.3 Billion annually in overseas aid to countries that even have space programmes

 

Yet lets crucify pensioners living abroad where the "fraud" is estimated at £100 million which is roughly 1/130 of that overseas aid total

 

Not having a pop at Labour or Conservatives per se

 

Let alone how much they're spending each year putting up 'boat people' who enter the UK illegally via people smugglers, are paying the French aithorities to supposedly police and stop them setting off in the first place from crossing the channel. 

There's an endless list of the UK's profligate waste of money throughout the whole system we could debate all day here!

 

[hardblogger]

32 minutes ago, jesimps said:

I bet you were the teachers pet at school. I'm all in favour of sticking to the rules, but only if they're non-discriminatory. I refuse to condemn anyone trying to dodge this particular one. By the way, before you go banging on, I informed the HMRC that I resided in Thailand in 2009, the year I qualified for state pension and it has been frozen since then.

What do you think about claiming WInter Fuel allowance (bit late now but,........) for the past 4 years and living here for 9 month a year?  Just interested on your view. 

[transam]

7 minutes ago, Phil1964 said:

 

Let alone how much they're spending each year putting up 'boat people' who enter the UK illegally via people smugglers, are paying the French aithorities to supposedly police and stop them setting off in the first place from crossing the channel. 

There's an endless list of the UK's profligate waste of money throughout the whole system we could debate all day here!

 

Nothing to do with pensions and reciprocal agreements......

[Purdey]

While I have never had a pension, I sympathize with people who cannot live on what the UK pays. Can someone please enlighten me on why many UK pensioners in Thailand appear not to have savings? Or perhaps many do. I don't know.

[Andycoops]

Yes using snail mail in the 21C is appalling.

The letter requesting me to confirm proof of life never arrived and I only discovered why when I called the International pension centre and was told they had sent the request 3 months ago and as they had received no response, they suspended my payments.

 

I now call them once a year to enquire if a life certificate has been sent out, as it is supposedly a random process.

 

In my last call a couple of months ago, I was told Thailand is in line again in 2025.

 

I have to say that the lady I dealt with when I called about my payment not arriving, was very professional and helpful and my payment arrived 2 weeks late before continuing the 4 week cycle.

Edited 3 hours ago by Andycoops

[hardblogger]

2 minutes ago, Purdey said:

While I have never had a pension, I sympathize with people who cannot live on what the UK pays. Can someone please enlighten me on why many UK pensioners in Thailand appear not to have savings? Or perhaps many do. I don't know.

I think you ask 20 people you will get 20 different answers. Most people I know anyway retired here have more than one pension. I was military for 35 years. The difficultly with savings is, how long are you going to live for, so how much do you need. But some people invest savings and get a salary that way. Some people have property. It ain't just UK pensioners either. Some however do try and live on the OAP alone, it can be done but it aint easy. Especially if there are no rises. Not many do this though Purdey. Most have a 2nd income of some kind. 

[PaDavid]

I’ve read the post and all the comments to date. I agree with the sentiments that it’s unjust to put a freeze on pensions; also that those who try to illegally circumnavigate the law should be tracked down. But, what I don’t understand is what UK border control is doing. Surely, if someone leaves UK and doesn’t return for 6 months, they've either moved abroad or are dead. Why put the onus on banks to do the government’s job?

[Liverpool Lou]

4 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

the people who worked their whole life for their pension are being punished

Those would be the people who chose to live in a country in which UK state pension increases are not payable, a downside that is well-known and addressed openly on government websites and it has been that way for more than 70 years.   Perhaps those people should have gone to a different country where their increases would be available.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, Baht Simpson said:

'm also not happy with them acquiring information from banks without my knowledge. 

They'll only be able to do that if you are suspected of fraud, as the OP clearly stated, so you'll have nothing to worry about; if you do have that to worry about, then tough titty, you know who to blame!

[hardblogger]

3 minutes ago, Andycoops said:

Yes using snail mail in the 21C is appalling.

The letter requesting me to confirm proof of life never arrived and I only discovered why when I called the International pension centre and was told they had sent the request 3 months ago and as they had received no response, they suspended my payments.

 

I now call them once a year to enquire if a life certificate has been sent out, as it is supposedly a random process.

 

In my last call a couple of months ago, I was told Thailand is in line again in 2025.

 

I have to say that the lady I dealt with when I called about my payment not arriving, was very professional and helpful and my payment arrived 2 weeks late before continuing the 4 week cycle.

They are slow for sure, my birthday was in November, so I sent the forms off.....by mail....cost 1200 baht!!  They were received at the centre (I got a text!) in August, I finally got my pension in March. Backdated to November, but heck it was a long wait. I finally got a guy on the phone, it ain't easy!! And like you he was very good and did sort out the problem within a week. 

[transam]

9 minutes ago, Purdey said:

While I have never had a pension, I sympathize with people who cannot live on what the UK pays. Can someone please enlighten me on why many UK pensioners in Thailand appear not to have savings? Or perhaps many do. I don't know.

Probably confidential and nobody else's business..........😉

[Purdey]

4 minutes ago, hardblogger said:

I think you ask 20 people you will get 20 different answers. Most people I know anyway retired here have more than one pension. I was military for 35 years. The difficultly with savings is, how long are you going to live for, so how much do you need. But some people invest savings and get a salary that way. Some people have property. It ain't just UK pensioners either. Some however do try and live on the OAP alone, it can be done but it aint easy. Especially if there are no rises. Not many do this though Purdey. Most have a 2nd income of some kind. 

