English Corner
28 September 2012
FREE weekly issue 19 9
Jokes Classifieds Local Sports World Cries With Joy
age old Victor problem
guesthouse & cafe
Naresdamri Rd. opp Brasserie de Paris
UK expat pensioners in hua hin suffer from stingy uk government
hua hin, THAILAND Apologies to AWOL’s army of non-British readers, but this week’s front page story is specifically aimed at our British readers. Many of you will have either reached a certain age, or will in the next few years, that has been designated the official pension age, currently 65 years old for men and between 60 and 65 for women depending on year of birth. From this point, UK citizens are allowed to claim the State Pension, and other accrued benefits depending on the amount of National Insurance payments made during their working life. However, if these citizens do not live in the UK or certain designated countries (e.g the USA), they are not currently entitled to any increases in the pension awarded from that point on; Thailand is one of the countries that UK pensioners have their state pension frozen in. More than half a million UK expat pensioners are currently affected worldwide by this ludicrously unfair situation. Other countries affected include Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India, and the British Government claims that the situation is thus because there is no ‘reciprocal agreement’ with those countries; however the UK is the only western country that does not upgrade it’s expat pensioners each year in line with inflation, so other countries do so without any reciprocal agreement in place. If you think something should be done about this, please sign the online petition at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/38618 and spread the word to your friends and family. This petition has nothing to do with AWOL but we encourage everyone to sign. The UK’s Daily Telegraph has an ongoing campaign to right this wrong, and you can find out more on their website at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/campaigns/frozenpensions/.
Rooms/ family suites in heart of Hua Hin. a/c, lcd tv, dvd player, free premium wifi, cable tv...open 24/7 www.victorguesthousehuahin.com
GET RACING FROM ONLY 400 BAHT! OPEN EVERYDAY 10.30AM - 7PM, LATE NIGHT BY APPOINTMENT Call 032 547 199 (Office) or 081 817 3000 (Mobile) Soi 2, Phetchkasem Road opposite Hua Hin Airport
www.gokarthuahin.com