INDEX and beginning

*** INDEX to the major 'postings' on this site (file headings)  ***

EMAIL  "Debout!"...... *Say what you think - of your concerns. 

*Representation of BRITISH CITIZENS*
**Read why all expatriates should be represented at Westminster
and why it is absolutely vital for those who live in the EU.**
The British Public have voted the UK out of the EU.  An abyss is opening under expatriates in the European Union. Many were not allowed to vote.
The author (Brian Cave) has fought since 2002 to awaken the British Citizen to the dangers of ignoring politics - Now a chop is descending, because so many have been so blind. 
At the age of 85, there is little energy left to continue.  No doubt I will continue. But I urge readers to become a member of ECREU [Expatriate Citizen Rights in the EU] Free membership.  And also join the Liberal Democrat Party - which seems the only Political Party left now- With its reformed outlook, it is the only Party untrammeled with antiquarian views. It is clearly the Party for the  Future.
I have sat on the fence maintaining a non-party political position. It seemed that in that manner I would offend no one.  But one cannot go on.
Until February 2016. Then I joined the Liberal Democrats.  It is our only hope.
 http://www.libdems.org.uk/membership-faqs

 Leave comments at this site [votes for expat brits]

*This activity has created a large number of articles and some radio interviews around the world - they are listed here. *

 The latest Posts of importance
*   http://pensionersdebout.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/british-pensioners-in-europe-and-beyond.html March 2016
*  The effects of a Brexit February 2016
*  The Winter Fuel Payment February '16
*  EU justice & protection  February '16.
*  Messages from The Political Parties to expatriates March 2015
* The Manipulation of Statistics by the Dept. of Work and Pensions, IMPORTANT
* The British pensioners abroad - ignored October 2014
* The Migration of the British Pensioners August 2014
* The British Citizens in Europe - Referendum. June 2014
* Who needs the vote? Government and/or Voter? Feb 2014

*  Health costs and democracy in Europe
*  The Referendum in/out Europe 
*  Anger-amongst-britons-abroad.

Correspondent list -- An 'update'  email is frequently sent  to all who email the site.  All email addresses are 'hidden' and anonymity is hoped to be always achieved. If you wish to be on this correspondent list,  please email.  Nothing is asked of you, other than your goodwill. 

 IF ONE DOES NOTHING _ NOTHING GETS DONE!

Numbers count when petitioning politicians. When letters are sent to politicians it is immensely helpful to say that one has the support of xxxx expatriates. So please give support. Encouragement is also a great boost to morale! Nothing will change without your support!

*The Readers Letters* link is updated from time to time which see.

One should not expect fast movement but please keep in touch and never surrender.

Short Biography of the Organiser *Brian Cave*
Your thoughts on everything would be welcome. One relies on feedback to improve this site. No contribution is an unnecessary contribution.

And please make a nuisance of yourself in Whitehall and Westminster. Constant dripping wears away stone. Do not underestimate the value of the constant drip!

Please disseminate information about this site, inform your friends and media outlets, and keep watching!

If you do not stand up for yourself, others will surely keep you down!

*To view a map of the geographical distribution of the last 50 or so visitors,  

Remember - Please tell others about this blog - and please write to the politicians - you must do this if anything ever is to change. 

An Upgrade for British State Pensioners.

Important News for British State Pensioners.

Pensioners who were born before 6 April 1951 (6 April 1953 for women) now have a limited period in which to boost their entitlement to their current state pension.  They will be able to buy extra entitlements to their state pension of up to £1300 a year, for life. This will be achieved by making a lump sum payment in the form of voluntary class 3A NIC, between 12 October 2015 and 5 April 2017.

The exact amount that needs to be paid to receive each extra £1 per week of pension depends on the individual’s age at the time they make the payment. There is a table on page 5 of the state pension top-up factsheet, and an online calculator on Gov.uk to help with this calculation.

The ability to top-up the state pension may be particularly useful for women who have taken breaks from employment during their working lives, and for the self-employed with similarly patchy NIC records. Married couples will need to decide which person should make the top-up payment, as an income will be paid to a surviving spouse (or civil partner) of at least 50% of the topped-up amount.

Note the paragraph about customers (they mean pensioners) living overseas on page 3 of the factsheet.

