Why you can claim UK state pension abroad – and countries where it’s frozen

A couple walk along Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, one of the countries affected by the UK’s ‘frozen’ state pension policy (Photo: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

British pensioners who wish to enjoy their retirement overseas can still claim their state pensions, but thousands end up losing out in countries where pensions are “frozen”.

Pensioners in the UK benefit from the “triple lock”, where their state pension increases every year in line with whichever is highest out of wage growth, inflation or 2.5 per cent.

Britons can carry on receiving their state pension if they relocate to a country in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, where payments will be increased each year in line with the rate paid in the UK.

However, for others who retire outside of these areas, their state pension payments can be permanently frozen at the date they retire – nearly half a million British people living abroad are affected by this policy.

British retirees in countries where the UK has a reciprocal social security agreement that covers uprating do see their pensions increase in line with the triple lock, but the list excludes Australia, Canada and many other countries.

European Economic Area (EEA) countries where Britons receive annual increases in the state pension

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czechia
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden

Pensioners can also receive state pension increases in Switzerland despite it not being in the EEA.

i has previously reported on British pensioners affected by the policy, including a couple in Australia who get about £500 a month state pension between them.

As of March 2022, there were around 480,000 people receiving the UK state pension in countries that do not get increases – 84 per cent of those live in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Campaigners in Australia and Canada have called for pensions to be increased in line with the triple lock, but said there was a lack of political will by the UK to resolve the issue.

The DWP said the estimated cost of uprating the state pension for overseas residents to the level they would have been if they had never been frozen would be £940 for 2024-25, with the figure for the following financial year at £930m.

Countries with which the UK has a social security agreement

• Barbados
• Bermuda
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Gibraltar
• Guernsey
• Isle of Man
• Israel
• Jamaica
• Jersey
• Kosovo
• Mauritius
• Montenegro
• North Macedonia
• Philippines
• Serbia
• Turkey
• USA

The DWP said that uprating the state pension in frozen countries could cost £4.59bn from 2023 to 2028.

A spokesperson from the DWP previously told i: “Our priority is ensuring every pensioner receives the financial support to which they are entitled.

“We understand that people move abroad for many reasons and we provide clear information about how this can impact on their finances.

“The Government’s policy on the uprating of the UK state pension for recipients living overseas is a longstanding one of more than 70 years and we continue to uprate state pensions overseas where there is a legal requirement to do so.”