Earlier this year, the Queen signed The Charter of The Commonwealth which places particular emphasis on the principle of inclusiveness and 'implacable opposition to all forms of discrimination'. With this in mind, Sheila Telford, Chair of the International Consortium of British Pensioners, wrote to her Majesty at the end of August to point out that the UK government 'refuses to address the policy of continued discrimination by freezing the pensions of over half a million UK pensioners – almost all of whom are resident in the Commonwealth – who are treated as second-class citizens'. The pensioners affected do not receive the annual UK pension increase as their pensions are frozen at the UK rate which was in force at the time they moved overseas – in some cases that could have been decades ago.

Mrs Telford concluded her letter by writing 'we respectfully request that your Majesty instructs your representative at the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka in November to support a motion calling for the suspension of the United Kingdom from the Commonwealth. The United Kingdom, which discriminates against its own pensioners in persistent violation of The Charter of The Commonwealth, has no place in the Commonwealth'. So far, there have been no official reactions to this letter.

To find out more, you can contact British Pensions in Australia on 1300 308 353 (www.youle.info/bpia-blog/).