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Local Britons seek pension-freeze thaw

By: Katherine Dow

Posted: 07/28/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

British-Canadian owners of frozen state pensions are banding together to get their plight heard by the British government.

The International Consortium of British Pensioners has launched an online petition that calls on the British government to index the pensions of British people who live abroad.

Pensions of Britons living in over 120 countries, including Canada, are not indexed to the rate of inflation, meaning they do not increase with the cost of living. Meanwhile, British pensioners in countries like the United States and Spain have indexed pensions, thanks to agreements these countries have with the United Kingdom.

The petition, launched in September 2011, has received over 21,000 signatures to date. If it reaches 100,000 by Sept. 8, the issue will be brought before the British House of Commons.

Pensioners have been fighting an uphill battle against frozen benefits for years. In March 2010, their claims were rejected by the European Court of Human Rights.

Cyril Brooker, a 92-year-old British-Canadian veteran living in Winnipeg, said his pension has been frozen at about $20 a week since he first drew into it in 1985.

Brooker was raised in Chatham-on-Kent, England and volunteered for the Royal Air Force as soon as the Second World War broke out in 1939.

The former member of the Bomber Command met and married a Manitoba girl when he was stationed in Carberry to help train squadrons.

Brooker said the petition gives him hope, but he worries many elderly pensioners won't know how to access it.

"I've been lucky. My daughter used to teach computers and she taught me how to use them, so I'm quite familiar. I've signed the petition, of course," Brooker said. "But you know, some of us are in our 80s and 90s and don't know how to make heads nor tails of a computer."

Anne Hoeppner, Manitoba representative for the Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners, said she is also worried many affected by stagnant British pensions don't know the petition exists.

"Although we're 155,000 frozen British pensioners in Canada, roughly, only 10,000 are members of organizations or partner organizations of the International Consortium of British Pensioners," Hoeppner said. "Of those 10,000 members, only 70 to 75 per cent have email addresses. So that is another problem, the fact that a good portion don't have any awareness of this campaign."

Hoeppner said they will not allow the setbacks to deter them.

"We're not going to give up until we're forced to because we feel this is a very worthy cause. We're not asking for retroactive payments. We only want what is due to us as of now," said Hoeppner.

Brooker said he hopes the petition succeeds not just for himself, but for younger veterans in financial pain.

"The younger pensioners, they have needs, where at 92 there's nothing more I really need. I have enough. But life's expensive and some of these pensioners are in their 60s with a lot of years left," said Brooker. "We've earned this. We've paid in for this, and we've earned this."

For more information about the Pension Justice campaign, visit pensionjustice.org .

katherine.dow@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 28, 2012 B5

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