State pension top-up factsheet

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414708/factsheet-top-up.pdf

State pension top-up calculator for class 3A contributions

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-topup

The first condition for the top-up is that the pensioner must already be in receipt of a UK state retirement pension.
  To register an interest:

email: paid.caxtonhouse@dwp.gsi.gov.uk or
tel: 0345 6004270

It will be important to register an interest as there will be no doubt an online system to make the payment that may require a person to prove identity. That might be more tricky for someone who lives outside of the UK. 

[Example - A male at the age of 83 could pay £11,350. IF he lives 15 years he would receive back a total of  £19,500 plus inflation increases on top. 
If his wife lives on, she would continue to receive at least 50% of the sum. The lump sum payable goes down as one ages and is also related to one's sex.]

Brian Cave
le Fourquet, Gourdon, 46300, France

http://pensionersdebout.blogspot.com/  

-Votes for Britons  -http://votes-for-expat-brits.com     

British Pensioners - Emigration.

EMIGRATION of British STATE PENSIONERS

The figures for August 2014 have just been published..

http://83.244.183.180/100pc/sp/cccountry/cnage/a_carate_r_cccountry_c_cnage_aug14.html

The table condenses the movement of the last three years. The  countries with a * do not have the UK pensions frozen.  A blue background indicates members of the EU. 

Further on is a graph of the movement towards EU countries.

The table is ‘sorted’ in order of the countries which have received the greatest number of immigrants down to the most withdrawal.  Note that Ireland has had the greatest number of recipients. In Ireland of course English is spoken – they can vote for the Irish Government and in effect can easily be assimilated. 

France and New Zealand come next  .  Although the UK pension  is frozen in NZ, the NZ Government awards a Social Security support and accepts the UK N.I. history as a basis for such payments.  

 

The fall in the number receiving the British Pension in Australia and Canada (and S.Africa.?) must be in part due to the Frozen Pension condition.  The small increase in India may have something to do with the rapidly increasing standard of living there and the affluence of returning Indians from the UK?   Jamaica on the other hand is a poor country?

 Click on the image to enlarge and 'esc' to return.

Weird World of Government Pensions

To go to the Index and start of the blog click here.

DOUBLE TAXATION MYSTERY.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs [HMRC] publish ‘A listof Double Taxation Agreements [DTAs].’

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxtreaties/in-force/

There is also a link to guidance on whether a particular pension is treated as being a ‘Government’ type pension in the HM Revenue & Customs International Manual. This is available at :--

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/intmanual/INTM343040.htm

The reading of these documents gives rise to several mysteries.

In relation to the DTA France/UK, we read under the column concerning Government Pensions that ‘full relief’ from taxation is available. This would mean full relief from taxation in France of this revenue for British Citizens resident in France. To this statement is attached a ‘Note’ . This note reads ‘Under new treaty, for income paid on or after 6 April 2010. No relief prior to that date.’

This is a mystery! Pensioners receiving a Government Pension (Teachers, Police, Firemen etc.) have had relief from French taxation for years. However, in a certain sense it has not been ‘full relief’. One has had to declare this revenue on the tax forms. This has affected any tax or relief (fairly or not!) on any other revenue, including the Old Age Pension which is taxable in France, by indicating a threshold of world-wide income. Thus the note seems odd.  Have I missed something?

A new DTA did come into operation this year. I have both the old and the new and cannot see any material difference between them with respect to Government Pensions. I have written to HMRC asking what has materially changed on April 6th 2010. If the declaration of this tax on the French tax forms has changed, then this would bring France into alignment with the situation in Spain and indeed it would be a very important change.

Concerning Government Pensions. Perusal of the second document shows some weird bureaucratic situations. NHS pensions are largely deemed to be ‘non-government’ pensions.

But if an NHS pensioner moved to Germany it becomes a ‘government’ pension.

A policeman's or a fireman’s UK pension in France is a ‘UK government’ pension. In Greece , Israel and quite a few other odd countries it is deemed a ‘non-government pension'!

One also notes that this table of information is a good deal out of date, since it refers to ‘Yugoslavia’! But no doubt it is still ‘legal’!

The monthly comment - The Migration of the OAPs

To go to the start and the INDEX click here

The UK Government statistics on benefits reveal a wealth of information about the payments to Old Age Pensioners across the World. You can access it via the following link...... http://83.244.183.180/100pc/tabtool.html

You need to click onto the line Benefits/Scheme and select. With a little practice you can get the hang of how to use this ‘Tabulation Tool’. Although the information is fascinatingly extensive, the Winter Fuel Payments are absent.  Further the information only exists since 2002.

