JeffandAnne

Could anyone tell me is it true that your "old age pension" is frozen when you move to Ireland and so you don't get any more rises to it. Thanks Anne

Pulaski

If you live in the EEA (EU plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein), your pension is NOT frozen.

Here is a list of "frozen" and "unfrozen" countries.

JeffandAnne

Thank you. As UK is coming out of the EU I presume that will change though?

mikelincs

Who knows, certainly no-one on here, in fact no-one even KNOWS if or when the UK will even start the leaving process.

Pulaski

It may, or may not, it's impossible to say either way at the moment.

I live in the US and pensions paid in the US are not frozen, yet the US has never been part of the EU.

Pensions paid in many British Commonwealth countries are frozen, or at least four of the largest ones, in terms of population - Canada, Australia, India, and New Zealand. There really seems to be neither rhyme nor reason as to which countries get indexed pensions, and which are frozen.

mikelincs

It's all to do with reciprocal agreements, the UK has one with the USA, but not Canada or Australia.

Pulaski

Yeah, but as I added above, there seems to be neither rhyme nor reason as to which countries have reciprocal agreements and which don't - though it seems, er, "interesting" that four countries with (among the) largest numbers of British pensioners don't have an agreement.

That said, I have never seen an explanation as to what any foreign government has to do with the unilateral disbursement of money by the British government to its retired citizens living overseas (and presumably a much smaller number of non-citizen, former long term residents).

Davita

What are these agreements anyway?
How does that affect a UK pensioner living in White Rock, BC and another living just across the border in Blaine, WA.
The one in USA gets a UK linked-index to his/her pension every year and the one in Canada doesn't...what does the agreement offer the pensioner in Canada as compensation?

Pulaski

Exactly this, as I said in my post above.

JeffandAnne

Thanks, very interesting. So basically I need to find out if Ireland and UK have a reciprocal pension agreement. Anne

Davita

The Republic of Ireland is a member of EU since 1973 therefore UK pensions, for those UK pensioners that live there, are index-linked to the UK inflation rate.
What happens when UK exercises its exit from EU will have to be re-negotiated.

mikelincs

That's not possible to do as the UK haasn't even triggered Article 50 to start the process, and it will take at least 2 years, but probably more, for it to fully be actioned.

JeffandAnne

It says on Citizens Information that Ireland has a Bilateral Social Security Agreement with the UK which is outside of the EU agreement (there are several other countries). Citizens from countries which have this agreement have pension rights as per that country protected. This reads to me that it is nothing to do with the EU.

mikelincs

So you didn't really need to ask the question, as the internet has sorted it out..

JeffandAnne

The thread helped me to get to that point. So very sorry if I was a nuisance to you!