I’m sure you be pleased to hear that a new e-petition on the frozen pensions issue, sponsored by the International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP), has just been successfully posted on the UK Government’s DirectGov website. It reads as follows:
END THE UNFAIR FROZEN OVERSEAS PENSION POLICY Under regulation 3 of the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations British pensioners who retire to any one of over 120 countries, mainly in the Commonwealth, have their rightful state pension frozen. Meanwhile, those who retire to other countries have their pension uprated annually, just as though they never left the UK. This discriminatory policy currently impacts on the lives of over half a million British pensioners and curtails the freedom of choice of all British pensioners in retirement. We call for this Government to heed the plea of the International Consortium of British Pensioners to repeal this Regulation.
Our goal is to achieve more than 100,000 signatures so that this topic can be considered for debate in the House of Commons. Your cooperation is essential if we are to achieve that goal. So please take the time to sign the petition on the epetitions.direct.gov.uk web site. We've provided the following helpful information in an effort to ease you through the process.
1. Click the following link http://bit.ly/BritPensions which will take you directly to the petition.
2. Click on the "Sign this petition" button to take you to the signing page.
3. Complete all of the details requested on the signing page. Make sure your email address is accurate as you will be sent a confirmation email as part of the process - more on this below.
4. Where they ask "British citizen or UK resident" the answer should be "Yes"; they are asking you whether you are one or the other, or perhaps both. Only answer "No" if you are neither one nor the other.
5. In the "Country" box, United Kingdom is the default country but when you click on the down arrow next to the box, a drop down menu provides you an enormous list of countries. Select the one that applies to you.
NOTE: If you live outside the UK you’ll probably see a message that your postal code is not recognized. This will not matter once you’ve selected your country of residence.
6. When you have completed the details move towards the bottom of the page where you will find a “Captcha box” where you have to read two words and then type them into a box, one of which is usually difficult to read. Don't worry if you get it wrong the first time; if you do they will provide you with two more words to try again.
7. When you have completed all of the above, click the box next to "I agree to the Terms & Conditions”, then click on the box "Sign this e-petition".
8. You will receive a confirmation email, usually within minutes unless the system is very busy, in which case be patient. Click on the link provided in that email and Bingo! - your signature is registered.
9. One final note. Additional votes will not be accepted from the same email address. If you are a couple that shares one email address feel free to enter both names on the name box but it will only register as one vote. We assume this is part of the security measure to stop people adding fictitious names.
Finally, our sincere thanks to every one of you who decide to support this very important e-petition. Please feel free to pass this on to all your friends and relatives who you think might support us as well, especially those living in the UK. Over half a million pensioners around the world whose pensions are currently frozen by this policy will be eternally grateful for your support.
Sincerely
Tony Bockman Chairman International Consortium of British Pensioners
