This is a message to all British expats who live in this area.
If you have worked in the UK you will have paid National Insurance contributions and this entitles you to a state pension. If on retirement you are resident in Canada you will find you will be discriminated against by having your pension frozen at the amount of your first payment.
This discrimination affects the UK pensions of expats in all the Commonwealth countries. Other countries including the EU get the index linked increases every year.
This lack of parity has meant that many expats are experiencing financial difficulties as a direct result of their UK pensions being frozen. This means that the Canadian taxpayer is having to fund the low income supplement payments that keep this disenfranchised group from falling into poverty, effectively baling out the UK government by millions of dollars each year.
We do not want to be in a position where we are obliged to take handouts, we just want what we are entitled to, what we paid for, and that is our full pension that is index linked.
You can help to bring this disgraceful situation to the attention of the British Government by going online to the website 38degrees.org.uk scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on “campaign ideas.” This takes you to a list of campaign ideas – scroll down and click on the campaign titled “Fairness, Justice and Equality for all British State Pensioners” to register your vote supporting this campaign.
You don’t have to be an expat to vote and if our campaign gets enough support 38 degrees will take up our cause and will bring pressure to bear on PM David Cameron to eliminate this discrimination.
Jane Davies,
Campbell River