More than half a million expatriate Britons were left reeling with a sense of injustice this week after their long and arduous claim against the British Government for equal pension rights was dismissed by the European Court of Human Rights.
The legal action brought by the group of British expats was in relation to the current ‘frozen pensions’ policy affecting mostly retired Britons living in Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations. Even though they previously contributed to Britain’s mandatory National Insurance Scheme during their working lives, their current pensions during retirement, are not indexed annually against inflation.
The appeal bench at the ECHR found that Britain’s long standing ‘frozen pensions’ policy was therefore not discriminatory.
The legal ruling brings to a close an epic legal fight mounted by various British pensioner organisations based in Australia, Canada and South Africa, who continually argued their case for parity through several appeal courts. Should their legal action been successful, they could have expected to receive an extra £200 million in pension payments this year.
The decision by the ECHR has not been looked upon favourably by Commonwealth governments who believe that the final judgement could be discriminatory as it continues to place an increasing burden on their respective nation’s taxpayers.
Tags: pension schemes, Retirement Planning