Overseas pensioners to be sorted at last

At last some sense from our wonderful government, About time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22423878

Whilst I agree with this cut in principal, what we are talking about is saving roughly the cost of four days payment for the pleasure of being in the EU. £410 Million sounds a lot but it's a piddling amount when put into the right context when put up against something of importance. What about stopping the winter fuel allowance to those who live in countries that have no winter as well?

It may be a piddlin amount in the larger scheme of things but all these piddlin amounts add up to major money. Why in gods name should we pay for people who have never been here. The amount of these people is no doubt growing and the amount of money must be increasing year on year.

Lets face it the whole pension system needs sorting out completely. I had a relation by marriage who came here from Dublin as a youngster. He had only worked in Ireland for a couple of years before he came here. He ended up with an Irish Pension, a UK Pension and one from Lucas where he worked all his life in this country. I know he paid tax on all three pensions, but it is a silly state of affairs.

But Phil, presumably he had paid money into his Irish pension, so he was entitled to it. He would have been well within his rights to be upset if he did not get it.
But on the whole i agree that it is ridiculous for someone who has never been to a country to receive a pension from the taxpayer. I would also, however, question whether it is right for someone to put their picture on a website to get the attention of some man who then marries him and brings her over, and then to get a pension. Prostitution is the same whether it is on or offline, and people should not get it partly paid for by the state

Mike

Don't you think that the UK government should have sorted it out with the ROI so that only one complete pension was paid by whichever country had received the most contributions.

As for internet shopping for foreign wives I see nothing wrong with this, lets face it if not for this facility some of these men would never marry. As long as the lady in question remains with her husband and does not do a flit as soon as the ring is on her finger. If that is the case then she needs to be deported as soon as her husband reports the matter and it has been investigated and found not to be the fault of the husband. If it goes against her then without exception all financial and other rights in this country are cancelled.

Phil
Yes the two governments should be able to sort it out, but, being a suspicious sort, i think it more likely they would agree to just forget about the smaller contributions. The new pension arrangements (which don't affect me as i have retired) state that even if you have contributed with extra contributions for a larger pension, you will not get any more than anyone else.

mike - does the scheme thats in place now end in 2016 eg exsisting pensions cancelled or does it mean in 2016 no further pensions will be given to spouses who are non residents or did not pay into the system?

When governments make cuts like these it doesn't generally mean that existing pensions will be cut from a given date, it's more likely to mean that no further claims will be accepted.