I am absolutely in support of Rita. What all previous UK governments have been doing in this immoral practice of theirs is to ignore the adverse consequences of the policy based on Britain's struggle after WW2 to save sending money overseas.
That situation has now changed, so much so that even now the present government is committed to send more than Pds12 Billion in overseas foreign aid, much of it to corrupt foreign governments. So to keep saying that there is a law which enables them to freeze some, just 4%, of the UK's pensioners' pensions, is an absolute disgrace from a nation, which supposedly boasts of its core values of fairness, equality and non discrimination.
These values it tries to export to the rest of the world through its international diplomacy and yet by freezing a few of its pensioners pensions it fails to see this practice is contrary to the message it tries to sell to other nations.
Britain is the only OECD country with this draconian pension practice and the International Consortium of British pensioners is campaigning to have it removed from the statute books. Please read this article;- www.maturetimes.co.uk/join-fight-end-pension-discrimination/

As one MP said, in another recent article published about this appalling short-sighted policy, "The frozen pension policy is economic foolishness". This is because it fails to recognise that it is discouraging increasing thousands from leaving the UK to retire overseas, especially many from the black and ethnic minorities who by doing so will take pressure off the creaking national health and A&E services, save on winter power subsidies as well as free pensioners' prescriptions, free bus passes and free TV licences. These savings more than compensate the cost of indexing all pensions equally.
So please open your minds on this issue. It is one of practicing the core values of fairness and equality of which British people like to think they are proud but which their government foolishly and intransigently ignores in managing the UK's state pensions to which we all paid equally but a few of us are paid unequally.

That is not the expected British way.
Please visit www.pensionjustice.org and learn a lot more about this issue

Actually, even if the government of the UK did give pensioners in (say) Australia the same cost of living upgrades as those living in the UK, they would still be getting off lightly, since those who live in Australia are not going to have increasing need of social services and the NHS as they get older.

I agree with those who say that it would be difficult to settle anywhere and hope to live on the UK state pension. However, the UK state pension may well make a substantial difference to the overall standard of living of a retired couple. Furthermore, those cost of living increases do make a difference. It has been calculated that a pensioner emigrating to Australia in 1985 would now be receiving approximately 54 pounds a week - against the current amount of 118 pounds. To add insult to injury, many of that generation not only suffered through WW2 but also paid contributions for 40 years or more to get their full pension.

One final piece of lunacy is that if a pensioner living in (say) Australia returns to the UK for a holiday, they are entitled to receive the full current state pension during the period they stay here - then when they return to their country of residence the pension reverts to its former lower level. How much does that cost to administer, I wonder?

rosequartz, you said : "The fluctuation of the exchange rate is definitely something to be taken into consideration too, as you could emigrate and think you would have a reasonable amount to live on then find your income is practically halved".
What you have said is true but the bottom line is that the government should treat all pensioners fairly and equally with respect to their pensions and the country of retirement, the exchange rate, the weather or anything else is totally irrelevant

mollie65, the ECHR found that the UK were acting in line with their law but not that this was acceptable treatment.
Discrimination is not allowed in the EU hence the uprating of UK pensions when a country joins them.
If Australia could join the EU the UK would have to uprate their pensions.
The reference to the ECHR finding is therefore misleading and irrelevant when quoted by the DWP. Lies and deceit from the government like the need for reciprocal agreements.
The luck of the draw has nothing to do in this situation as it is plain theft of the indexation without any justification as ALL pensioners paid into the system in the same way and ALL should withdraw in retirement in the same way. No if's or but's ! It's as simple as that !

'If you're past retirement age, the chances of getting residency in Oz, even if you have family there, are pretty low.'

This is nonsense. There is a route into permenant residence for parents of Australian residents, whatever their age, provided they a) are fit and healthy b) don't have a police record and c) have more of their children living in Australia than elsewhere. After that its a question of a) waiting in a queue for about ten years, or b) coughing up an extraordinary amount of money to get fast tracked and be there in about two years. The current cost of fast tracking is about fifty thousand pounds for a couple.

None of this has anything to do with freezing the state pension however. I paid into my state pension right from my first Saturday job at fifteen and I expect to get the same treatment as everyone else. Daft, I know.

Serps + graduated pension adds a big chunk to my pension and brings our average over the £150, and I contracted out of serps longer than I should have. So I would think an average of £150 is about right.

I am very glad we also have a company pension.

BTW - 150 a week? I wish!?! Where do you get that figure from- and that is the 'average'?

a court case under the Human rights act in 2005 (?) found for the government
the treatment of pensioners in Europe is due to our membership of the EU and the other reciprocal agreements are historical I believe.

flogging a dead horse comes to mind - decisions made by governments of all stripes can be arbitrary but one has to accept the situation sometimes as the luck of the draw.

