State pension warning: 500,000 pensioners excluded from boost based on where they live
PENSIONERS living abroad could miss out on the state pension increase.
Pensioner calls for his state pension to be 'unfrozen'
The state pension is set to rise on April 11, 2022, helping pensioners to keep up with the rising cost of living. However, some British retirees will not see the increase this month.
This is because expats living in certain countries receive a ‘frozen’ state pension.
The UK state pension is only increased in certain nations which have an agreement with the UK.
This leaves many pensioners with a state pension that never rises.
This can be very damaging to their spending power, as inflation takes its toll over time and reduces the value of their state pension.
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There are estimated to be more than 500,000 Britons who receive a frozen state pension.
Many of these people live in countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
More than one million Britons are believed to live in Australia alone.
It is vital people know whether or not they will get a yearly state pension increase before making a decision on whether to retire abroad.
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The British state pension does increase each year in nations in the European Economic Area (EEA), which are the following countries:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Republic of Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
The following nations also have an agreement with the UK to increase the state pension:
- Barbados
- Bermuda
- Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Gibraltar
- Guernsey
- The Isle of Man
- Israel
- Jamaica
- Jersey
- Kosovo
- Mauritius
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
- The Philippines
- Serbia
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- USA
When next week’s increase kicks in, the full new state pension will increase from £179.60 to £185.15 a week.
This means pensioners receiving the full sum getting an extra £288.60 in the 2022/23 tax year.
The full basic state pension will rise from £137.60 to £141.85.
Recipients of the full basic state pension will therefore get an additional £221 in 2022/23.