Since 2002 the proportion of OAPs leaving the UK has increased year by year so that the total % living abroad has risen from 8.2% in 2002 to 9.3% in 2009. In all 31,660 OAPs moved abroad in 2008/9. About 57% of those migrating last year went to live in Europe, and there were fairly large contingents also to the expected English speaking countries of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA (which at 3,260 was the largest receiver of all in the world outside Europe). One thousand more was added to the statistic of ‘Abroad – not known’ location.

Within Europe the number moving to Spain averages about 6,700 a year [see further note below]. To France about 4,300 a year. The number in both countries has more than doubled in seven years. The greatest annual % increase is to Bulgaria and also Greece (but since numbers are low such a statistic is unhelpful in any analysis).

The number of male and female OAPs in each country reveals some interesting figures (see further below). In Spain in 2009 there were 16,110 more females receiving the OAP than males. In France the figure is 9,550. The proportion of women to men is however lower than in the UK, though quite extraordinarily it is much higher in Germany where there are more female British OAPs as male in every age group and twice as many overall!

Click on the images to enlatge them.
 What do these figures tell us?

1. That increasingly, little by little, the elderly population prefer not to live in the UK.

Why? This ought to be an issue discussed by the politicians.

2. The excess of women over men is largely explained by the fact that the age group of men between 60 - 64 is not recorded. Over the age of 80 there is a increasing excess of females. There is a considerable number of very elderly women probably living alone amongst the OAPs in France and Spain. These women are less likely to be ‘worldly-wise’. They are probably not computer literate. This group is most likely not to bother with the issues of the Winter Fuel Payment (and almost certainly do not receive it!), or the vote, or be aware of this blog site.
There are 32,320 OAPs over eighty in Europe excluding the UK and Ireland. 
Over ninety there are 3,430.
Excess of very elderly women v. men:-  over eighty, by 10,760 - over ninety  by 1,270 (37%).

If we add in an equal number of men as there are of women in the 60-64 age bracket, then the numbers of elderly over 60 for France increase by 10,000 and the numbers for Spain 16,000.
FURTHER:- anecdotal evidence supported by unofficial estimates would suggest that in Spain and France there are large numbers of OAPs who spend the winter in those countries.  Probably some numbers spend more than 6 months a year outside the UK, though claiming permanent residence in the UK.  In the Alicante region alone it is claimed that the true  "winter" resident numbers of UK OAPs is about 180,000, vastly in excess of the official count. This practice is driving a cart through the regulations. These quasi residents are probably receiving the WFP ; paying taxes in the UK; and perhaps saving the UK some funding on the NHS.  This is a muddle which needs attention - but NOT the clunking iron fist of regulatory power!

Please write to your MP or a Minister or any political leader or otherwise and ask......

"What interest is your next Government going to take in the Welfare of the British pensioner who lives in the European Union." [The wider EU is today a new political force which enfolds the diffuse responsibilities of all its member States. Any citizen of any State should have the continuing respect and oversight of the member State of which they are a birthright national. The right to representation. The right to enjoy the privileges of their national state. The right to be free from discrimination in any form. A further posting exists discussing this point. click to view.]  Please use your vote (if you can have one!)

You might well refer to this blog and add anything else that is personally relevant to yourself.

The Absurdity of Government Pensions

To go to start of this blog, click here.
Pensions which are ‘deemed’ to be paid by the Government for services rendered are never allowed to be taxed abroad (i.e. exported) in France or Spain or anywhere else in Europe where a Double Taxation Convention exists between the UK and the EU country. That means, as far as I know, all of them.

Strangely NHS pensions are almost all ‘exportable’ even though they are paid by the paymaster general of the UK Government. The NHS staff are presumably not considered as having rendered service to the Government.

Police, Firemen, Military personnel. and civil servants and local Government workers – all are deemed to be paid by the Government or local Government.

If teachers were employed by the local Government then their pensions are not exportable. HOWEVER, if a teacher was employed at a private school, then their pension is exportable, even though it was acquired through exactly the same teachers’ superannuation scheme. If you had worked in both sectors the situation is confused, and quite ridiculous and impossible to disentangle. If you are French or changed your nationality and had worked in any school in Britain, then it becomes once more confused. [Gilbert and Sullivan might have invented it!]
The situation is quite stupid.
For Teachers.
If you are a State sector pensioner you are unfairly treated as things stand. If the French interpreted the Convention in the same manner as the Spanish interpret the UK/Spanish Convention, you would be much better off.
If you are a private sector pensioner, your source of income will be identical but you are (or can be) fairly treated.