The State Pension is set to rise next April, but 500,000 people are likely to miss out.
The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is expected to announce details of this increase in his Autumn Statement on November 22. However, it’s been revealed about half a million people will miss out on this rise, according to the Daily Record.
Earlier this year, the CEO and founder of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations warned many Brits living abroad in retirement missed out on the 2023/24 State Pension uprating. Nigel Green, from deVere Group, revealed around 500,000 older Brits living abroad will “continue to have their pensions frozen in value at the point of retirement date or date of emigration”.
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He added: “An estimated 500,000 retired Brits who live abroad will not receive any boost at all. Outrageously, they will continue to have their pensions frozen in value at the point of retirement date or date of emigration. Having a frozen pension means that your retirement income falls in real terms year on year due to inflation – and never has this been more true than as the cost of living has soared.”
Retired Brits living in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United States, the Philippines and Turkey will continue to get yearly increases to their State Pensions under the Triple Lock. However, Mr Green pointed out that most affected State Pensioners live in Commonwealth countries like Australia and Canada. Despite having paid UK taxes and National Insurance contributions all their working lives, these Brits won’t benefit from the uprating.
He said: “It seems completely unjust that someone living in the USA will receive an extra £1,000, yet someone just across the border in Canada, in the same situation, will not.” If the UK Government decides to increase State Pensions using the lower wages growth figure (excluding employee bonuses) next April (7.8%), it would mean millions of pensioners missing out on an extra £75 in 2024. But, any attempts to change or break the Triple Lock before a general election could be costly for the Conservative Party.
Annual increase in the State Pension – eligible countries:
The Government pay the UK State Pension worldwide. However, you will only get an increase every year if you live in:
- the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland
- a country that has a social security agreement with the UK that allows for the cost of living increases to the State Pension
EEA countries and Switzerland
If you currently live in the EEA or Switzerland and receive a UK State Pension, you will usually get an increase in your pension every year.
The EEA countries are:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
Countries the UK has a social security agreement with:
The UK has agreements with some other countries to protect the social security rights of workers moving between the two countries. These are sometimes known as ‘bilateral agreements’ or ‘reciprocal agreements’.
If you live in one of the following countries and receive a UK State Pension, you will usually get an increase in your pension every year:
- Barbados
- Bermuda
- Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Gibraltar
- Guernsey
- the Isle of Man
- Israel
- Jamaica
- Jersey
- Kosovo
- Mauritius
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
- the Philippines
- Serbia
- Turkey
- USA
The UK has social security agreements with Canada and New Zealand, but you cannot get a yearly increase in your UK State Pension if you live in either of those countries.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.
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