Expat pensioner wins appeal right

Annette Carson lost her case in June

An expat pensioner campaigning for a right to an equal UK state pension has been granted leave to take her fight to the House of Lords.

In June, Annette Carson, who lives in South Africa, lost her case challenging the government's expat pensioner policy at the Court of Appeal in London.

The decision dealt a huge blow to thousands of expatriate retirees, whose pensions have not been adjusted for inflation in years.

In June, Ms Carson was not given permission to appeal but can now fight on following the Appeal Committee of the House of Lords ruling on Thursday.

Graham Chrystie, Ms Carson's solicitor, welcomed the chance to carry on the fight: "The overseas pensioners are at the bottom of the pile and hopefully UK pensioners...would support these Britons overseas whose plight is often desperate."

The date of any appeal has not been confirmed.

Frozen

Ms Carson is among an estimated 490,000 British pensioners who live overseas and have had their pensions "frozen" at the rate they were first paid abroad.

Where are pensions frozen? Australia Canada Hong Kong South Africa Zimbabwe New Zealand Trinidad & Tobago

Critics of the current system believe it is an unfair lottery - and penalises people who have paid national insurance contributions all their working lives.

It can mean some of the oldest pensioners in mainly Commonwealth countries are left on a basic pension as little as £7 per week - less than a tenth of the current level.

Under bilateral agreements with countries including US and EU members, the government has upgraded pensions for British people who retire there.

But social security agreements with other countries such as Canada, South Africa and Australia were drawn up much earlier, in the 1950s, before inflation became such an important issue.