Expats lose appeal for inflation-linked pensions

A European court has dismissed an appeal by a group of British expats to have their state pensions linked to inflation.

The ruling, which dismissed the final appeal possible in the eight-year case, said the British government's refusal to uprate the pensions does not breach the pensioners' human rights.

UK state pensions are not increased each year when paid to people living in around 150 countries including Australia, Canada and South Africa.

This means over 500,000 British pensioners living abroad have their pensions frozen at the level at which they started to draw them from outside the UK.

The International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP) says a pensioner who began drawing a full pension in Australia in 1981 will still receive just £29.60 a week, adding up to missed payments of £100,000.

Lawyers for the British government said its priority is poor pensioners at home.