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

[Expat68]

2 hours ago, a3tsw said:

Yes and more than a few on here do just that…

I would never spragg, it is not in my nature but I would not shed a tear for them if they were caught 

[save the frogs]

17 hours ago, Kinnock said:

I reckon most pensioner in the UK take money out of the system by requiring free hospital treatment.

 

Pensioners in Thailand cost them nothing and some also pay UK taxes.

good point I hadn't thought of.

they are not using the hospital system. 

probably a net gain for the govt then. 

so it makes no sense then to freeze the pensions. 

[Jiggo]

Been going on for decades, but if he moves to the Philippines he would get the full current  UK state pension.

[Kinok Farang]

13 hours ago, Ben Zioner said:

How could that happen to a "former banker"?

Rhyming slang.

[geisha]

15 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 he’s been here for 15 years. I know many of you have been and longer,  

Would anyone have known then that their pensions would be frozen later on ? Thailand was cheaper to live in too 15 yrs ago, so it must have looked attractive over the UK or many other colder countries. I find it’s disgusting, you pay in alll your working life to get what ? I’m glad I don’t live in the UK, left in 1969, and I’m so glad .

[jori123]

11 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Problem there is if someone returns to UK and tells DWP they are 'back for good', they will ask how long have they been out of UK, deduct any increases you have got illegally since then. Then they will keep their eye on your Passport comings and goings.

Where did this utter gem come from,you must have had this information  lifted from somewhere,where?      ".Deduct increases"? Are you sure of this? Who is going to deduct them?  "Return to UK" OK returned,never asked that,        "illegally " you state,where is it stated its "illegal" "passport comings and goings" are u sure of this?"keeping eyes open"  must have been sleeping then last few times i traversed

5 hours ago, Expat68 said:

 

5 hours ago, Expat68 said:

I would never spragg, it is not in my nature but I would not shed a tear for them if they were caught 

Well there will be no tears shed from you then  Wonder where the chief organiser of DWP rules and regulations has disappeared to,usually first off on this subject  RIP to him if he's jettisoned off the mortal coil

[jori123]

Returned uk,after cancer  alert in calcutta,india,  thailand too expensive, then uk  ,treatment straight away,showered with benefits 1500 quid straight off,450 a month tax free too,3 months treatment at least,back to thailand,  after a while back to uk knee op after few months.   Could not give a toss,fact is encouraged to return to th,keeping the 450 a month tax free too  paid my whack on giving  end now on receiving end,but still paying national debt off in income tax   oh still unfrozen,never been frozen   and dwp knew it all those years ago

 

 

[Hanuman2547]

This is a messed-up system.  You paid into it for all of your working life.  Now that you are of age to receive it, you should be able to receive it wherever you live in the world and collect all of the steps in the system when they occur.  This includes anytime that the benefit you are entitled to receives an increase.

[jori123]

29 minutes ago, jori123 said:

 

 

[Andycoops]

Imagine receiving financial advice from him unless of course he was the janitor.

No mention of any private or company pension, why?

PPS

[impulse]

8 hours ago, sambum said:

 

And what about the pound that bounces round the Phillippines or the USA or.....?

 

How does that benefit the British economy?  Or the British taxpayer?

 

 

[UbonEagle]

Understand the OP frustration of rule changes that are not "grandfathered"...but if roughly $100AUD a week (the difference between indexed and non indexed pension) is making or breaking his ability to live the lifestyle he desires... Then clearly he didn't plan too well for retirement 🤔

[Presnock]

21 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

Yeah, just like the USA.  Congress in working up the new govt budget is cutting the benefits and govt share of the health insurance costs by increasing 3.3% of the monthly input for retirement, plus will not pay the 72% of health insurance, plus some other changes too - on the contract that these civil servents signed onto 40 years ago - then they gave the civil servents the choice of joining the new system as opposed to the old system (of which I luckily did not agree to the changes - as a manager when asked if folks should change over to the new system my response was "why is the government doing these changes? answer - to save money - from where? - your pockets) thus not so many of us did change but some did.  There were some positives to the new system but I liked the security of the old system and it worked out well for me.  But there are even some more minor adjustments possibly going to be recommended to so I am absolutely positivie that the current civil servents are not going to be happy and also it will mean that getting a lot of folks to join the civil service will change - But, then if the economy tanks, folks will be looking for a job just about anywhere!  Have a great (HOT) day!

[wavodavo]

19 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. 

 

 

19 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. 

 

Don't forget that this pensioner has not cost the NHS one pound in all the years he has lived in Thailand . That must have saved the Government heaps.

[Nemo.]

19 hours ago, save the frogs said:

 

I don't know. If that's the case, then there must be some sort of agreement with the other countries.

Then maybe my theory is off. 

