Drop in event in UK Parliament 22nd April

[Bridget Barber]

Hi Everyone,

Here's a quick reminder that the End Frozen Pensions Campaign is holding a Drop in Event followed by a Round table on Wednesday 22nd April.  That is in two days time.  

 Please write to your UK MP and ask them to attend if you haven't already done so and thank you to those of you who have.

Here is some help in writing your email.

Enid Frozen Pensions Campaign along with BPiA is holding a drop in event in the UK Parliament on 22nd April. to inform MPs about

Here is something everyone can do to help make the event a success.

Send a letter or email to your UK MP asking them to attend the event.

If you don't know who your UK MP is then go to

https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

and enter the postcode for your last address in the UK.

If you don't know your postcode go to

https://www.royalmail.com/find-a-postcode

Here is an example of a letter you could send:

My Name

My Street Address

My Suburb

My State and postcode

AUSTRALIA

My email address

Date

Jane Smith MP

House of Commons

London SW1A 0AA

UNITED KINGDOM

email address jane.s...@parliament.uk

Dear Ms Smith,

I am registered as an overseas voter in your electorate.

I am aware that the End Frozen Pensions Campaign is holding a Drop-In event on 22nd

April 2026.

I urge you to attend this event because it will enable you to understand the frozen

pensions policy and its affect on people who have contributed to the National Insurance

scheme. If you are familiar with this issue, attendance at this event will enable you to

lend your support for a change in this unfair arbitrary policy.

Yours sincerely

My Name

You will need to adapt this to put in your personal details.

You can add more if you wish e.g. how Frozen Pensions affect you personally but

Keep it short

Don't focus on individual issues

Do not include individual complaints

Avoid technical language

Do not include logos

REMEMBER

It takes 7 times before they will comprehend an individual message so we need as many people as possible to write in order to break through their consciousness.

GOOD LUCK

If you get a response please let us know.

The event is hosted by Tessa Munt MP, John Duguid (Chair, End Frozen Pensions Campaign – International) and Sheila Telford (Director, EFPC / Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners).

 

Event details
📍 Portcullis House (please contact camp...@endfrozenpensions.org for room details)
📅 Wednesday, 22 April
⏰ 11:00–11:30 AM

 

Not able to attend? Please support our campaign by adding your name to our Canada/Australia/UK Parliamentarian letter calling on Sir Keir Starmer to bring about change to this unfair and unjust policy. Simply reply with a positive response to this email and your name will be added to the 163 Parliamentarians who have already given us their support.

[Bruce]

Dear Bridget,

Thanks again for working so hard for all of us ex pats. Here is the conversation I had with my UK MP
_______________________________________
From: "Bruce Englefield " 
Sent: 10 April 2026 11:08
To: ROOME, ian.ro...@parliament.uk
Subject: Re: Frozen Pension event (Case Ref: IR15027)
  

Dear Ian, 

Thank you for your rapid response and your honest, intelligent and moral statements. 

I would make a point about your statements

Without agreements, uprating pensions abroad is costly. It would cost £0.5 billion a year to pay UK citizens living in Canada, Australia or New Zealand the same as pensioners living in the UK. Without a reciprocal agreement, British taxpayers’ money effectively goes straight into the pockets of foreign Governments.

It is not British taxpayers’ money, it is ours that we paid in over many years. Furthermore, it may go straight into the Australian Government but what about the money the UK Government has saved by us migrating to Australia. The National Health system alone will have been saved hundreds of thousands of pounds that it has cost the Australian Government for all the operations we have needed since arriving here in Tasmania 25 years ago. We have received none of the other benefits given to UK seniors. We haven’t used any of the UK infrastructure.

Yours sincerely, 

Bruce.

Dear Bruce, 

Thank you for your reply. Like I said, I agree that it is unfair that some UK pensioners abroad receive state pension increases while others do not, simply based on where they live. 

The difficulty is that the UK State Pension does not work like a private pension pot with each person drawing back exactly what they paid in. It is part of a wider National Insurance system, where contributions go into funding current pensions and other benefits, rather than being held in an individual account for each contributor. That means the rules on uprating are set by government policy and by reciprocal arrangements with particular countries, rather than by each person’s own contribution record alone.

Of course, that doesn’t take away from the argument you’re making. People who have moved abroad may also have reduced demand on UK public services over many years, including the NHS and other support and that’s one of the reasons why we Liberal Democrats continue to argue that the current frozen pension policy is unfair and needs to be revisited.