I think the 'average' state pension because of Serps is around £150

durhamjen I agree with the people you know who accepted the situation and just got on with their lives - life is too short to worry about money if you have 'enough' and family time is the most precious thing.

It is unfair and there is no reciprocal arrangement, as we found out when we considered moving there.
It seems strange, particularly when UK pensioners in Europe receive the increases, the fuel allowance that UK pensioners living in Commonwealth countries have their pensions frozen at the amount it was when they left.
Yet another example of the abandonment of the Commonwealth in favour of Europe.

Is the average state pension £150? Well mine certainly isn't, and if Rita had emigrated in 2002 her pension would have been frozen at the 2002 level.
I am puzzled why she was paying NI until she was 67 - even if she worked until 67 she would not have paid NI after the age of 60 (in 1996)

The fluctuation of the exchange rate is definitely something to be taken into consideration too, as you could emigrate and think you would have a reasonable amount to live on then find your income is practically halved.

We could not possibly live in Australia on our state pensions even when the exchange rate was $A2.4 to the £1, which is what in about 2001/2.

However, I agree that this is an anomoly which should be looked at again.

On the other hand, you can still get the winter fuel allowance after you live abroad, even if you move somewhere hot!

A couple I know were in a similar situation to Rita. They went out to Australia and lived there near their son for a couple of years, but the wife did not settle, so they came back to England.
A couple of years later she died, so he went out to Australia with his son straight after the funeral. He then sold his house and lived with his son and family, and is really enjoying his life.
I've never heard any complaints about the pension situation. I think he only thinks of the good things.

Ana - in fifteen years of correspondıng wıth International Pensions, HMRC and DWP both prior to emigrating and after emigration but before retirement not a word about freezing even though they were aware of the country. I was warned from an unofficial source but the only official notification was included with my first payment.

Granjura - When I retired I was living in a frozen country. I moved after five years to an unfrozen one (not the UK) and my State Retirement Pension increased by GBP28.39 per week. That averages out at a loss of over three hundred pounds per year - these tiny increments add up!
As regards the exchange rates these apply just as much to the frozen pensioner as anyone else...a double hit.

As regards reciprocal agreements as I have pointed out to mollie65 they are quite unnecessary...and it is the UK that refuses to agree them, has done so for thirty years and states that it has no intention of doing so in the future. Australia actually tore up an agreement in 2000 because it did not include uprating and Canada was denied a full agreement back in 1979 having amended its Social Security arrangements and legislation to accomodate the demands made three years previously by the UK government...

No mollie 65 - while the extract from the government website you quote is correct in that uprating only takes place in countries where there is such an agreement the DWP has confirmed in an FOI that there ıs no need for a reciprocal agreement at all in order for the UK to uprate; it is purely a domestic issue and index linkıng could be implemented world wide unilaterally if the UK government so wished.

I have no checked this, but perhaps it is because of reciprocal arrangements. Do Australians for instance, pay full pensions to retirees from Australia living in the UK? If Australia, for instance, has refused to sign reciprocal arrangements with the UK- it is not the pensioners fault, but it is understandable.

Should the UK ever leave the European Unions, these arrangements will come to an end and put 1000s of retirees living in Europe in the same boat.

As said before, pensions go up in such tiny increments- it would hardly make a big difference to the OP - whereas fluctuations in exchange rates can make or break people, big time.

Many of those making comments fail to see or address the obvious discrimination that this government policy imposes. Why should a pensioner get the uprated pension in Macedonia but not in Malaysia. Why should they get uprated in the Philippines but not in the Falklands. Her personal situation really has nothing to do with this continued injustice perpetrated against a minority of pensioners around the world in the 21st century where democracy and justice should prevail and not poverty and discrimination.

They'd have to change the name surely?

It's true!

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/10/australia-eurovision-song-contest-europe

God save us!

Do you think that if OZ is allowed to join in the Eurovision Song Contest, the situation might change? x

so I assume that pensioners moving from Australia or Canada would be similarly treated

the official line : from government website:

We pay the UK State Pension worldwide. However, you will only get an increase every year if you live in:

the European Economic Area (EEA), Gibraltar or Switzerland
a country that has a social security agreement with the UK that allows for cost of living increases to the State Pension
so not necessarily arbitrary - just confusing and because it is an agreement it has to be ended/amended by both parties.

Probably couldn't.

(must get off here and make a birthday cake! And then wrap pressies)

absent says she probably get in to Australia now.

I do sympathise as she must be very lonely now she is widowed. I think I'd have taken the plunge had this been my only child. Perhaps it's not too late for her to go still?