Commonwealth Countries: Reciprocal Pension Agreements Debate
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Lord Dodds of Duncairn
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Commonwealth Countries: Reciprocal Pension Agreements
Lord Dodds of Duncairn Excerpts(3 years, 2 months ago)
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Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)
The state pension has been uprated in the EU as part of long-standing provisions in EU law before the UK left the EU. The withdrawal agreement ensures that state pensioners who had already moved to the EU to retire while the UK was a member state will continue to have their state pensions uprated.
Lord Dodds of Duncairn (DUP) [V]
My Lords, more than half a million people are affected by having their pensions frozen while living overseas. The Government have said on a number of occasions that they do not intend to change the overall policy. How can it be right that something so iniquitous and unjust continues to persist, discriminating in respect of which countries people emigrate to?
Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)
The UK Government have continued to honour their legal obligations in relation to uprating pensions overseas. While I realise this will be disappointing, we have no plans to change that policy at the moment.