Overview
- Canada’s Parliament used an October 28 trade debate to fault Ottawa for not tying the UK’s CPTPP entry to ending the freeze, calling the policy unfair and discriminatory.
- Pensions Minister Torsten Bell reaffirmed in a written response that the UK has for more than 70 years only uprated state pensions abroad where a legal requirement exists.
- About 432,000 UK pensioners overseas, mostly in Commonwealth countries such as Canada, Australia, India and South Africa, do not receive annual increases, unlike those in the EU or US.
- Campaigners report many affected retirees live on roughly £60 a week compared with a £176.45 UK Basic State Pension, with cases highlighted including elderly veterans.
- Advocates estimate ending the freeze would cost around £60 million a year, while Canadian MP Gord Johns says the policy costs Canada over $1 billion annually; the UK’s 2026 uprating will be set at the November 26 Autumn Budget.