A welcome change (From Witney Gazette)

It's always nice to hear a story with a happy end and due tothe council having a change of heart.
How do we get the Prime Minister David Cameron to have a change of heart over the freezing of a minority of pensioners who it seems live in the wrong country according to the government and they get no annual uprating as a result.
Writing to him has proved to be a waste of time. Writing to the Pensions Minister Steve Webb is even more of waste of time and he was adamant that this unfair policy would be changed before the last election and now he is in the perfect place to do it. Even David Cameron has said that he wants fairness but does'nt seem to know what fairness is.
So I will tell him. All pensioners will have paid into the Nationa;l Insurance Fund because the payments are mandatory for both the worker and the employer. Now come to retiremnt and all pensioners are entitled to the pension that they have paid for and expect - that's fair but the government following others before them continue to freeze just a minority of these pensioners and they are mainly in the Commonwealth countries plus others like Thailand and Singapore, the British Virgin Islands and even the Falkland Islands. He wanted fairness for them by having a referendum over their future with Argentina or the UK. Something is amiss here surely. But wait, the government pay the uprated p-ension to the pensioners in the UK of course and also those in the EU, the USA and even the Philippines AND the US Virgin Islands. Now you could not make a story like that up could you. But the local MP and Prime Minister thinks that it is totally fair and moral to continue this robbery of these few, even though the NI fund is in a massive surplus of about 38 billion pounds and growing. What fair minded person would continue to deprive a pensioner of their rightful pension knowing that should that bwe their onle source of income that it will lead to poverty and distress for them unless family or their country of residence helps them.
Councillor Coles said : "Their keenness to talk and willingness to listen to those of us who use the club is a great relief after many years of having to deal with a brick wall."
How refreshing to hear that and how refreshing it would be to hear the Prime Minister announce that the discrimination is ending and All pensioners wherever they decide to retire will receive their full pension.
This would save many many hours of work for the DWP to answer all the questions and pay the uprating for those that visit the UK from a frozen country. I wonder how much that costs ?

morgeo - I have a feeling that you don't understand government policy, do you?

Did you not know that where the cost of fully up rating an existing scheme actually produces a long term saving to the UK economy the government will spend more money to maintain the current position?

Thus it is with frozen pensions. To abolish the ruling would cost money but produce long term savings but the government don't realise that and, of course, by law have all the administrative costs of "temporary" indexing on return to UK.

That is why I am so heartened by the letter from Councillor Coles. I congratulate him and those who supported him in their battle; the frozen pensioners will likewise prove to be winnwrs in the end.

Thankyou Robthe Fox for your comment and as I understand it , the fact that these pensioners are not in the UK is saving the government about 7,000 Pounds per year. Now if the financing of the uprating is such a problem you might think that they would encourage pensioners to emigrate on retirement rather than forcing them to stay to receive their full and right pension. That seem logical, but when did logic play any part in politics ?

Thankyou Robthe Fox for your comment and as I understand it , the fact that these pensioners are not in the UK is saving the government about 7,000 Pounds per year. Now if the financing of the uprating is such a problem you might think that they would encourage pensioners to emigrate on retirement rather than forcing them to stay to receive their full and right pension. That seem logical, but when did logic play any part in politics ?

I always enjoy reading the letters comments on this site, and was very interested in Andrew Coles letter, only to see it Hijacked by Morgeo moaning on about his pension.
If I was Mr Coles I would find this very frustrating, please write and start your own thread Morgeo.
Ps. You made your choice to emigrate and the majority have no sympathy for you.

I would have thought that Councellor Coles having posted his letter on 21st June must have been quite pleased to see that after nearly three weeks in which no one commented morgeo made the effort not only to congratulate him as no other Witney reader had done but to highlight another national disgrace and about which Garry Henwood seems totally ignorant.

That was indeed my intention to not only say how nice it is to have a happy outcome to what was a seemingly dead duck but to show that this is exactly the situation that these pensioners are in. You may have learned something in the meantime Mr Henwood and from your response you have no sense of morality over what is theft of my pension by the government and your honourable MP David Cameron is condoning this immoral injustice. Should you wish to spend your retirement in another country for reasons of health or to join your family or whatever, then the government have no right to withold your pension entitlement . This affects just 4% of all pensioners worldwide , so do you think that is fair and reasonable ?
To pay the full pension to those in the USA but not those in Canada. To pay those in the Philppines but not those in the Falkland Islands. To pay those in the US Virgin Islands and not those in the British Virgin Islands gives you some idea of the stupidity of the freezing policy that this and previous governments have been imposing on 1 in 25 pensioners for over 60 yrs who have all paid into the NI fund the same as everyone else throughout their working life but are now denied their rightful pension.
If you are so upset about my letter then prove me wrong in what I have said and show me the justification for the continuation of this robbery.
I challenge you to approach David Cameron by letter or in person and confirm that what I have said is true. If he tells you that an agreement is necessary with these countries, he is telling fibs because this is purely a British government policy introduced by a regulation that forms part of the Annual Benefits uprating.
How sick is that !