Asked by: Chris Hinchliff (Labour - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many overseas voters from North East Hertfordshire constituency are impacted by frozen British Pensions; and whether she is taking steps to help tackle this.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are no plans to change the policy on frozen State Pension.
UK State Pensions are payable worldwide, without regard to nationality, and are only up-rated abroad where there is a legal requirement to do so, for example in countries with which we have a reciprocal agreement that provides for up-rating.
The policy on up-rating UK State Pension paid overseas is a longstanding one and has been in place for over 70 years.
The Department does not hold information on voter identification and is not able to reliably identify voters from a specific constituency among those whose State Pension has not been up-rated