Report Abandoned Abroad: British Pensioner in Thailand Slams 'Immoral' Frozen Pensions Policy

[No Forwarding Address]

2 hours ago, Ben Zioner said:

Is this what you refer to? High incomes seem to be grossly disadvantaged, looks even more communist than EU pensions.

 

I receive $3834 a month based on monthly average salary before selecting SSA at 65yo…….I had a pretty high average monthly salary, and have never met anyone getting $5000 SSA…….., they must have been some rich folks.     Peace

[Chongalulu]

2 hours ago, save the frogs said:

 

The govts want pensioners to keep pumping money into the local economy.

Since you are spending all your pension in Thailand, this is one way of punishing people for not contributing to the local economy in the UK. 

Call it what you will. They see it as unfair that all pension money is being spent in another country. 

 

It may be, but he's not using any NHS or other benefits that pensioners get. As you get older that healthcare benefit gets significantly greater. The " reciprocal" agreement is hollow. There's nothing a UK pensioner will get from the Philippines government that he doesn't get from the Thai one. Both zero in fact. Also any income generated in the UK, like pensions and say rent from your house is subject to UK tax. It's a one sided equation in favour of the government. Although retired I'm a higher rate taxpayer to HMRC. 

[ElwoodP]

Two problems removed.

I'll repeat, please be polite and civil to other members.

[LeRoux]

4 hours ago, JoePai said:

adjusting overseas pensions would cost nearly £1 billion annually

 

Cannot use that on pensioners as all is needed for housing, feeding, clothing etc of the illegal immigrants

To Stop Shipping Bombs Overseas, As A Form Of "Justifiable Charity", would Save Billion Of Pounds A Year.

[Magictoad]

4 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Not the Christopher Lee ,I knew , We all would like more pension ,but the Government

won't give it ,they need the money for all the immigrants ,but Chris knew coming here

what the situation was , myself I get 90 quid a week ,because I retired early ,it is what

it is , no way is the Government going to help us ,it's like out of sight out of mind , 

 

regards Worgeordie

But if all people thought like that nothing would ever change. Consider the threat of all the current pensioners returning home to claim their full pension and others rights including medical and housing.

[loogkreung]

As pensioners abroad aren’t putting any of that money back into the UK economy, I think the government are being more than generous.

[Expat68]

4 hours ago, jas007 said:

I'm not from the UK, but I'm pretty sure this problem is going to get a lot worse in the coming months and years as inflation picks up, worldwide. There's too much debt in the world and, for the central banks of the world, the way out is inflation.  Money printing.  More and more money printing. 

 

What happens to these Brits if they return home?  Will they again receive the current rate in the UK?  Or are they stuck forever with a frozen pension?  And let's say they do go back for a year or so, what happens then if they return to Thailand? Frozen at the new rate, or do they revert to what it was when they first retired to Thailand? 

I may be wrong but I think after 3 months your state pension increases and also you are fine for NHS health care 

[Blueman1]

2 minutes ago, loogkreung said:

As pensioners abroad aren’t putting any of that money back into the UK economy, I think the government are being more than generous.

WHAT, You cannot be Serious !!

[Magictoad]

2 hours ago, Stocky said:

Anomalies they probably wish they could get out of.

 

The fact is there is a overweight of wrinklies and a shortage of tax paying workers, that and the pension age was set when life expectancy post retirement was about 5 years, the maths no longer work and governments are struggling to pay their pension commitments.

 

There is a snowball's chance in hell this will ever be rectified in favour of the pensioner, if anything those anomalous countries where increases are paid are more likely to be brought inline with the majority.

Not so. We could all go home and claim our full pension, and medical treatment and housing etcetera. We in fact have the upper hand.

[Blueman1]

3 minutes ago, Expat68 said:

I may be wrong but I think after 3 months your state pension increases and also you are fine for NHS health care 

But IF You return to your Non Reciprocal Country ( Thailan ) It Goes back DOWN Again.....Happened to a M8 of Mine.....

[Burma Bill]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

At 70, the former banker relies on a weekly £137 (6,150 baht)

 

 

Lucky man - at 81, I only get 102 GBP per week State Pension frozen at this rate for the past 16 years!

 

Fortunately I have two other pensions that are index linked.

