Why the UK Pension does not increase if taken in Japan

[Moneymatters]

I know this is common knowledge at this point.

If you start to receive your UK State pension whilst living in Japan it will not be subject to inflation/cost of living increases. (Probably at least 2.5% per year).
Such increases may seem small but hedge against inflation in Japan and adverse exchange rates.

The reason is the agreement doesn’t allow for increases. It isn’t because we don’t have a reciprocal agreement between JPN/UK. As there are reciprocal agreements with some other countries where UK citizens also don’t get increases.

The UK is unusual (seemingly the only OECD member) in not granting increases to all expatriate Pensioners irrespective of the country the retire in.

It won’t change and the reason is money.

This video explains why.
https://youtu.be/DOf6wRZuwIw

EDIT:
Removed statement about how pension might be treating when moving during retirement.

[RetireJapan]

Surely they could retire here, then move to The Philippines at which point their pension would be updated to the latest level in line with the UK?

[Moneymatters]

Surely they could retire here, then move to The Philippines at which point their pension would be updated to the latest level in line with the UK?

Well it certainly would be nice of them to keep track of all the increases you lost then help you catch up.
As it's an assumption I'll remove <that reference from> my post.

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

The British state pension is uprated with the Triple lock in some countries. However, it does seem quite arbitrary which countries are uprated and which aren't. For example Canadian British expat pensioners are not, while American British expat pensioners are. As you mentioned Japanese British expat state pensions are not uprated.

Is this fair or not fair? if you have paid over 40 years of National contributions. From my perspective, I think when you retire to another country you should have found out about the system before you decided to retire there or live there. You should have made adequate pension provision for yourself. The British state pension is more generous than the Japanese pension, even though for people in their late forties now can only collect it in their late sixties. The British state pension is a pay-as-you-go system which is very dependent on politicians desire to bribe certain members of the electorate to vote for them. Or for that matter just ignore other people who are electorally insignificant- expats. The Japanese state pension for all its faults is based on investments.

However, I do not think it is all doom and gloom for UK retiree expats in Japan. Firstly because of the absence of any reciprocal pension agreements between the UK and Japan. This means you can contribute to both and receive both. These two full pensions together are worth 180,000 yen a month. This is not a bad starting point for having a comfortable retirement with additional private pension provision.

If you are still dissatisfied with the fact that British expats will not be getting the Triple lock, there might be an opportunity for you to express your dissatisfaction through the ballot box with long term expats getting the vote back. I think the long term expat vote block might be an important voting block that could swing some constituencies. Maybe they will start listening to us again....and expand the triple lock to everyone....

[RetireJapan]

Surely they could retire here, then move to The Philippines at which point their pension would be updated to the latest level in line with the UK?

Well it certainly would be nice of them to keep track of all the increases you lost then help you catch up.
As it's an assumption I'll remove <that reference from> my post.

They won't make up lost raises, but I believe you would revert to getting the current level (wherever it ended up) rather than the frozen amount.

The same would happen if you moved back to the UK. So I can see it maybe being worth 'moving back' for a few months every few years

[Beaglehound]

Surely they could retire here, then move to The Philippines at which point their pension would be updated to the latest level in line with the UK?

Well it certainly would be nice of them to keep track of all the increases you lost then help you catch up.
As it's an assumption I'll remove <that reference from> my post.

They won't make up lost raises, but I believe you would revert to getting the current level (wherever it ended up) rather than the frozen amount.

The same would happen if you moved back to the UK. So I can see it maybe being worth 'moving back' for a few months every few years

It’s an interesting point, one could perhaps do the same by moving to the Philippines for a few months. Warmer, cheaper and the people are less grumpy.

[RetireJapan]

They won't make up lost raises, but I believe you would revert to getting the current level (wherever it ended up) rather than the frozen amount.

The same would happen if you moved back to the UK. So I can see it maybe being worth 'moving back' for a few months every few years

It’s an interesting point, one could perhaps do the same by moving to the Philippines for a few months. Warmer, cheaper and the people are less grumpy.

That is a brilliant idea.

[Moneymatters]

Blame my poor English by “making up for lost raises” I just meant “reverting to the current level”.

Because to me those are the same thing unless they aren’t.
For clarity I wasn’t expecting to get back paid money that had been lost out on.

That said. Before we all go buy Suncream we should be aware the site just says.

“Your pension will go up to the current rate if you return to live in the UK.”

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you ... te-pension

[kuma]

There may be a labyrinth of residency rules to navigate; might not be as simple as moving somewhere for a few months, getting the pension uprated, and then moving back. Haven't looked into things properly though.

Fully agree that the Philippines could be an attractive option. The Special Resident Retiree's Visa (https://pra.gov.ph/) is a lifetime visa available to those maintaining a balance of US$20,000+ in an approved local bank (different amounts for different ages and circumstances), among other requirements. The lifetime nature of this visa and its title as a retiree's visa might swing things a little bit more in the retiree's favour if there are UK pension rules regarding habitual residence.

[Azthe]

Petition: Give U.K. pensioners living abroad increases with parity as those in the U.K.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/601821
This could be worth signing. Pass it on to interested parties..