Dear Prime Minister,

We are writing to you as some of the 150,000 UK pensioners living in Canada on a ‘frozen’ British state pension to urge you to agree to the Government of Canada’s formal request for a reciprocal social security agreement covering uprating and provide us with the full UK state pension we paid into.

By signing this agreement, you would be ending the injustice of frozen pensions for 150,000 UK pensioners in Canada and sending a powerful message that your Government will not allow UK pensioners overseas who have paid into the system to suffer in later life because of where they choose to live.

Currently, all UK pensioners living in Canada and many other Commonwealth countries, including Australia and parts of the Caribbean, are treated as second class citizens with our pensions frozen at the point we retire or when we leave the UK.    

This unfair policy has an extreme impact on the quality of life of many of us, who, not only paid our pension contributions in full but in many cases, served our country in the military, public education, or our NHS. Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show that 70% of frozen pensioners receive less than £60 per week, which only highlights how cruel this policy is to UK pensioners who have made the UK the country it is today.

This immoral policy is pushing UK pensioners into poverty at the very time when we should be enjoying the secure retirement, we believed we had.

Some of us have been forced to continue to work well into our eighties, feel unable to be the Grandparents we wish we could be or feel ashamed to be British all because of our frozen pension. We all have deep rooted and personal connections to the UK, including family and friends, but this immoral policy leaves us feeling ‘forgotten’ by our own country.

The decision by the Canadian Government in December to request a reciprocal social security agreement is a welcome end to a tough year for us all. This is the first sign of hope in decades that we might be able to enjoy the retirement we were promised and worked towards all our adult lives.

As you will know, successive Governments of all political parties have perpetuated this injustice for decades.  The Canadian Government have provided an opportunity to end this unfair policy for UK pensioners in Canada, show that your Government will never forget any UK pensioner irrelevant of where we choose to live, and send a powerful message that your commitment to Global Britain includes protecting UK pensioners living throughout the world.

We urge you to make the right decision and work with Canada to agree this social security deal covering the uprating of our pensions and become the Prime Minister remembered for ending the injustice of frozen pensions.

Yours Sincerely,