UK Votes for life

[Jill & Ken Willes]

I’ve had success with registering on UK Electoral roll despite not having lived in UK for nearly 60 years and not being on the electoral roll.  I used my last UK address and tge whole process was easy. 

I then applied for an absentee postal vote and again the process took just 48 hours. 

Next I discovered who my local member was.       Sir Iain Duncan Smith (conservative) has been the local Lillie for many years . I wrote to him as follows. 

I an overseas registered voter and with the UK general election approaching, I would like to understand your views on non indexed UK pensions paid to overseas residents. 

As you may (or may not) know, there are a number of Commonwealth Countries where UK pensions were frozen at the date the pension was first granted.   Considering that we paid indexed contributions during and after our working lives, this ongoing approach seems entirely unfair and inequitable.   For example, If I chose to live in the USA, my pension would be annually indexed.   How can this be right when the USA is favoured over those of us who lived and worked in the UK and decided for family reasons to live in another Commonwealth country. 

There are half a million of us with frozen pensions and we now have the right to vote.  We will be using this privilege very carefully, based upon the responses from the various electorates.

His reply (note the incorrect use of “residence” )

Thank you for your recent email regarding UK pensions paid to overseas residence.

I understand your concerns and therefore, I am writing to Mel Stride, the Secretary of state to the Department for Work and Pensions, asking him to respond to the matter you have raised. I will come back to you as soon as I receive a reply.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

I replied as follows :

Good morning, Sir Iain,

Thank you for your prompt response.

I appreciate your acknowledgment of the ongoing dialogue with Mel Stride, Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions. Over the years, many of us, including myself, have become accustomed to receiving similar blocking responses from official channels. 

However, what I'm truly interested in is your personal perspective on the matter. How do you feel about the situation, and how would you vote if it were up to you?

In our democratic society, I sincerely hope that you feel empowered to express your individual viewpoint rather than solely adhering to party lines. 

Your response will not only inform my own decision but also provide guidance to others as we consider future elections.

I’m awaiting his reply!

I next found the Labor candidate who, interestingly,  has been catching up with the conservative vote and might well unseat Sir Iain at the next election

I sent her a similar letter enquiring about her views. 

Her response. 

Dear Ken,

Many thanks for taking the time to write to me and for explaining this issue. I have to admit, I didn’t know about this particular challenge so will discuss with the relevant people and come back to you. 

Very best, 

Faiza Sgaheen. 

Chingford and Woodford Green electorate. 

 

I’m intrigued that as a labor candidate she was not aware of the frozen pensions.  I’m pretty sure that the conservatives will be thrown out at the next election. Perhaps we should be identifying all the labor candidates, many of whom might be elected, and write to them seeking support?  I had a feeling that labor were perhaps more sympathetic in this matter? 

Ken Willes 

Sent from my iPhone

[Richard Denton]

Hi Ken,

Those are superb letters you wrote to Sir Iain Duncan Smith. Crisp and to the point. Excellent.

Richard

PS he should have pluralized residence

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[clive walford]

should we all expats frozen or not   be sending hwavy letters to all parties  oher than the tories?

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[alexander whitehead]

Hi have bean saying along your lines for more than 15yrs i am waiting for a interview with the daily telegraph ,watch this space ALEXANDER WHITEHEAD

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[Chris Hill]

Only thing missing from letter to IDS is that we still pay variable UK tax on our frozen pensions and therefore are doubly detrimentally affected by recent tax changes! 

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[Gary Rees]

Hi,

Im sorry I’ve been watching this for some time and not really understanding the thread.

Now please don’t think for one minute I’m supporting the UK government, but, being in a commonwealth country isn’t that commonwealth country obliged to make up the shortfall? The UK do the same in return don’t they?

I can see where i.e in Australia that may fall down as the Aussie government “means test” the payment so if you have a private superfund you won’t get the difference, however if you’re in say the US they don’t make up the difference at all, isn’t that correct?

The other curved ball I’ve just seen is the below comment from Chris Hill saying you pay UK tax on the UK pension.

As far as I know the UK pension is under the tax threshold so anyone paying tax must have a reasonable UK income aside from the UK pension, that is no different from if you lived in the UK, or am I missing something here.

I honestly don’t think any government blue or red will change things as Its the civil servants that run the country not the politicians, they are just there to con us all into thinking we have a voice.

If you want change can I suggest writing to the TV companies and get them involved like the Mr Bates series, although that has gone back on the back burner I notice.

Sent from my iPhone

On 23 Mar 2024, at 16:01, Chris Hill <christophe...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[mary barber]

Hi, I am in Australia & my husband & I came out in 1999 on a retirement visa 410. Stopped not long after  But on that visa you remain a Visitor for Ever & I have to renew my visa every 10 years & can never claim a pension here as not a permanent  resident or a citizen but still get much reduced pension since 2003  from Uk.So really don’t belong any where. Had to sell our 4 bed house & move to 2bed unit just so I have some money to live on & hope I die before it runs out or will have to move again.Also for your info have to pay to get pemission to but another house  ,lasts for a year & then they charge an extra 7% stamp duty  as as a visitor you come under a “ foreign invester “  Can’t win But as my kids are here & I don’t want to live in Uk   I make the best of it along with friends on same visa.  Cheers andra

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[Chris Hill]

Current government has frozen the personal allowance meaning indexed tax payers are loosing 700k pa as pensioners don't benefit from reduced NI.

Point I was making is frozen expats are subject to tax variations without being indexed so double whammy! 

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[Chris Hill]

And no UK government does not make up any shortfalls!

On Sat, 23 Mar 2024, 15:53 'Gary Rees' via BAPA, <bapa...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

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[Michael Goodall]

Hi Mary,

The 410 Visa holders were granted a pathway to permanent residency in the May 2018 budget and the majority of us who are still living are now permanent residents.  You and all other 410 Retirement Visa holders should have received a letter from the Government about it.

As 6 years have gone bye perhaps it might not be worth you applying but it could give you access to Medicare if you don't have it on your current 410 visa. it depends upon when you applied for your Visa whether you are entitled to Medicare. If you applied before the end of December 1998 you should have been given a choice?

If you wish to discuss it you can call me on one of the number below. However, please remember I am in Perth WA.

Best regards,

Mike Goodall

Tel:-     +61 8 6364 0859

Mob:- +61 403 909 865

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From: bapa...@googlegroups.com <bapa...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of mary barber <cat...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, 23 March 2024 6:45 PM
To: bapa...@googlegroups.com <bapa...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: [bapanews] UK Votes for life

 

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[mary barber]

Dear Mike ,

Thaks for your reply,after my husband was sick with a brain tumour I enquired about medicare for visitors & after a lot of  passing me around departments the card we should have had was back dated & I was paid about 13000.00

However I decided not to pay 55,000.00 for a permanent visa as I was then 74 yrs & you still didn’t get a pension for ten years so I thought I may not live that long I kept my money & as I am now 80 very pleased I did.

I think I get more from my money than from medicare.Also to keep my visa have to have top medical insuranc at over 5grand a year but at least the paid GP bills with no gap which is worth a lot these days.

Cheers andra Barber

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