Frank Swaine currently collects his state pension, as well as his workplace pension in Thailand, where he has lived since 2017.
The 72-year-old former coach and bus driver only gets £130 per week from the UK government, but this amount will not increase no matter how high inflation gets, or how much average wages in the UK increase.
This is because Frank, who lives in Nakhon Ratchasima in the centre of the east Asian country, is one of around 500,000 UK state pensioners living abroad who has a “frozen” state pension.
State pensioners living in the UK see their pension increased each year by the triple lock policy – which sees pensions go up in line with inflation, average wage growth or 2.5 per cent (whichever is highest) – but this does not happen for those living overseas unless they are living in a country which has a reciprocal agreement with the UK.
Frank says he feels the Government “preys on expats” like himself who have moved abroad, and don’t get to collect the extra money.
He is losing close to £50 per week, compared to what he would get if his pension was not frozen. This equates to more than £2,500 over the course of a year.
And until recently he received an even lower amount. This is because the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says it did not receive correspondence from him saying that he was moving to Thailand in 2017, even though Frank says he wrote to them at the time.
The DWP now claims back a portion of what it says it overpaid to him as a result.
“The effect this has had on our lives is quite substantial, going from living a great life in a great country to surviving week to week,” says Frank, who has his money paid into a UK bank account.
He says the situation has got worse because of a drop in the value of the pound against the baht – the local currency in Thailand – in the past ten years. Back in 2016, it was common to be able to get over 50 baht to the pound, but the rate is now around 46.
“I retired early on medical grounds and the state pension is a large part of my income. We moved here as I promised my Thai wife we would come to Thailand after we retired and start a new life out here,” Frank adds.
“You have to remember I am one of hundreds of thousands of people that this could be happening to,” he says.
He says he believes many pensioners living abroad have probably not told the UK Government they have moved, so as to avoid having their pensions frozen.
Campaigners have been pushing for the Government to unfreeze the pensions of those living abroad for years.
The US has a reciprocal agreement with the UK over pension increases, while pensioners in the EU, EEA or Switzerland see payments increased each year. But those in other countries do not.
The Campaign to End Frozen Pensions reacted angrily to the news that the Labour and Conservative manifestos for this week’s general election did not include any reference to the issue.
“Some of those affected are receiving a UK state pension as little as £20 per week. It seems politically bizarre not to have done so”, said Edwina Melville-Gray, spokesperson for the International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP).
Over 20,000 have signed an online petition calling for an end to the practice, but the UK Government has highlighted the high cost of unfreezing pensions.
It says it would cost £940m this year alone to uprate the state pension, and has previously said it has no plans to do so, with the policy having been in place for 70 years.
In response to a parliamentary question in 2021, Baroness Stedman-Scott, then a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions said: “Advice that the UK state pension is not up-rated overseas except where there is a legal requirement has been provided to the public for many years. Information is provided in leaflets and on gov.uk.”
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was contacted for comment.
