94-year Old British Expat Reignites Her Campaign To End Frozen Pensions

94-year old WW11 veteran Anne Puckridge is reigniting her long-standing attempt to get justice for Brit expats with frozen pensions.

Puckridge has sent a open letter to Theresa May asking for a brief, five-minute meeting during which she will make clear the devastating effects of the policy on 550,000 British expat pensioners. The vintage campaigner will return to the UK this spring in the hope the PM will agree to her request for a meeting. The 94-year old Briton moved to Canada 17 years ago in order to be close to her daughter, having retired at the age of 76 after a long working life following her WWII service as a Womens’ Royal Naval Service intelligence officer.

Last October, Puckridge delivered a 220,000-signature petition to No 10, asking for an end to the frozen pensions scandal along with the backing of 60 cross-party MPs. Had she moved to the USA or various other countries, her pension would have been annually updated instead of being frozen on the date of her migration. In her letter, she states she’s proud of her WWII service in all three Armed Forces but is unable to understand why the country she fought so hard for has failed her in her retirement years. Literally hundreds and thousands of British expat retirees are in even direr straights at present due to the Brexit effect on the value of sterling.

Puckridge states she was not informed before she emigrated that her pension would never increase, no matter how long she lived, with her current weekly payment now £72.50 rather than the £125.95 she should be receiving. As she points out in her letter, a large number of former civil servants and veterans are in the same situation, simply struggling to survive due to the British government’s refusal to legislate their protection. Chair of the International Consortium of British Pensioners John Duffy states the policy is unjust and immoral, considering it shameful that all those British expats in the same situation as Puckridge are being treated so poorly.