UK pensions

[i claudius]

3 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

 

They've done away all UK benefits and pensions for Expat Thai wives.

What about if your not an expat ,but in the UK?

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

I use Kbank and internet banking and I log the daily Forex rates.

 

I have noticed that my State pension only gets a significantly lower Forex rate of between 2.98 and 5.18 baht. This has only been happening since April this year and has nothing to do with the lower rate since Brexit. I spent about an hour this morning making a data table and the result is that I am losing between 2.030 thb and 3,558 thb. Or in GBP it comes to between £46.97 and £69.90 EVERY month depending on the Forex rate of the day.

 

The pensions department was closed yesterday for the holiday but will open today about 08.30 GMT. I will give them a call in the early new year to see if I can find out why this is happening.

 

Also my state pension arrive this morning, 2 days later than normal, and it only took 8 physical days to reach me instead of micro seconds as any electronic transfer normally does.

I cannot really see that the problem can lie with the DWP as there would be no way they could treat people differently. Pensions do come on time so every pension should come on time. Here in Thailand credit to your account is done via Bahtnet so can only be done when Bahtnet is online, I think it is from 08.30 till 17.30. My payments were due on a Friday and it looked like they arrived about 04.00, joined the Bahnet queue and hit my account about 09.30 on the Friday morning.

You have little option but to start with the DWP but if they say they have no control over the transfer of funds you could ask that they initiate a 'Swift' enquiry on your last payment. Unfortunately it is not something you can do yourself, it has to be requested by the originator. It is something I have done in the past when funds I sent went missing. I suspect that they will come up with some excuse why it can't be done, but worth a try. That would pinpoint exactly where any holdups occurred. Good luck.

 

[Eff1n2ret]

1 hour ago, i claudius said:

What about if your not an expat ,but in the UK?

The "Adult Dependency Increase", which is what you enquired about this morning, will be totally phased out for all claimants by April 2020, wherever they live.

[i claudius]

So poor old pensioners who were getting the money will be 250 pounds worse off every month from 2010,and they wonder why so many can't heat their homes when its cold in the UK and why so many people don't want any more immigrants,who have never contributed . You pay in for 40 odd years then get shat on ,while some immigrant with 10 kids gets a luxury house and 40k a year for sitting on his ar_se

Sent from my ASUS_T00J using Tapatalk

[Rajab Al Zarahni]

4 hours ago, i claudius said:

So poor old pensioners who were getting the money will be 250 pounds worse off every month from 2010,and they wonder why so many can't heat their homes when its cold in the UK and why so many people don't want any more immigrants,who have never contributed . You pay in for 40 odd years then get shat on ,while some immigrant with 10 kids gets a luxury house and 40k a year for sitting on his ar_se

Sent from my ASUS_T00J using Tapatalk
 

From 2020

[Kwasaki]

17 hours ago, i claudius said:

What about if your not an expat ,but in the UK?

 

Things are changing too about UK married women have not been made UK citizen.

Program on RT about it.

There maybe something happening  with UK married pension dunno not sure my concern.

 

It' the Russians ya know. 

[billd766]

3 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

 

Things are changing too about UK married women have not been made UK citizen.

Program on RT about it.

There maybe something happening  with UK married pension dunno not sure my concern.

 

It' the Russians ya know. 

 

Nah. It has to be Trump or Brexit.

[Kwasaki]

47 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

Nah. It has to be Trump or Brexit.

 

   well America blames everything on the Russians and UK is still they little puppet. 

[evadgib]

Of interest to the board seen today:

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-year-brings-in-new-penalties-for-enablers-of-offshore-tax-evasion 

[evadgib]

Shafting 550.000 pensioners worldwide netted a knighthood for Webb in the the New Years Honours list....

 

 

Edited January 2, 2017 by evadgib

[Lite Beer]

Anyone have any idea when my state pension might turn up in my Thai bank?
Last appearance was 28 days ago.
I ain't buying this Holliday crap.
Bank transfers are instant.

[theoldgit]

This article was sent to me from a friend in Australia, it highlights the issue from an Australian perspective, they seem to hold a hope that the freezing issue might me addressed when various governments begin trade talks following Brexit, a nice thought but I think HMG will have more to worry about.

 

 British retirees watch frozen pensions disappear

[billd766]

16 hours ago, Lite Beer said:

Anyone have any idea when my state pension might turn up in my Thai bank?
Last appearance was 28 days ago.
I ain't buying this Holliday crap.
Bank transfers are instant.

 

I always thought that bank transfers were instant BUT when I spoke to somebody in the international pensions they told me that they transfer the state pension money to Citibank UK, it then goes to Citibank USA, then I believe to Citibank in Thailand and then to the Thai bank of your choice.

 

What I don't understand is that if my payday is a Wednesday, how come I don't receive it until Tuesday of the following week.

 

It seems to me that my pension seems to stop overnight and at the weekend at every stop in the chain and is lent out at the Libor rate overnight, thus gaining interest for the bank at my expense, until it goes off the next day and does the same thing.

