§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total number of pensioners living overseas who are currently in receipt of United Kingdom pensions; and if he will show (a) the numbers in each of the respective countries, (b) the countries where the annual increments are applied and (c) the countries where the annual increments are not applied.
§ Dr. BoysonAt 31 December 1982, 306,639 United Kingdom retirement and widow pensioners were receiving their pensions abroad. Annual uprating increases are payable to pensioners abroad only where they are in other EC countries or in countries with which the United Kingdom has a bilateral social security convention which allows some or all increases to be paid.
At 31 December 1982, 121,114 United Kingdom pensioners were in countries where increases are payable. Of these, 57,690 were in other EC countries. The remainder were in Austria (1,628), Bermuda (234), the Channel Islands (9,457), Cyprus (1,681), Israel (1,604), 56W Jamaica (6,721), Malta (1,708), Mauritius (66), Portugal (924), Spain (9,225), Switzerland (1,466), Turkey (145), USA (27,553), and Yugoslavia (1,012).
Of the pensioners in countries where increases are not payable, the majority were in Australia (85,326), Canada (40,962), New Zealand (21,377) and South Africa (15,077).