Best wishes, 
Ian 

Office of Ian Roome MP Member of Parliament for North Devon

Sent from Proton Mail for iOS.

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[Richard Denton]

Dear BAPA,

I get a small French state pension for the 9 years I worked in France. It is paid straight into my Australian bank account every month. I send a life certificate every year stamped and verified by Centre Link. My pension receives the annual cost of living increase exactly the same as if I was living in France. There is no discrimination. ONLY THE MINDBOGGLING DUPLICITOUS BRITISH PAY FROZEN PENSIONS ACCORDING TO WHERE YOU LIVE. IT IS MONSTROUSLY WRONG!

I wrote to Her Majesty years ago. To two Prime Ministers. To scores of MEPs and a number of Cabinet members.  None of them could dispute the charge of discrimination. All of them quoting the worn out stance of the government we've always done it this way and we see no reason to change.... words fail‼️

Richard Denton

Sent from my iPhone 13

On 20 Apr 2026, at 15:23, 'Bruce' via BAPA <bapa...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Dear Bridget,

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bapanews/VbxP9Q2WufZzm56OGiJOftSNfQA-FWSe2GBlccjCQsBaAKL5KyMliE8w7uhk1bMqqV6LZEp3nBcI5-7vVGdTTb0ftsb6qXRVX23EDZdc78I%3D%40protonmail.com.

[Paul Swain]

Hi Everyone!

I think that there is an easy way to email your UK MP about this.

The End Frozen Pensions campaign has set up a web site that will do most of the hard work for you.  Just go to https://endfrozenpensions.emailyourmp.uk/email/ and put in your UK post code and it will find your MP and prepare a suggested message.

So if you've been putting off sending an email to your MP, please give this a try.

Bridget:  Does this sound right?  And do you have any more details about what is going on on 22 April?

I found out about https://endfrozenpensions.emailyourmp.uk/email/ after I got an email from Gillian Mittins, Anne Puckridge's daughter, who you may remember started the petition on Change.org.  You can read the message that Gillian sent at https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister-meet-with-my-99-year-old-ww2-veteran-mum-fighting-to-end-frozen-pensions/u/34489305

As before, if you don't know your postcode you can go to https://www.royalmail.com/find-a-postcode to find it.

Please let me know if there are any issues.  As I'm not a UK citizen, there isn't any point in me emailing an MP, so I can't test it out.

Paul

[Bruce]

Yes Richard words fail!!  A pity the case went to the court of human rights in Brussels when the UK was in the EU. I suspect the decision might be different now they are not. 

Regards

Bruce

Sent from Proton Mail for iOS.

-------- Original Message --------

On Monday, 04/20/26 at 16:07 'Richard Denton' via BAPA <bapa...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Dear BAPA,

I get a small French state pension for the 9 years I worked in France. It is paid straight into my Australian bank account or every month. I send a life certificate every year stamped and verified by Centre Link. My pension receives the annual cost of living increase exactly the same as if I was living in France. There is no discrimination. ONLY THE MINDBOGGLING DUPLICITOUS BRITISH PAY FROZEN PENSIONS ACCORDING TO WHERE YOU LIVE. IT IS MONSTROUSLY WRONG!

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bapanews/50873D7E-A87A-4D67-AE90-AA04F06A7524%40me.com.

[alexander whitehead]

dear richard i have been on the band wagon for more than 20yrs pleading my case on deaf ears. I am now 94yrs .but the buggers will never hear the last of me till my last breath .bless you   ALEXANDER WHITEHEAD

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[lindseywickham]

Dear Bridget,

I have written, twice again, to my MP Mark Pritchard who has no interest whatsoever.  I wrote to Baroness Altmann who sent a nice reply but said there was “no appetite” to change the situation.  I informed her the MPs may have no appetite but we do.  I also wrote to various MPs asking that they support anyone of their constituents who may write to them and lastly, I wrote to Sir Desmond Swayne, who I must confess I had never heard of.  He’s an MP in the south of England who writes  a blog.  A recent one appeared on my Facebook feed entitled ‘1956’ saying that the Triple Lock was unsustainable.   I took that as an opportunity to write to him in reply to his blog.   I hold out no hope but his short reply said, “Many thanks, I will reflect on your reply”.  

