Please consider signing my mum’s call to meet the Prime Minister just days before her 100th birthday, in support of all victims of the Frozen Pensions scandal: link here.
This December, my WW2 veteran mum Anne will undertake the 7,000km journey from Canada to London to challenge the PM to meet with her. As one of half a million victims of the British Frozen Pensions scandal denied a fair UK state pension, she is making her greatest campaigning effort yet.
Because she moved to Canada, aged 76, to be closer to family in old age, my mum’s pension has remained ‘frozen’ at just £72.50 per week; only a fraction of what it would be had she stayed in the UK. Like most other victims, she was not told her state pension would be ‘frozen’ in this way. Now, she is calling on the public for support as she calls on the PM to grant her this one simple request; in respect of her wartime service, the suffering she has endured, and the long and arduous journey she is about to undertake.
As a World War Two veteran, my mum has served in all three of the RAF, the Navy, and the Armed Forces. For over two decades, she has been one of half a million victims of the Frozen Pensions scandal. Forgotten by the state, this group of British overseas pensioners are denied the yearly increases to the UK state pension ensuring that it remains broadly in line with inflation. This is because they live in a ‘frozen rate’ country, a specific set of countries that includes Australia, Canada, and most of the Commonwealth, with which the UK does not have an agreement to uprate the state pension. Anne argues the policy is leaving “many people in a desperate situation” and that it is “discriminatory”, exposing further and further to cost of living increases with every passing year.
Anne will herself write to the Prime Minister next week formally requesting a meeting, and any public support she is able to receive before then would be priceless in amplifying her call. This is her biggest campaigning effort to date which she insists is not in her name, but for the half a million other British victims around the world suffering the same plight as her, if not worse.
She and I have been immensely touched by the huge level of support so far. I hope that you will consider carrying Anne’s message one step further as she leads her fight for justice this December. Should you wish to sign and share, please follow this link.