Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government why British Citizens who are subject to taxation by HM Revenue & Customs and are living in a British Overseas Territory are not eligible for an uplift in their state pension.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no connection between State Pension uprating and taxation.
An individual’s UK State Pension is based on the number of qualifying years on their National Insurance record.
The Government has a clear position, which has remained a consistent policy of successive Governments for around 70 years. UK State Pensions are payable worldwide and are uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so; for example in the European Economic Area, or countries where we have a reciprocal social security agreement that allows for State Pension uprating which include the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Bermuda. We have no plans to change this policy.