Thank you for all the work you do.

Kind regards,

Lindsey Wickham

[Bridget Barber]

Hi Everyone,

I have not yet heard how the Drop in Event and Round table went on Wednesday but when I do I will let you know.

In the meantime I want to say a huge thankyou to all the people who wrote to their MPs asking them to attend the Drop In event and the Round Table.  I was impressed with the effort a number of people who contacted me put in.  I know it is hard when you hit a brick wall.  My MP in Basildon is a conservative and I get a negative stock answer every time I write to him.  He must be fed up with me by now.  However, remember that it raises the issue each time you write.  It tells them we are not going away.

A special thanks to Lindsay Wickam who wrote to numerous people.  I also wrote to the MP for North Devon twice, Ian Roome, he isn't my MP but he is a Lib Dem and their policy is to support unfreezing pensions.  Anthony Ford also wrote to Layla Moran, also a Lib Dem MPand Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee.  She would be a very good person to get on side.  

Next time we have an event I suggest that although these people may not be your personal MP they are people to target.  Seven emails to the same person might bring the issue into their consciousness.

Thank you again

Bridget Barber

It's my experience that the people who shout the loudest are the ones  that get heard.  We must make a big noise.  

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[Marianne]

At least you get a respite se/reply, all the letters I have sent, never once have I received a reply.

Marianne


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

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[Richard Denton]

Dear Bapa and Bpia,

It's the mind numbing mindlessness. Bureaucratic bureaucracy, no body is in charge, no body owns the problem, nobody gives a toss, nobody can do anything to change things. You see it with the Post Office fiasco. How easy to blame it on the system, the Japanese, the small post offices dotted up and down the country. With us expatriates we the mother UK is winding down the Empire. The mother tongue English Dominions still reliant on British governance or examples of. The Dominions not subservient but deferential to the UK. British pensioners not having contributed one jot to pension building in the Commonwealth but the Commonwealth taking on the task of providing health and welfare and income support for the British pensioner. Even 'blind freddie' can see this is woefully unjust but the mind numbing British government system goes wilfully on its own way "not my problem guv" "your fault for leaving us" "any money we give you goes into the pocket of your new country... no benefit to us... a big drain on our stretched resources" ... and more of the same twisted convoluted attitude.

Sorry folks. The ONLY way we can. Bring about change is to mount a MAJOR campaign in ALL media, social, TV, press to tell the truth and shame the government. What would that cost (answer plenty) and are we up for it? Could we fund it?  Hrmph! We would have to give the job to the young switched on generation  with the skills and energy and will to win.

Apologies again for the rant

Richard

Sent from my iPhone 13

On 26 Apr 2026, at 08:37, 'Marianne' via BAPA <bapa...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

 At least you get a respite se/reply, all the letters I have sent, never once have I received a reply.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bapanews/959704393.2061973.1777156618955%40mail.yahoo.com.

[David Taylor]

You’re absolutely right, Richard. We need to hit them where it hurts; letters/emails to MPs are no more than paper darts, and head straight for the bin. If you were a British MP, keeping in mind that their currency is votes and they would kill for them, would you find yourself campaigning for the concept of withdrawing funds from your own electorate in order to give that cash to expats living in (alleged) luxury in the likes of Australia? The UK government has no conscious – even the well oiled fable of ‘British Justice’ is mythical. See what goods they took from the colonies over the years, not to mention the slaves. And their ethics are no better now.

 

Boris didn’t mind the odd party during Covid, and Starmer ‘knew nothing’ about Mandelson’s companions – what a bunch of snollygosters (yes, it’s a real word, look it up)!

 

Stop their oil/gas (if we can), don’t buy their goods (gin/whisky/cheese and chocolates), refuse to visit the country, uninvite any Royal visits. Even a mass demonstration of us all naked (because we can’t afford clothes) outside Parliament in Canberra on a chilly winter morning wouldn’t shame them… but given enough publicity it might just possibly shame enough of the British voters to act – and stir our own representatives to show more support. Anyone got any good media contacts????

 

If we can’t do more than write letters, then focus on those MPS in marginal seats where a couple hundred votes might make a difference, and herd all those expats who can, to vote.

 

They seem to think that taking a thrashing from the Australian Cricketers is penance enough! But, they are complacent and need a couple of well targeted bouncers near their ears.

 

Cheers

David Taylor

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