Tag Archives: ECHR

UK State Pension Values Confirm The Frozen Inequity

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Half of the UK pensioners who have emigrated must now await the deliberations of the European Court of Human Rights on whether their pensions will continue to be frozen or whether they will be increased in line with inflation. The decision is likely in March 2010.

An excellent source for all the background on this case can be found at the Pension Parity UK website. The inequity of the situation is apparent to anyone who studies the figures. The callousness of the British Government in this dossier is even greater when one considers that the National Insurance Fund, into which all these frozen state pensioners have contributed to fund their pensions, has a massive surplus.

Some figures recently added to the Pension Parity UK website bring out the unfairness of the situation in even more graphic detail. The page on Our Pension Rights now includes the total pension payments made to all countries. From these values, you can calculate the average pension paid out in each country, which is shown in the table below.

Average UK State Pension being paid
Great Britain £4,968
Spain £3,699
France £3,696
Barbados £3,626
Jamaica $3,563
US £2,057
South Africa £1,955
New Zealand £1,686
Australia £1,643
Canada £1,403

The clear division among countries is very revealing. Those countries with the yellow backgrounds are those where pensions are indexed exactly as in the UK. Those countries with the blue backgrounds are where pensions are frozen. These values are for 2008/2009. Thus we see that the average pension paid out in Spain, France, Barbados and Jamaica is more than 2 1/2 times the average pension paid out in Canada.

As year follows year, the disparity will grow even bigger. Those in the ‘blue’ countries will stay essentially the same. Those in the ‘yellow’ countries will rise in exactly the same way that pensions in the UK rise.

How much longer will this unfairness, which affects over 500,000 UK state pensioners, be ignored and perpetuated?

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Crikey

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I had not heard that word crikey in many years.  It’s an English word and is used as an exclamation of astonishment, or as an emphasis of fact at the conclusion of a statement. It is also thought to be an alliterative substitute for Christ.

Crikey is also the name of an Australian online news site that proclaims it is telling you what they will not. Their recent headline is Court of Human Rights’ shock decision on UK pensions.  As Ava Hubble writes:

Over 500,000 elderly British expats, about half of them Australia-based, are reeling from the shock news that the European Court of Human Rights has rejected their claim that the UK’s long-standing frozen pensions policy is discriminatory.

Given that the President of the ECHR dissented from the Judgment rendered by his 6 colleagues, crikey is the mildest of words one could use.

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Frozen UK Pensions – European Court of Human Rights – Decision

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The European Court of Human Rights has rendered its decision and you can find the complete Frozen UK Pensions Judgment on the Pension Parity UK website. The summary reads as follows:

The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing its Chamber judgment in the case of Carson and Others v. the United Kingdom (application no. 42184/05).

The Court held, by six votes to one, that there had been no violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Only a lawyer could determine the weight of the various considerations, however as a layman I was struck by the fact that the dissenting voice was that of Lech Garlicki, President of the Court. The following is my interpretation of what he said.  He felt there were 4 powerful arguments that should rule:

  1. Since all pensioners are forced to contribute to the pension arrangement, then all should receive the same pension independent of residence.
  2. Inflation happens in all countries so there should be equal treatment for inflation in all countries
  3. As was observed by the domestic authorities, it would be difficult �to defend the logic of the present situation”
  4. A violation that results from legislative omissions in the UK like this is still within the reach of European supervision.

Of course those in the UK Government who refuse to look at the logic or equity of the situation will shelter behind the legal niceties however flawed they may be.  It is disappointing that the other 6 judges of the ECHR did not have to respond to the 4 arguments that the President of the Court presented.  This will most surely not be the end of the road.

Follow-up Frozen UK Pensions – Should Legality, Equity or Morality Apply?

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