 

I called them again last night and explained this problem and also that since April 2016 the exchange rate for my state pension is between 3 and 4 baht to the GBP LESS than my military pension and my company pension. He promised to look into it and get back to me in a couple of weeks. If not I will get back to them and chase them up.

[ignis]

Re  Pension

My last payment arrived in my Thai Bank on 30th Nov...... So then next money should have arrived on 28th Dec, so far nothing !!!   

 

+ so say ??

https://www.gov.uk/how-to-have-your-benefits-paid

Due day 23 - 30th December ....... payments made on 23rd, wonder where mine has got to ?  = more phone calls

 

when I spoke to somebody in Wolverhampton international pensions they told me to allow 10 work days.. !!!!        

 Automatic payments by Computer that have a long Christmas and New Year ?

[ignis]

30 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

I always thought that bank transfers were instant BUT when I spoke to somebody in the international pensions they told me that they transfer the state pension money to Citibank UK, it then goes to Citibank USA, then I believe to Citibank in Thailand and then to the Thai bank of your choice.

 

What I don't understand is that if my payday is a Wednesday, how come I don't receive it until Tuesday of the following week.

 

It seems to me that my pension seems to stop overnight and at the weekend at every stop in the chain and is lent out at the Libor rate overnight, thus gaining interest for the bank at my expense, until it goes off the next day and does the same thing.

 

I called them again last night and explained this problem and also that since April 2016 the exchange rate for my state pension is between 3 and 4 baht to the GBP LESS than my military pension and my company pension. He promised to look into it and get back to me in a couple of weeks. If not I will get back to them and chase them up.

 

Guess it is who you get on the other end of the phone,  The Guy explained to me, state pension goes to Citibank UK, it then goes to Citibank Ireland then to Thailand...  That was re my phone call yesterday

[nontabury]

6 hours ago, theoldgit said:

This article was sent to me from a friend in Australia, it highlights the issue from an Australian perspective, they seem to hold a hope that the freezing issue might me addressed when various governments begin trade talks following Brexit, a nice thought but I think HMG will have more to worry about.

 

 British retirees watch frozen pensions disappear

 

  Let's hope so, for sure being members of the corrupt EU has not led to equality.

 I do remember when this issue was taken up by the European court, strangely the majority of the judges voted against the British pensioners, even though some of those judges represented countries where there is no discrimination as to where their citizens retire to.

[rockingrobin]

29 minutes ago, nontabury said:

 

  Let's hope so, for sure being members of the corrupt EU has not led to equality.

 I do remember when this issue was taken up by the European court, strangely the majority of the judges voted against the British pensioners, even though some of those judges represented countries where there is no discrimination as to where their citizens retire to.

The issue around UK frozen pensions is not the fault of the EU , but squarely lies with the UK government and parliament.Being a member of the EU means pensions are uprated in all member states which otherwise would not occur, as the UK dont have seperate agreements for all member states.

As for EU courts could you be more specific , which court and case id

[Lite Beer]

This is part of an E Mail I received from Newcastle on 16th December.

Quote

Your first payment was sent to your bank on the 22 November 2016, as you have request to be paid monthly your Pension payments will leave the department every 28 days from that date so next payment will leave department on 20 December 2016. There maybe slight delays with Pension at holiday times.

 

I received my first payment on 7th December and the second payment today 5th January.

So that is over 2 weeks to get here.

[Eff1n2ret]

54 minutes ago, rockingrobin said:

 

As for EU courts could you be more specific , which court and case id

ECHR:-

 

http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-97704#{"itemid":["001-97704"]}

 

Enjoy.

[nontabury]

4 hours ago, rockingrobin said:

The issue around UK frozen pensions is not the fault of the EU , but squarely lies with the UK government and parliament.Being a member of the EU means pensions are uprated in all member states which otherwise would not occur, as the UK dont have seperate agreements for all member states.

As for EU courts could you be more specific , which court and case id

 

 Correct, Initially it was not the fault of the EU, yet this issue was taken to the European Court of Human  Rights, where the judges that I mentioned earlier, backed up this discrimination against British Pensioners. The government at that time, was if my memory is correct Tony Blairs Labour Party, though to be fair no government before or since has ever tried to right this wrong.

 Where do you get the idea that all EU pensioners are treated equally?

[i claudius]

14 hours ago, nontabury said:

 

 Correct, Initially it was not the fault of the EU, yet this issue was taken to the European Court of Human  Rights, where the judges that I mentioned earlier, backed up this discrimination against British Pensioners. The government at that time, was if my memory is correct Tony Blairs Labour Party, though to be fair no government before or since has ever tried to right this wrong.

 Where do you get the idea that all EU pensioners are treated equally?

Blair fought tooth and nail to deny pensioners abroad getting rises , the man is lower than slime .

[Oxx]

1 hour ago, i claudius said:

Blair fought tooth and nail to deny pensioners abroad getting rises

 

Can you provide any evidence of this? Or is it simply unfounded Blair-bashing?

[evadgib]

Having watched a podcast of the entire proceedings at the time I'd say it was fact!

