**More than half a million UK pensioners living overseas will continue to have their pensions frozen after a European court decision.**Pensioners who moved to countries such as Australia and Canada only receive the level of pension paid at retirement - which might be only £6 per week.
The European Court of Human Rights rejected an appeal from a group of pensioners by an 11 to 6 majority.
The group wanted to receive increases in line with inflation.
The decision has saved the government at least £500m a year.
The expatriate pensioners say they have been fighting “tooth and nail” against the UK government in an eight-year court battle.
Pensioners who have moved abroad want their UK state pensions to rise in line with inflation each year.
Inflation-proofing only applies to UK pensioners who live in the European Economic Area or in 15 other countries, but not in some Commonwealth states.
Entitlement
John Markham, a pensioner living in Canada, said: “There is an image of people living well in the sunshine - but there are plenty of cases of real hardship.”
He said the decision was the end of the legal road, but they wanted to take the case to the “court of public opinion”.
He told the BBC News website that they would take 48 hours to consider the decision.
The campaigners argue that they paid into the pensions system when they were working and are entitled to the same benefits as those who remained in the UK.
For the oldest overseas pensioners, who retired in the early 1970s, the pension can be as low as £6 a week. Those who retired in the early 1980s are left on about £30 a week, and those who retired in the early 1990s get about £50 a week.
The current basic state pension is £95.25 a week.
‘First priority’
There are more than a million UK pensioners living overseas - with about half of them affected by the pensions freeze.
If pensioners have moved to countries with a reciprocal arrangement - such as in the European Union or the United States - then they receive pension increases.
But if pensioners have emigrated to countries without any such agreement - such as Australia, Canada and South Africa - their pensions have been frozen at the level of when they moved overseas.
The Department for Work and Pensions has said the department’s first responsibility is to support pensioners in the UK.
“The government’s priority is to help the least well-off pensioners living in this country and it will continue to help them so that they are able to have a decent income in retirement,” said a DWP spokesman.
The department also said that pensioners who chose to move to a country without a reciprocal pensions arrangement would have been aware of what it would mean for their state pension.