Brits living in the EU risk having their pensions frozen
Britons living in the EU, who qualify for a state pensions uprate, could lose the guarantee after disorderly Brexit.
The British government has today outlined the ways how it intends to protect rights of its citizens living in the EU in the case of “no-deal Brexit.”
As one of the protections, the Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay pledged to keep uprating state pensions of UK nationals living in the EU – but only if the EU reciprocates.
If the EU as a bloc does not reciprocate, the UK will need to strike individual deals with each of the 27 member states.
Failure to secure such deals – let it be with the EU as a whole, or individual member states – could jeopardize the ‘triple-lock’ – or a government’s commitment state pension every year at a rate higher of inflation, average earnings or a minimum of 2.5 per cent.
This puts 470,000 UK qualifying nationals living in the EU in the risk of having their state pensions frozen.
AJ Bell senior analyst Tom Selby warns against complications of going down the route of negotiations with individual countries.
He says: “If a deal with the EU as a whole cannot be reached then the UK will likely have to negotiate reciprocal deals with each of the 27 member states. This could be a painfully drawn out process with no guarantee of success.”
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