Fresh pension scandal as retiring abroad could cost British pensioners 160k | Personal Finance | Finance [Video]

The dream of retiring abroad could see Britons losing £160,000 in State Pension payments, it has emerged.

The problem stems from the fact that people who have paid into their pension throughout their working lives are not guaranteed annual increases.

The government decides who qualifies for the annual rise based on which country they move to.

As a result, hundreds of thousands who chose to move to countries including Australia, Canada and South Africa could lose out.

The annual full new state pension went up from £10,600 to £11,502 from April 6 for those who made at least 35 years of national insurance contributions.

The rise applied to pensioners in the UK, as well as those in the European Economic Area, which includes all EU countries, such as France, Spain, and Italy, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

It also includes 18 other countries with which Britain has an agreement to increase rates, such as the USA, Switzerland, …