UK State Pension Increase Guarantee If Living In EU

The government yesterday confirmed that it will continue to increase UK State Pension payments to people living in the EU each year for the next 3 years.

After this period, there is no guarantee of increases but it is widely accepted that if, as part of any withdrawal agreement, EU states reciprocate, then this will continue as part of any Social Treaties with individual states, although it is up to the individual state to make its own arrangements.

The UK basic and new State Pension already has a triple lock guaranteed increase by the higher of either 2.5%, average wage growth or by Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation.

The government confirmed that around half a million people living in the EU benefit from a UK state pension and many with receive text messages confirming this (if the Department for Work and Pensions has you mobile contact number).

Comment

There has been much scaremongering in the headlines that many expats may lose their state pension increases.  The UK many Social Security Treaties with countries outside the EU but not all, most notably, expat haunts of Australia, South Africa and Thailand.  We believe the UK and EU countries will maintain the 'status quo' via existing Social Security Treaty wordings.