Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many UK pensioners living overseas had their pensions stopped in 2022 because of life certificate forms and postal issues, broken down by country.
DWP allows 16 weeks for the completed Life Certificate to be returned under normal circumstances. In 2022, DWP was notified of the postal issues effecting deliveries in Canada. In light of this, we reinstated the State Pension of those effected and extended the normal 16-week time limit by another 48 weeks for the completed Life Certificates to be returned.
DWP does not maintain data regarding the temporary suspension of International State Pensions owing to postal issues, as this is not something the Department is able to determine. However, DWP does hold data for the temporary suspensions due to the non/late return of a Life Certificate in 2022.
The number of UK State Pension customers whose payments were temporarily suspended due to the non/late return of Life Certificates issued in 2022 was 37,517; this is broken down by country as follows: -
Albania | 7 |
Andorra | 51 |
Anguilla | 74 |
Antigua | 88 |
Antilles (Netherlands) | 8 |
Armenia | 1 |
Bahamas | 211 |
Bangladesh | 429 |
Barbados | 796 |
Benin | 2 |
Bermuda | 90 |
Brazil | 737 |
Bulgaria | 348 |
Burkina Faso | 1 |
Canada | 19,061 |
Cayman Islands | 42 |
Central African Republic | 1 |
Costa Rica | 55 |
Croatia | 105 |
Cyprus | 1,831 |
Czech Republic | 126 |
Denmark | 525 |
Djibouti | 1 |
Dominican Republic | 38 |
Egypt | 224 |
Estonia | 18 |
Falkland Islands | 11 |
Fiji | 60 |
France | 1,690 |
Gambia | 50 |
Georgia | 12 |
Greenland | 0 |
Grenada | 217 |
Guam | 0 |
Guyana | 86 |
Hong Kong | 527 |
Hungary | 146 |
India | 1,934 |
Indonesia | 246 |
Israel | 426 |
Jamaica | 2,847 |
Jordan | 67 |
Kenya | 234 |
Kuwait | 17 |
Kyrgyzstan | 5 |
Liberia | 2 |
Luxembourg | 85 |
Malawi | 33 |
Malaysia | 74 |
Maldive Islands | 0 |
Mexico | 454 |
Monaco | 92 |
Montserrat | 27 |
Morocco | 7 |
North Korea | 0 |
Panama | 28 |
Philippines | 1,564 |
Puerto Rico | 4 |
Republic of the Congo | 2 |
Russia | 5 |
Saudi Arabia | 3 |
Serbia & Montenegro | 77 |
Seychelles | 2 |
Singapore | 191 |
Slovakia | 8 |
Sri Lanka | 30 |
St Lucia | 457 |
St Vincent/Grenadines | 190 |
Sudan | 5 |
Swaziland | 2 |
Switzerland | 105 |
Syria | 6 |
Taiwan | 17 |
Tanzania | 34 |
Trinidad & Tobago | 264 |
Turks & Caicos Islands | 4 |
Uganda | 49 |
United Arab Emirates | 50 |
Uruguay | 22 |
Vietnam | 88 |
Virgin Islands (British) | 29 |
Virgin Islands (USA) | 15 |
Zimbabwe | 47 |
The Management Information used has been taken from the same operational source data systems as our published administrative data. However, as this Management Information is not a recognised National or Official Statistic, it has not been subjected to the same level of Quality Assurance. As a result, these figures should be treat with caution.