Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his policy is on the freezing of state pensions for those living overseas.

The UK state pension is payable worldwide. However, where a recipient is not ordinarily resident in the UK, eligibility for annual up-rates is generally restricted to people living in a country which is a member of the European Economic Area, including by extension Switzerland, or in a country with which the UK has a bilateral social security agreement that provides for up-rating of the UK state pension. A list of these countries can be found at

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pensions-annual-increases-if-you-live-abroad

Restricting the availability of annual up-rates to the UK state pensions in this manner has been the long standing policy of successive Governments. This Government has no plans to change it.