The soon to be 100-year-old Second World War veteran Anne Puckridge has said she is “overwhelmed” by the public support behind her campaign to meet with the Prime Minister this December, when she will travel over 4,400 miles from her home in Canada to the UK to shed light on the so-called ‘Frozen Pensions Scandal’, impacting her and more than 453,000 other British State Pensioners living overseas.
More than 105,000 people have signed Anne’s online petition and her campaign has received backing from across Parliament and Dame Joanna Lumley, however, Sir Keir Starmer has not yet responded to her request for a meeting. Launched just over four weeks ago on Change.org by Anne’s daughter, Gillian, the petition is calling on the Prime Minister to “do the honourable thing” and meet with the 99-year-old veteran of the Navy, Army and RAF.
The ‘End Frozen Pensions’ campaign states that the current State Pension policy for expats living in countries without a non-reciprocal agreement with the UK Government, denies over 40 per cent of Brits living abroad access to the annual increase, which for the last 13 years has been under the Triple Lock.
Under the Triple Lock, the New and Basic State Pensions increase each year in-line with whichever is the highest between the average annual earnings growth from May to July (4.1%), CPI in the year to September (1.7%), or 2.5 per cent.
Payments for the 2025/26 financial year are set to rise by 4.1 per cent from April 7.
Despite having spent her working life in the UK and making all her National Insurance Contributions, Mrs Puckridge receives just £72.50 per week – less than half the full Basic State Pension rate of £169.50 she would benefit from if she had remained in the UK.
This is the same amount she was entitled to in 2001, when she moved to Canada aged 76 to be closer to her daughter in older age. Like many in her situation, she was not told that her State Pension would be ‘frozen’ in this way when she moved abroad.
More than 100,000 British pensioners living in Canada receive a frozen State Pension, typically at the payment rate of emigration while Canadian citizens living in the UK are entitled to a fully uprated Canadian State Pension.
Responding to the petition passing the 100,000 landmark, Anne said: “I’ve been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support across both the UK and other countries such as Canada and Australia. That my new petition urging the Prime Minister to grant me the honour of speaking with him directly has reached this 100,000 landmark in a matter of weeks is both humbling and touching.
“The positive reaction is such that if I ever was feeling a hint of apprehension about taking on this somewhat arduous journey at my considerable age, that feeling has been swept away.”
She continued: “I do understand that the pressures on the Prime Minister must be immense but I hope this level of support, combined with the very strong cross-party support in both Houses of Parliament, will further highlight to him, and those that advise him, the depth of feeling about this scandal. I believe the Prime Minister is a good man. And I’m sure he knows that he should not have to follow the path of his
A spokesperson for the End Frozen Pensions Campaign said: “We hope that the Prime Minister’s team will see the outpouring of support for Anne’s request for a meeting, not just because of her great age and exemplary service to the country, but because this is an injustice that continues to hurt so many very vulnerable people who have always done right by the country”.
A Government spokesperson said: “We are deeply proud of our veterans and their families for the contribution they make to our country. Theirs is the ultimate public service, and their professionalism and bravery is rightly respected across the world.
“We understand people move abroad for many reasons, and we provide clear information on how this can impact their finances in retirement – with the policy on the uprating of the UK State Pension for recipients living overseas a longstanding one.”
At an End Frozen Pensions campaign parliamentary event in October, 32 MPs signed a pledge to the Prime Minister supporting Anne’s call.
You can view the full petition on Change.org here.