A London High Court judge has ruled that British pensioners living abroad do not have the right to inflation-linked increases in their state pensions. The decision will disappoint about 36 000 British pensioners who live here.
In a test case, South African resident Annette Carson challenged the British Department for Work and Pensions' refusal to increase her state pension because she lives in South Africa.
South Africa is one of 150 countries in which British pensioners live on state pensions that were pegged when they retired or arrived here.
Carson said her pension was pegged despite the fact that she continued to contribute until the age of 60 to Britain's national insurance fund, which pays social pensions.
The pensions of British expatriots living in countries which do not have a reciprocal agreement with Britain are pegged at the rate they were being paid when the pensioner left Britain.
Carson claimed the government was contravening her human right and was discriminating against her on the grounds of where she lived.
The High Court judge ruled that the decision was political and not judicial and that the decision to pay increased pensions would have to be made by the British parliament. Carson was ordered to pay costs but was also given leave to appeal.