Frozen pension
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There are two distinct meanings of "frozen pension".
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[edit] Frozen occupational pension
Pensions which have been left behind in an occupational pension scheme by people who are no longer employed by the sponsoring employer are "frozen" until retirement age. Frequently, if the amounts are small, the member and the scheme administrators lose touch with each other, and as a result the pension is never claimed.
[edit] Frozen state pensions
The second meaning refers to the practice of the British government in "freezing" state pensions for pensioners who live in certain overseas countries. Not all countries are included in the "frozen" list, and there are some strange anomalies. Most Commonwealth countries are included in the frozen list, and some non-Commonwealth, non-European countries are in the list where UK pensioners get the same indexation as pensioners resident in Britain.[1]
All British State pensioners receive their pension based on the level of their compulsory contributions to the National Insurance Fund, and as payments are made within the UK they are all at the same level. However, if the beneficary moves abroad, their level of pension is then dependent upon where they live.[2]
Freezing starts with the first payment received in the frozen country.
[edit] References
- ^ Leaflet NP46, DWP DWP Internal Standards and Guidance FOI.
- ^ The Pension Service, CF-N-701 7/02, Department of Work and Pensions, July 2002.
