Expat pensioners lose last round of courtroom battle
half a million retirees who emigrated to Canada and Australia yesterday lost the final round of their protracted fight for equal pensions abroad.
Their appeal to the European Court of Human Rights was denied by judges in Strasbourg who ruled that withholding index-linked pension rises to pensioners who had chosen to live abroad did not breach their human rights. The verdict means an end to years of courtroom wrangling which involved 13 retired expatriates who took on the government and lost at each stage of their battle.
Under current rules, pensioners who retire abroad only get state pension increases in line with inflation if they live in countries with reciprocal arrangements.