 

It's due to reciprocal agreements. If none the state pension is frozen.

 

Could be short sighted though as if sick pensioners return to UK they cost more to the NHS. 

 

Although anyone relying on the state pension really should have saved  a lot more. For me it's just a  top up to cover increased medical costs when I reach 67.

[KannikaP]

2 hours ago, jori123 said:

Where did this utter gem come from,you must have had this information  lifted from somewhere,where?

Believe it or not Mr Jori, I produced that myself, no AI, Chat GPT or anything. It just seemed a logical thing to say or ask.

Sorry you did not think the same as I did.

[KannikaP]

2 hours ago, jori123 said:

Returned uk,after cancer  alert in calcutta,india,  thailand too expensive, then uk  ,treatment straight away,showered with benefits 1500 quid straight off,450 a month tax free too,3 months treatment at least,back to thailand,  after a while back to uk knee op after few months.   Could not give a toss,fact is encouraged to return to th,keeping the 450 a month tax free too  paid my whack on giving  end now on receiving end,but still paying national debt off in income tax   oh still unfrozen,never been frozen   and dwp knew it all those years ago

 

 

No need to shout. Turn Bold OFF.

[jori123]

12 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

No need to shout. Turn Bold OFF.

Sorry also,am on small phone,hard to type  not only A1 but rules easy to read  there is no punishment so that's it, it's policy,not legislation 

[KannikaP]

5 minutes ago, jori123 said:

Sorry also,am on small phone,hard to type  not only A1 but rules easy to read  there is no punishment so that's it, it's policy,not legislation 

So if someone was caught claiming full Pension increases while still living here, would the DWP not want some of it back.

 

[BritManToo]

31 minutes ago, Nemo. said:

Although anyone relying on the state pension really should have saved  a lot more. For me it's just a  top up to cover increased medical costs when I reach 67.

Most of the  UK population barely earn enough to pay for food and housing.

They have no money to speculate on investments and pension plans.

And if they did, their wife would get most of it in the divorce.

[mikebell]

22 hours ago, webfact said:

At 70, the former banker relies on a weekly £137

Mine's £93 a week after 44 years of service.

[mikebell]

9 hours ago, save the frogs said:

good point I hadn't thought of.

they are not using the hospital system. 

probably a net gain for the govt then. 

so it makes no sense then to freeze the pensions. 

They saved billions in pensions when Covid was encouraged to spread through retirement homes.

[NoshowJones]

18 hours ago, nakhonandy said:

It's wrong and we all know it. To be fair we knew this when we decided to retire to Thailand. The government won't change this rule as it's too expensive to do so and we don't vote anyhow so we have no power.

I did not know the annual UK state pension increases were frozen until I moved to Thailand but I had a good few years to go before I reached pension age. 

[maxcorrigan]

Don't know if this has been mentioned, when we in the EU this unfair practise was brought up, tony blair that well known so called socialist fought tooth and nail to get it stopped and apparently was succefull (sp) good old toe eh!

[KannikaP]

32 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

I did not know the annual UK state pension increases were frozen until I moved to Thailand but I had a good few years to go before I reached pension age. 

But now it is pegged at what it was 20 years ago?

[Woke to Sounds]

Fellow should've become a bankster not a banker, then all would be well.

[billd766]

7 hours ago, geisha said:

But he’s been here for 15 years. I know many of you have been and longer,  

Would anyone have known then that their pensions would be frozen later on ? Thailand was cheaper to live in too 15 yrs ago, so it must have looked attractive over the UK or many other colder countries. I find it’s disgusting, you pay in alll your working life to get what ? I’m glad I don’t live in the UK, left in 1969, and I’m so glad .

Anybody that did any research before coming to Thailand would have known that. In addition the other factor to take into consideration is the Forex rate which changes daily and in many cases more than once a day.

[Upnotover]

2 hours ago, Andycoops said:

Imagine receiving financial advice from him unless of course he was the janitor.

No mention of any private or company pension, why?

PPS

 

From the story...."Adding to his woes is a modest private pension that fails to deliver the retirement he envisioned."

 

He must have something as he managed to retire at 55, 10 years before starting to receive his state pension.

[simon43]

25 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

But now it is pegged at what it was 20 years ago?

The pension will be pegged at the amount paid in the UK on your retirement date.  So I retire in 6 weeks from now and so my UK pension will start to be paid at the current UK rate.  But next year, when that amount increases in the UK (due to the triple lock), my pension will remain the same as before.  That won't make a huge difference in the short-term, but would be important some 10 or 20 years down the line.

[KannikaP]

18 minutes ago, simon43 said:

The pension will be pegged at the amount paid in the UK on your retirement date. 

Will it not be pegged at what you were getting when you ''left'' UK' if you leave after retirement?