Around 170,000 retirees living across the world have had their state pensions frozen without an increase for at least 20 years, data obtained by i show.

State pensioners living in the UK see their pension increased each year by the triple lock policy – which sees pensions go up in line with inflation, average wage growth or 2.5 per cent (whichever is highest) – but this does not happen for those living overseas unless they are living in a country which has a reciprocal agreement with the UK.

It means British pensioners living in countries including Canada, Australia and Thailand receive far smaller pensions than those living back in the UK.

There are close to 500,000 pensioners that have had their pensions frozen, and figures obtained from the Government via a Freedom of Information request shows that as of last year, 170,000 of these had had their pension frozen for over 20 years – stretching back to 2003.

Some 100,000 had theirs frozen for over 25 years, which takes them back to 1998.

Back in April 2003, the basic state pension was just £77.45 for a single person. Now, it is £169.50, so these pensioners are getting almost £100 less per week than they would be if they lived in the UK.

In 1998, it was just £64.70, so pensioners with pensions frozen for over 25 years are getting over £100 less a week than they would be if they lived in the UK.

John Duguid, spokesperson for the End Frozen Pensions campaign, said: “Of the total 450,000 ‘frozen pensioners’, that well over a hundred thousand have been waiting more than twenty years for justice gives resonance to the sheer scale of the issue.

“Seeing one’s often sole source of income fall in value, year after year for over two decades, has both a financial and emotional toll that only grows in proportion the longer this cruel policy goes unaddressed,” he told i.

He added: “The vast majority of ‘frozen’ pensioners were simply unaware of the policy’s existence before they started withdrawing from their state pension, and certainly before they moved overseas often to be nearer to family members in retirement.”

i has previously told the story of several state pensioners who have had their payments frozen for over 20 years.

Anne Puckridge, 99, left the UK 23 years ago to be closer to her family in Canada, and is one of the people affected by the issue.

At the time she left, her pension was £72.50 per week. If she had stayed, it would now be worth £169.50 per week, so she is losing close to £100 per week.

“I’ve had to cut down on social activities. To be truthful, I hardly go out anymore because I can’t afford to,” she told i.

“The Government’s policy on the uprating of the UK state pension for recipients living overseas is a long-standing one of more than 70 years and we continue to uprate state pensions overseas where there is a legal requirement to do so.”

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