[evadgib]

Jim Tilley interview with ABC in Australia:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-au/video/news/british-retirees-living-in-australia-hope-brexit-could-see-their-frozen-pensions-finally-increase-in-value/vp-BBxUwFn

Edited January 6, 2017 by evadgib

[evadgib]

@Oxx

 

Where does that leave my 2851?

Edited January 6, 2017 by evadgib

[sandyf]

23 hours ago, Lite Beer said:

This is part of an E Mail I received from Newcastle on 16th December.

 

I received my first payment on 7th December and the second payment today 5th January.

So that is over 2 weeks to get here.

It is certainly a bit strange why some people are suffering. My pension started on Sept 1st 2012 and the first payment turned up at about 09.30 on Friday 28th September and invariably about the same time every 4th Friday.

In over 4 years it was only late a couple of times, came on the Monday, and if there was a bank holiday in the UK it would come a day early, Thursday rather than Friday.

[Rimmer]

Multiple off topic bickering posts about Tony Blair have been removed

[nontabury]

6 hours ago, Oxx said:

 

Can you provide any evidence of this? Or is it simply unfounded Blair-bashing?

 No it's not unfounded Blair bashing. Tony WMD Blair fought tooth and nail against the rights of British pensioners to obtain an annual increase in their state pension, this led to the Consrtium of British Pensions taking the case through the Houses of Commons and then to the ECHR in 2008. It's quite easy to look up on google,just type in Carson ECHR.

[billd766]

On 27/12/2016 at 11:52 AM, billd766 said:

 

AFAIK my State pension is paid on a Wednesday (I thought a Friday) and it takes a week to arrive in my Thai bank account at a poor rate of exchange..

 

What really confuses me is that my military pension comes from the same source (the government) yet takes only 2 days unless there is a weekend or public holiday and I get a better rate of exchange. My company pension also only takes 2 days and gets the same rate (roughly) as my military pension.

 

 

I had a phone call from the State pensions people this evening and they explained the exchange rates from January to December 2016 which I had to write down by hand as 10 minutes before they called we had a power cut.

 

The rate at which they buy/transfer baht via Citibank from April last years is as follows

Month              Rate/thb

April                 49.50

May                  50.74

June                50.30

July                  45.44

August            45.53

September     45.72

October           44.85

November      42.37

November      44.22      (I had 2 payments in October because I get paid every 4 weeks. 1 in early November 1 late Nov)

December      44.00

 

Because of the power cut I had no way of checking until after we had finished speaking.

 

he also gave me the 4 weekly rate in GBP that I get paid 13 times per year.

 

When the power came back I looked at my spreadsheet figures and the figures he gave me and they still didnt work. Then I looked at the monthly rate and realised that I had taken the annual rate and divided it by 12 and NOT 13. I changed the amount and the forex rates came out correct or certainly close enough.

 

I asked him if he could give me a contact number and Citibank and he told me that he was not allowed to do so. He also told me that it MAY take up to 10 working days for the transfer.

 

So now I will call him back in a bit and apologise for MY mistake.

 

I need a shave and a shower first though.

 

Just compound my problems I was baking 2 baguettes when the power went off and when it came back on and I finished baking them they came out sort of flattish.

[rockingrobin]

On 1/5/2017 at 8:49 AM, rockingrobin said:

The issue around UK frozen pensions is not the fault of the EU , but squarely lies with the UK government and parliament.Being a member of the EU means pensions are uprated in all member states which otherwise would not occur, as the UK dont have seperate agreements for all member states.

As for EU courts could you be more specific , which court and case id

 

22 hours ago, nontabury said:

 

 Correct, Initially it was not the fault of the EU, yet this issue was taken to the European Court of Human  Rights, where the judges that I mentioned earlier, backed up this discrimination against British Pensioners. The government at that time, was if my memory is correct Tony Blairs Labour Party, though to be fair no government before or since has ever tried to right this wrong.

 Where do you get the idea that all EU pensioners are treated equally?

I think the case you are referring to is A Carson and others v UK. This started in the UK High Court and proceeded to Appeal and eventually the House of Lords. After exhausting the UK options it  was then taken to ECHR and finally the Grand Chamber, at each stage the claimant lost,

To claim discrimination would require that cases that were like, are not treated alike, in the case of Carson v UK it was necessary to show that British  pensioners residing in SA is the same as British pensioners living in the UK. Carson relied upon the payment of NI alone as justification.This failed due to NI is not exclusively for the state pension, but part of the UKs tax system and is used to provide other benefits, unlike a private pension.If the payment of NI was sufficient then it would logically follow the claimant was entitled to other benefits.

The case against also highlighted that the purpose of uprating was too reflect the situation in the UK, a pensioner in the UK is supporting the UK economy whilst the expat pensioner is supporting the host country economy.

The ECHR is not the EU.

Even if the ECHR had found in the claimants favour it does not automatically lead to pension unfreezing. The UK could have simply declared a notice of incompatibility, or parliament change the system to resolve the discrimination such as making the state pension non contributory.