An Abbotsford couple is part of a nationwide lobby to have the British government end a decades-old pension freeze.
Eric and Peggy Muir left England in 1957 for the promise of better opportunities in Canada.
Their pensions are frozen at the rate they were at retirement 23 years ago, in accordance with a policy that only affects the Commonwealth nations. There are 158,000 pensioners from the U.K. living in Canada who have their British pensions frozen without any cost of living increases. Meanwhile, pensioners living in the United States, Israel, Philippines, any European Union country, as well as many others, receive annual cost-of-living increases the same as if they lived in the U.K.
“So it’s fixed, we’ve never, ever had an increase,” said Peggy.
With the Canadian dollar getting stronger against the British pound, their monthly contribution has been on the decline. Peggy said she is now receiving about $110 per month, and Eric slightly more, but still less than $200 per month.
The International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP) which includes groups from across the Commonwealth including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and others, has put together a book called “Broken Faith,” telling the stories of these veterans. Recently, it was presented on the steps of 10 Downing Street to the pensions minister, Steve Webb.
The Muirs are both veterans, serving their country during the Second World War. Eric has numerous medals, including campaign stars for Africa, Italy, France and Germany, the defence medal and the war medal. He was an aircraft mechanic.
Peggy was a Morse code operator, who fulfilled her communications role during the Normandy invasion, and assisted wounded who were flown back to England.
Some of the Canadian veterans are ready to give their war medals back to the British government in protest, but that won’t be Eric.
“I spent a lot of time overseas earning those,” he said.
Now 88, he has been drawing his pension since he was 65, with no increase in 23 years. If he lived a few miles south, in Sumas rather than Abbotsford, he would have been getting the increases.
“I’ve provided for myself. We’re comfortable,” he said. “But that doesn’t alter the fact that it’s not right.”
He knows of English grandparents who came to Canada to live with their children’s families, but had to return to the U.K. over the pension finances issue. The increases to pensions in the U.K. have been quite generous, said Eric.
The U.K. is the only country in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development which denies parity to all state pensioners regardless of where they live. The Canada Pension Plan, for example, gives annual increases to pensioners no matter where they choose to live.
Peggy said the lobby to end the freeze has been going on for a long time.
“I don’t think we’re going to have any luck,” she predicted. “They’re just going to wait for us all to die.”
The U.K. government’s reason for the freeze was the lack of reciprocal agreements. However, today most industrialized countries index pensions to inflation, even for residents who leave the nation. The British government’s argument now is that it cannot afford to make the change. In 1999, minister responsible Jeff Rooker described the fact some pensioners saw pensions rising and others frozen as “illogical,” and told parliament he was not prepared to defend the present situation.