 

Being a former banker, no doubt Mr. Lee has additional means to support his retirement in Thailand.

[Blueman1]

1 minute ago, Magictoad said:

Not so. We could all go home and claim our full pension, and medical treatment and housing etcetera. We in fact have the upper hand.

But I Am " Home " I Do NOT Wish to return to The U.K. on a Permanent Basis...O.K. 

[Caldera]

If I was him, I wouldn't want to rock the boat. I think public sentiment would be in favor of requiring those who receive state pensions to spend them back home.

 

It wouldnt surprise me if you'll need to be resident in your home country to receive these kinds of pensions in the not-too-distant future, given the precarious financial situation of Western governments and social security systems. Allowing this guy to relocate to Thailand and to spend his pension money here? I'd bet many of his fellow pensioners who are stuck in Blighty resent that!

[Photoguy21]

4 hours ago, JonnyF said:

It is indeed immoral.

 

But the British government doesn't care about the indigenous people of Britain who paid into the system all their lives, especially if they are old and working class. 

It is called discrimination, a practice that in theory is illegal in the UK. If he was in the Philippines he would get the increases, work that one out if you can because I cant make sense of it.

[Blueman1]

1 minute ago, Burma Bill said:

 

 

Lucky man - at 81, I only get 102 GBP per week State Pension frozen at this rate for the past 16 years!

 

Fortunately I have two other pensions that are index linked.

 

Being a former banker, no doubt Mr. Lee has additional means to support his retirement in Thailand.

Lucky man - at 81, I only get 102 GBP per week State Pension frozen at this rate for the past 16 years!...Yes He IS,I Only get 72.00 Pounds a Week which has been frozen for 11 Years....Fortunately I have two other pensions that are index linked.I Don't So Your Lucky Ain't You ??

[Trip Hop]

1 hour ago, Blueman1 said:

I don't think that there is a set period.  You just go back, inform the DSS/HMRC that you are back living in the country and give them an address....So, What Address Would I Put on my Sleeping Bag in The U.K. M8 ??

 

The local dole office, you can use it as a mailing address I believe?

[Nick Carter icp]

8 minutes ago, Magictoad said:

Not so. We could all go home and claim our full pension, and medical treatment and housing etcetera. We in fact have the upper hand.

 

   You wouldn't get any housing and NHS medical treatment often takes years to receive 

[Blueman1]

4 minutes ago, Caldera said:

If I was him, I wouldn't want to rock the boat. I think public sentiment would be in favor of requiring those who receive state pensions to spend them back home.

 

It wouldnt surprise me if you'll need to be resident in your home country to receive these kinds of pensions in the not-too-distant future, given the precarious financial situation of Western governments and social security systems. Allowing this guy to relocate to Thailand and to spend his pension money here? I'd bet many of his fellow pensioners who are stuck in Blighty resent that!

 

It wouldnt surprise me if you'll need to be resident in your home country to receive these kinds of pensions...Yep, The DWP Have said That I Have " LOST " My Residency Status,But That Doesn't Stopp you getting a State Pension as they were " Hinting " That's According to Mr. Google anyway.....

[Blueman1]

2 minutes ago, Trip Hop said:

 

The local dole office, you can use it as a mailing address I believe?

But I Don't want to Sleep in their Doorway.....

[Blueman1]

1 minute ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   You wouldn't get any housing and NHS medical treatment often takes years to receive 

I Know the NHS Treatment Would begin as SOON As your Registered with a GP ( My Doctor from 11 Years Ago ) Told me that in a Phone Call.....

[Ricky HKT]

6150 baht per week?!? 24600 per month?

That is indeed "not noi." 

There must be some error?

We pay our maid about 18000 per month, and she struggles with 2 kids.

 

[Trip Hop]

1 hour ago, Will B Good said:

Anyone know?.....Thai wife 12 years NI paid, but never lived in the UK......will she still be entitled to a state pension when she hits retirement age?

 

Minimum qualifying period is 10 years, so if she was paid over the secondary threshold for 12 years and has IDLR, she will be entitled to 12/35 of the full state pension.  She might have to go back for a couple of months to sort it all out though and it would become frozen as soon as she left again.  If you know her NI Number you can check how many qualifying years she has and an estimate of her pension entitlement on the .gov website.  Just Google "check qualifying NI years UK state pension" and it should come up? 