Thanks for your clear explanation.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

Yeah, all the Brits who moves to Thailand or lives here, knows the rules. Fair or unfair, has nothing to do with it. If they make a choice to move to Thailand, they will also make a choice to go by the rules. Break them, and sooner or later you will have to pay for it. Something that might be so hard that they can not stay in Thailand no more. 

 

Welcome to Thailand! Stop hiding and breaking the law. If you can´t afford it, Thailand is not for you. Then it´s better to chose a country where can get your full pension.

Well said.

[Phulublub]

For those UK pensioners who have been here for several years, it may be worth investigating moving to a country where the increases are paid and only visiting Thailand for holidays.  If you moved to one of these, my understanding is that after six months you will get all the frozen increases added to your pension.  If you subsequently come to realise that, actually, you prefer to live full time in Thailand, then your pension would then again become frozen, but at the new level.  Might be a considerable uplift for some.

 

I would not, of course, advocate moving "permanently" to the Phillipines (or back to UK, or elsewhere) and discovering after seven months it is not for you so you move back to Thailand.

 

PH

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, happyaussie said:

e hypocracy is that Australias $220k+ pa politicians receive a full pension after 5 years, can continue working in other fields and reside anywhere.  

Those pensions would be superannuation occupational pensions (or whatever is the proper term for them), they would not be able to receive the state pensions if they resided overseas.   Other people with occupational pension schemes can also receive them abroad.  

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, RayD said:

What's the nearest country that doesn't freeze the pension and how long do I have to stay there?

Philippines...and you have to be able to prove that you live there. I don't believe that there is a qualifying period of time that you have to be there, as soon as your pension application is approved you will start getting payments.

[BritManToo]

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3430/news

Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
The 2023-24 session of Parliament has prorogued and this bill will make no further progress.

 

This bill was halted on 24 April 2024.

 

 

[hardblogger]

6 minutes ago, Phulublub said:

For those UK pensioners who have been here for several years, it may be worth investigating moving to a country where the increases are paid and only visiting Thailand for holidays.  If you moved to one of these, my understanding is that after six months you will get all the frozen increases added to your pension.  If you subsequently come to realise that, actually, you prefer to live full time in Thailand, then your pension would then again become frozen, but at the new level.  Might be a considerable uplift for some.

 

I would not, of course, advocate moving "permanently" to the Phillipines (or back to UK, or elsewhere) and discovering after seven months it is not for you so you move back to Thailand.

 

PH

Unfortunately this is incorrect, it would revert back to your old Thailand rate.........unless you don't tell them and commit fraud. LOL 

[robin of the hood]

When I decided to remove myself from the Hoke that is the UK.

I did my due diligence before hand.

At the time I didn't have a destination country in mind. Just the urge to rid myself of the hell hole of work sleep and die that is the UK 

So regardless of fair or not the fact of the matter is I knew the rules, I also knew through past experience that these rules wouldn't be changing for the better at any point in the rest of my life.

So when I eventually settled here in Thailand I knew the rules.

I had worked setting myself up with a 2 good pensions that are index linked and are located offshore so no tax to the UK government ( this was planned why should I pay tax on money I earned and set aside for my retirement).

So when I eventually got to the age required to claim my UK pension I knew it was frozen.

But on the plus side I will never have to pay tax on it.

Those who didn't do there Homework on Old age pension rules have only themselves to blame.

In the same breath those who didn't plan for there old age with other pensions or investments again can only look at themselves.

 

 

[Ben Zioner]

2 hours ago, quake said:

The Uk caring about it's people. NOT

You got it wrong. They do care by freezing you pension so that you pay less to the Thai Revenue Department as of January 1, this year.

[Cabradelmar]

sucks to be a UK pensioner in Thailand.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, billzant said:

Highly amusing for a news "organisation" or is it scare-mongering organisation?

If you're referring to Asean Now, it is not a news organisation, it's a forum that re-publishes 3rd parties' articles. 

[hardblogger]

6 minutes ago, robin of the hood said:

When I decided to remove myself from the Hoke that is the UK.

I did my due diligence before hand.

At the time I didn't have a destination country in mind. Just the urge to rid myself of the hell hole of work sleep and die that is the UK 

So regardless of fair or not the fact of the matter is I knew the rules, I also knew through past experience that these rules wouldn't be changing for the better at any point in the rest of my life.

So when I eventually settled here in Thailand I knew the rules.

I had worked setting myself up with a 2 good pensions that are index linked and are located offshore so no tax to the UK government ( this was planned why should I pay tax on money I earned and set aside for my retirement).

So when I eventually got to the age required to claim my UK pension I knew it was frozen.

But on the plus side I will never have to pay tax on it.

Those who didn't do there Homework on Old age pension rules have only themselves to blame.

In the same breath those who didn't plan for there old age with other pensions or investments again can only look at themselves.

 

 

Gold star for Mr Perfect. There you are. 

[Gandtee]

1 hour ago, jesimps said:

I bet you were the teachers pet at school. I'm all in favour of sticking to the rules, but only if they're non-discriminatory. I refuse to condemn anyone trying to dodge this particular one. By the way, before you go banging on, I informed the HMRC that I resided in Thailand in 2009, the year I qualified for state pension and it has been frozen since then.

Mine since 1998😠

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, Celsius said:

As I have been saying for years..... Britman is in big trouble.

Eventually this government stuff catches up with you and the easiest targets are always the poors.

There are no links from my UK bank account to any foreign activity.

I don't use Brit debit or credit cards outside the UK either. 

The government can look all they like, there's nothing for them to find.