Next year, many British retirees may face a big change. Almost 500,000 people who live abroad could see that their State Pension payments do not increase. This has been frustrating many who thought their pensions would go up each and every year.

What’s happening? Well, that was the question of how much these retirees had gotten through the State Pension. Now, there is something called the Triple Lock system in the UK, which is supposed to guarantee that the State Pensions rise with each year gone by. It checks three things in deciding how far the pension should go up: how much prices are rising, how much wages are going are up-or 2.5% flat-it uses whichever is highest.

There is at the moment a problem of that kind, given how the system works. So, the Consumer Prices Index-named so, measuring how much prices have risen-was only 2.2% in July, while the wages-the second part of the Triple Lock-rose much less than last year, what could reduce such increase of money that retirees will have.

But there’s one big exception: an estimated 453,000 British retirees who live overseas in countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Because their pensions were “frozen” when they emigrated, they don’t benefit from the Triple Lock. That is, their pensions remain at the same level as when they left the UK, without any increases to reflect either higher prices or wages in the UK.

The Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners estimates the cost would be approximately £50 million to un-freeze these pensions. They would like the pension to be increased yearly as it is to the people who live in the UK, to which they have worked and paid their share into the National Insurance. They feel it is unfair for these retirees, who have worked and paid their part into the National Insurance of the UK, to not receive the same benefits as the residents of the UK.

Many of these retirees worked hard in the UK, paying their NICs in anticipation that their pensions would rise along with everyone else’s. Now they are finding those pensions frozen-meaning they are losing out on increases they should have had from those pensions.

The Triple Lock system was established to make sure that State Pensions kept pace with both cost-of-living increases and growth in wages. It is supposed to protect those in retirement from the loss due to inflation and changes in economic circumstances. However, in the case of frozen pensioners, this protection is not in play because their pensions do not increase with the rise in costs.

ICBP campaigns on behalf of these pensioners. Their campaign, “End Frozen Pensions,” was a way to try and right this wrong. They want a fair system where all British retirees receive equal benefits, irrespective of where they live.

It’s important to understand how State Pensions work. In the UK, one needs to pay National Insurance for at least 10 years to have a State Pension. In practice, about 35 years of contributions are needed to get the full amount. And although you have worked and paid for so many years, when you move abroad, your pension might also freeze.

However, this is not just an issue of finance for those affected. It is about equity and the honoring of the promises that the pension system holds. For many retirees, this is something they have earned-a duly increasing pension-and this is just not fair to let them be left out because they emigrated to another country.

Accordingly, while the system of Triple Lock seems to be designed to help UK retirees keep up with the cost of living, in practice for those whose pensions are frozen, residing abroad seems not to work. The Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners and International Consortium of British Pensioners work really hard in order to change all this, so that all British retirees shall get the increases they deserve.

Meanwhile, until further updates and decisions have been made concerning pensions, commensurate baseline information must be provided on everyone’s level to fully understand how changes in this regard could impact retirees living outside the country. Hopefully, with greater awareness and advocacy, the system will be adjusted to ensure that all retirees, wherever they may reside, obtain a fair and just increase in their pension.