[Andrew65]

14 minutes ago, Magictoad said:

Not so. We could all go home and claim our full pension, and medical treatment and housing etcetera. We in fact have the upper hand.

Try getting housing, I can't even be on the housing list, AFAIK.

I've long suspected that many expats can't really afford to live in Thailand.

[Nick Carter icp]

1 minute ago, Blueman1 said:

I Know the NHS Treatment Would begin as SOON As your Registered with a GP ( My Doctor from 11 Years Ago ) Told me that in a Phone Call.....

 

   Often have to wait years to get an appointment or treatment on the NHS after initially seeing a G.P

[Blueman1]

1 minute ago, Ricky HKT said:

6150 baht per week?!? 24600 per month?

That is indeed "not noi." 

There must be some error?

We pay our maid about 18000 per month, and she struggles with 2 kids.

 

But Why is She Struggling on that ?, I Know MANY Thai people who a " Living " on LESS Than She Is.....

[simon43]

1 minute ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Often have to wait years to get an appointment or treatment on the NHS after initially seeing a G.P

I waited just 7 days.....

[sandyf]

3 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

 

No it is not. He is more likely to be being paid out more than what he paid in. It is an acknowledged fact that National Insurance contributions do not fully cover the cost of pension payouts for the majority of beneficiaries. It is not the UK taxpayer's fault that Thailand did not agree to a social security agreement with the UK. The EEA group of nations, the Philippines , much of the  larger Commonwealth Caribbean countries, Turkey and the USA  have an agreement.   He picked Thailand, a nation without an agreement.

 

There is no reciprocal  agreement with the UK. If there was, he could get his adjustment. It takes 2 to make an agreement and Thailand did not agree.

 

As a resident of Thailand, he is not paying any UK income tax is he? He pays his tax in Thailand, and most likely is at a lower tax rate than in the UK.  None of what he receives is  spent in the UK in  goods and services nor paid in taxes to the crown.

 

The pensioners in the UK are  paying taxes in the UK  on their income in excess of  £12,570 and they pay VAT and  many, pay council tax either in full or in part. The cost of living is higher for UK residents than it is for Thailand residents.  The UK pensioners spend their pensions in the UK  and many have a part  of their pensions clawed back by the UK government. 

 

Spoken like a true government official.

The legislation that denies the uprating of state pensions applies to everyone absent from the UK.

The government has created exemptions from the law which amounts to discrimination, something that cannot have a value attached.

The real problem stems from a lack of political will and a lack of of public support, unlike the WASPI women, frozen pensioners have no cohesive domestic voice.

Legislation is not cast in stone and does not always keep up with evolution, discrimitory legislation is much younger than the state pensions. Historical precedence can never be used as justification for historical  failings, if it did women would not be able to vote and gay men would be in prison.

For decades successive governments have blatently lied and misled the public over the state pension, none more so than the Labour party. In 2018 they pledged their support to the APPG on Frozen Pensions and in 2019 on Page 76 of the manifesto they included a committment to end frozen pensions.

The UK state pension is probably the greatest unwritten financial scandal of the last century. 

 

[nauseus]

1 minute ago, Blueman1 said:

But Why is She Struggling on that ?, I Know MANY Thai people who a " Living " on LESS Than She Is.....

 

Probably no support from daddy.

[eastlight]

5 hours ago, JoePai said:

adjusting overseas pensions would cost nearly £1 billion annually

 

Cannot use that on pensioners as all is needed for housing, feeding, clothing etc of the illegal immigrants

What is always quietly forgotten - not only are our pensions frozen but also we have no access to the NHS both of which we have paid into over a lifetimes work.

[Blueman1]

3 minutes ago, Trip Hop said:

 

Minimum qualifying period is 10 years, so if she was paid over the secondary threshold for 12 years and has IDLR, she will be entitled to 12/35 of the full state pension.  She might have to go back for a couple of months to sort it all out though and it would become frozen as soon as she left again.  If you know her NI Number you can check how many qualifying years she has and an estimate of her pension entitlement on the .gov website.  Just Google "check qualifying NI years UK state pension" and it should come up? 

But Why Would She have an IDLR Visa ?? He's Said his Wife has NEVER Even been to The U.K.