Looking Ahead
Where next - after the ECHR judgement

However, the fact that there were 6 dissenting judges, out of 17, meant that the UK Government did not have as black and white a verdict as they would have liked and gives ICBP room for optimism.  We can still win.

After reviewing the Court decision, the heads of the Consortium held a conference call during which their QC expressed the opinion that the findings actually left ICBP with the option to pursue a fresh legal avenue; this will be considered over the coming weeks.

Following the tremendous support shown by the members of ICBP, the consortium has decided to keep fighting and to move ahead with an advocacy programme. The details of this are still to be worked out.

In the meantime the decision has been made to try and make the question of frozen pensions an election issue during the build up to the forthcoming General Election in the UK.

Points to make
if YOU write to the press or your Parliamentary candidate

Not all British Pensioners living overseas have their pensions frozen.  Some retire to places like Spain and the South of France, because they want to live in the sun while still enjoying their fully indexed pensions.  They would also have their pensions indexed in any European Union country, the USA or a few other favoured countries.

Others retire to join their children and grandchildren who have moved overseas, many to less idyllic locations.  If they go to almost any of the old British Commonwealth countries they will have their pensions frozen.

Our fight is not just for frozen pensioners, it is for Pension Parity for all residents of the UK who earn their pensions by paying mandatory contributions into the National Insurance Fund.  Britain's policy of freezing pensions in some countries but not others deprives workers of their freedom of choice, their freedom to decide for themselves where they wish to spend their retirement years.

Whether you choose to retire to the sun in Spain, to join your children in Canada with its cold winters, to follow a lifelong hobby studying Archaeology in the land of the Incas or for any reason you wish to retire to anywhere else in the world you are entitled to the full pension you have paid for during your working life in the UK.

For some living overseas may be about "living the life of Riley on the beach" (why not - it might be in Spain, it might be in Australia - what's the difference) for others it is about joining family and friends, for others it is about following up on the interests of a lifetime - wildlife in Africa, architecture in Europe, oriental studies in the Far East, or the solitary life on a South Sea Island.  Governmental discrimination should have no part to play in your decision making process - the freedom of choice should be YOURS, and yours alone, without Government interference.