Pension laws for Britain

The British pension laws are changing. This may affect many Maltese and British citizens who retired or live in Malta or those who will claim in the future.

Already if you are a woman born in 1954 you could retire at 66 whereas if you were born in 1952 you will retire at 62.

The danger is if you retire one day before the new pension laws are introduced you will receive £100 per week. If you retire one day after, you achieve £140 per week.

Additional pension and state earnings related pension will be frozen or lost. Fuel allowance will be curtailed. Married couples manage on £202.40 but after 2015 married couples will receive £280 but only those retiring under the new laws.

Let’s hope the House of Lords will fight against the creation of the “Apartheid pension”, which creates a second-class pension for those who retired before 2015, mooted by Steven Webb, British Pensions Minister. Most certainly those who retire one day after the new laws are passed will receive £140 per week (if they live 20 more years); they will receive £41,000 more that those already retired over the 20-year period. If you are already retired on a British pension you will not receive the £140 flat rate though men will have paid 44 years NICs and women 39 years to achieve basic pension. Those claiming from 2015 only have to contribute 30 years.

How many people will lose out? Apparently the figure quoted is 12.5 million. How many people will lose out in Malta? In future, claims may well depend on residency in the UK too.