Australian politician hits out at UK overseas pension ruling

Pensions

An Australian minister has voiced strong disapproval following the court ruling that saw over 500,000 expat retirees stuck with frozen pensions that will not be index linked nor will they rise in line with inflation.

With a large amount of these out-of-pocket expats living in Australia it is no surprise that Australian politicians see it as a cause for concern: “The Australian government believes this policy is discriminatory. The UK's policy severely disadvantages UK pensioners living in Australia as, over time, their UK pensions have declined in real value”, said Jenny Macklin MP the Australian minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Speaking to The Telegraph she also said: “This policy continues to place an increasing burden on all Australian taxpayers, as the Australian government picks up the tab for around 170,000 UK pensioners who also receive means-tested Australian pensions – estimated at about A$100 million (£60 million) per year in additional social security payments”.

Despite the backing of Ms Macklin it seems unlikely that any changes will now come about as the 13 expats who led the court case have so far fallen at every hurdle, the latest loss taking place at the European Court of Human Rights.