Kenyan Civil Service Pensions: Non-payment

Seema Malhotra Excerpts

Monday 7th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

I am grateful to Mr Speaker for granting this debate. I thank the Minister and his colleagues for their assistance to me and other Members—a number are in the Chamber this evening—as we seek justice for our constituents. I hope that tonight’s debate might push things a little further.

In April last year, I was approached by my constituent Mr Balbir Singh Sekhon. I have known him since 1984, the year he took up work as a traffic warden with the Metropolitan police and I became his local councillor. He migrated from India to Kenya in 1956. For 18 years, from 1957 to 1975, he was a secondary teacher in Kenya. He was offered and took up British citizenship during that time. For the last 12 of the 18 years, he taught English language and geography at Nairobi Technical High School.

Mr Sekhon retired in the UK 1994. A couple of years later, he asked the Kenyan high commission about his Kenyan civil service pension. He was relieved to learn that he would receive a pension of £1,154.07 per year, paid through Crown Agents. He received monthly payments thereafter—in the year ending 5 April 2019, he received £1,546.45—but then the payments stopped. Crown Agents says it has not been paid by the Kenyan Government.

I wrote to the Kenyan high commissioner in June last year. He replied very quickly, within a couple of weeks, and asked Mr Sekhon to provide “urgently” a number of documents to the high commission. Mr Sekhon did so, but he is still waiting for the money he is owed.

Other Members have constituents in a similar position. My hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury) has devoted a lot of effort on behalf of two people, both former teachers in Kenya before they came to the UK in 1975. They claimed pensions in the mid-1990s. Later on, they inquired whether their payments would be adjusted for inflation, and at that point the payments stopped.

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson), who has led this campaign with great energy on behalf of her constituent Mr Sohan Singh. He is in the same position. His Kenyan pension has not been paid since 29 March 2019. Crown Agents says it has not received the payment. My hon. Friend took Mr Singh’s case up with the former Minister, the hon. Member for West Worcestershire (Harriett Baldwin). Her advice—to raise it directly with the pensions department of the Kenyan Treasury—was not very helpful. Both Mr Sekhon and Mr Singh had tried that already, without success.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

rose—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. Before I call Seema Malhotra, I want to remind everybody of one of the more interesting procedures: because the debate started before 10 o’clock, the Adjournment has to be moved again at 10 o’clock, so do not be frightened when I call order at that time.

--- Later in debate ---

[Seema Malhotra]

I thank and congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing this debate, which, as he said, is a matter of great concern for many of our constituents. I want to acknowledge and thank Mr Mangal Chudha in my constituency, who also brought this matter to my attention, along with two others.

My right hon. Friend just made the point that the UK Minister has told our constituents to write to the Kenyan Ministries. May I raise a concern and ask my right hon. Friend’s view on it? When I wrote to the Minister last year, I received this reply:

“While this matter is the responsibility of the Kenyan authorities, the British high commission in Nairobi has written to the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the head of the department for pensions in the Treasury seeking an explanation for non-payment of pensions and lack of increase in line with inflation.”

I was very surprised to see subsequent responses to parliamentary questions—for example, that tabled by our hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson). That answer, in February, said:

“This matter is the responsibility of the Kenyan authorities. However, the British High Commission in Nairobi has written to the Kenyan Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Head of the Department for Pensions in the Kenyan National Treasury seeking an explanation for non-payment of pensions to former Kenyan civil servants and the lack of increase in line with inflation.”

Our hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury) received exactly the same response in July. Does my right hon. Friend agree with me that it is for the Government to be doing more to support our citizens?

[Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend is quite right. There is no evidence of any reply having been received to those inquiries. I do not know how many times the question has been asked, but perhaps the Minister can shed some light on what is going on.

After that initial response, my hon. Friend the Member for Washington and Sunderland West did receive a further letter from the Minister, which explained something that I thought was helpful and worth informing the House of. To quote from the reply to her:

“In very broad terms, HMG accepted responsibility for the pensions of those who were employed in Kenya on expatriate terms (i.e. had paid leave passages outside the country during their employment) and who were not citizens of Kenya on 1st April 1971 or the date of retirement if later. The pension of anyone who did not meet the above criteria above remained the responsibility of the Government of Kenya. This is why some pensions are paid by HMG and others, such as”

the constituent

“by Crown Agents on behalf of the Government of Kenya.”

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[Seema Malhotra]

My right hon. Friend is being very generous in giving way. He raises the very confusing issue of why we have not been able to get an answer to the questions around the non-payment of pensions to former civil servants, but also the lack of the increase in line with inflation, which I understand was part of the agreement many years ago between the British and the Kenyan Government, I think in 1977. A constituent has highlighted to me that he is one of 300 people who have not received an inflationary increase since 1991, and then from last year he has not been receiving his pension, so there has been some confusion over a number of years. Without answers to these questions, it is very difficult for people who are now in their 80s or sometimes in their 90s to be getting these answers directly from the Kenyan Government, which is what our Government are advising them to do.

[Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I must say, I think my constituent has received inflation increases. There does seem to be some variability about who has received them over the last couple of decades. Who knows what the reason for that is?

I was just reading a written answer from 2013, which concludes:

“British high commission staff in Nairobi asked the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs about public sector pensions on 2 July 2013 and are awaiting a response.”—[Official Report, 9 July 2013; Vol. 566, c. 143W.]

That was seven years ago. Whether any response was received at that time, I do not know, but I certainly do not think any Member here has seen a response to any of these questions, which clearly have frequently been asked.

[Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There is no dispute at all that our constituents are entitled to these payments. A promise has been made to them, and the Government of Kenya need to honour their promise to his constituent and to all the others.

Coming forward to this year, last month, I co-signed a letter to the Minister with my hon. Friends the Members for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson), for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury), for Harrow West (Gareth Thomas), for Slough (Mr Dhesi) and for Feltham and Heston and the hon. Member for Peterborough (Paul Bristow), who I see in his place, asking that the Minister meet us to discuss what further steps the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will take to ensure that these pensions are reinstated and uprated in line with inflation. The Foreign Secretary confirmed to me in Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office questions last month that he would look to arrange the meeting, so we look forward to that.

I wonder whether the Minister can clarify the following tonight. First, how many people living in the UK does the Foreign Office think are affected by the non-payment of Kenyan pensions and, perhaps separately, by the issue that has been surfaced in this debate about the non-uprating of some of those pensions that have been in payment?

Secondly, can the Minister tell the House what recent discussions he has had about this with his Kenyan counterparts? Clearly the Foreign Office has asked about this on quite a few occasions. Has it received an answer from the Government of Kenya to any of its inquiries? What does the Minister make of it all? Why is it that our constituents have not been paid at all since the spring of last year? Lastly, what is the Department’s plan should the Kenyan Government continue to withhold these payments to which our constituents are entitled?

Our constituents have not received the pension that they are entitled to for almost two years. Some have been waiting longer. Many, as my hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston has said, are elderly. They are entitled to their pension, and there is an issue of dignity here. These people have worked and they are expecting to receive the fair pension that they are entitled to.

[Seema Malhotra]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, as well as being an administrative nightmare for our constituents, it is also highly distressing for people to have to battle for something to which they have a right? This is something that they have earned through their hard work and commitment to the Kenyan Government and through their public service to the Kenyan nation. They should not have to fight for it in their retirement. This is the time when we need our Government to step in and help them.

[Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. She sums up the message of the debate extremely well. I hope that the Minister will provide some hope for our constituents that this matter will finally be resolved, and I look forward to hearing his answers after others have contributed to the debate.

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[James Cleverly]

I have not been privy to the details of the conversations, but I think it would be unimaginable for the Kenyan Government not to realise that when there is interest from Members of the UK Parliament, it will become a high-profile issue and it will have reputational implications for them.

The Government of Kenya, unfortunately, have never proactively raised this issue with us. Our high commissioner in Nairobi raised the issue with Principal Secretary Kamau from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 1 December, sharing with them the copies of the note verbale we had previously submitted on the subject. My colleague the Minister for Africa also raised it with Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning Yatani on Thursday 3 December and pushed again for pension payments to be resumed and backdated.

We have been in regular contact with Crown Agents Bank and understand that in recent months it has made progress with the pensions department of the Kenyan National Treasury. Crown Agents Bank provided additional information at the request of Kenyan authorities but as yet the funds needed for payments to resume have still not been released.

[Seema Malhotra]

I thank the Minister for the detailed response he is giving. Do the Government have any sort of taskforce that is dedicated to trying to get a resolution on this issue and to pursuing that doggedly? Will they keep those in the UK who are retired and affected up to date? I make the point again about the distress and strain for them, their children and their wider families, and the concern about whether, if people have passed away, their entitlements will still go to their relatives, because their families should have received them.

[James Cleverly]

My understanding is that we do not have a specific taskforce, but we do raise this issue at both high commissioner and ministerial level. My hon. Friend the Minister for Africa will be travelling to the region and raising this issue again with his Kenyan counterparts when he has the opportunity to do so. The matter is being dealt with at both senior official and ministerial level. I hope that shows the House that the Government take this issue very seriously indeed.

We understand that the Kenyan Treasury is now taking the matter forward with Crown Agents Bank. Quite frankly, progress has not been made anywhere near as fast as we would have hoped. In his contacts with the Kenyan Government my hon. Friend the Minister for Africa is urging swift resolution to this matter to ensure that payments to all individuals affected resume and that the outstanding sums are made good. He will have noted this evening’s debate, and I hope that the Government of Kenya will have done so too and ultimately will do the right thing for the public servants who worked with them in the past.

Question put and agreed to.