Christopher Lee moved to Thailand in 2010 to spend his retirement years in the sunshine – but his state pension is losing value every year, and he says he has lost hope that this will change.

The 70-year-old, originally from Wrexham, gave up work at 55 and made the decision to move to the country he had holidayed in for 10 years.

He says what attracted him to the Southeast Asian country initially was the weather, the people, the good food and the lower cost of living.

But now he is finding life out there hard to afford as his UK state pension has been frozen at the same level for 15 years, whereas pensions living back home have seen their own retirement payments go up 80 per cent in the same time frame.

Mr Lee’s total incomings from the state pension are £137 per week – but it’s only as big as it is because it is topped up with some additional state pension payments, through a scheme known as State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS).

Without this, it would be just £97.65, while those on the basic state pension in the UK now get £176.45.

The full new state pension is £230.25 per week and is for men born on or after April 6, 1951, and women born on or after April 6, 1953. 

The reason Mr Lee’s pension is smaller than others is because countries including Thailand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, India and most Commonwealth countries, are on a so-called ‘frozen’ list.

Over 450,000 pensioners who moved to these affected countries from the UK get their state pension frozen at the level first received for the rest of their life abroad.

In practice, this means that their state pension decreases in real terms year-on-year, as costs increase with inflation.

Mr Lee, who worked at a bank in Wrexham for over 20 years before retiring in 2010, said the situation is “unjust” and “immoral”.

Speaking to The i Paper, he said: “The extra cash would be most useful as the value of our money decreases every year.

“It would be very welcome, but I know we will not get it. Life is so much harder now, so I’d really like to see this decision reversed.”

Holidays aren’t possible on the money he is receiving, and he isn’t able to afford to fly back to the UK to see friends and family, he said.

“Most luxuries in life” have been lost now, he said.

Mr Lee does receive some private pension payments as well, though does not want to disclose the exact amount.

Multiple Governments have inherited the situation with frozen state pensions without changing it, so experts warn that current retirees shouldn’t expect the situation to change.

Mr Lee said: “Successive governments have all given the same answer when asked about unfreezing expats frozen pensions – and it isn’t the answer we want.

“It is time for this to change. Why should it matter where we live? We paid our contributions so deserve an annual increment like all other pensioners.”

Official statistics published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in July 2023 which said it would cost £940m to uprate frozen state pensions in 2024-25

A DWP spokesperson said: “We understand people move abroad for many reasons, and we provide clear information on how this can impact their finances in retirement – with the policy on the uprating of the UK state pension for recipients living overseas a longstanding one.”