Expat pensions have not fared well over the last decade.
This year, better exchange rates have seen an improvement in the value of British pensions paid overseas compared to last year.
This is due a stronger pound. As a result, those in the eurozone are almost 10% ahead. In the other most popular retirement area, Australia, pensioners are more than 5% better off, although pensions there have to contend with frozen pensions.
Around 560,000 British pensioners in Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand is that of frozen pensions which do not receive any annual increase in line with inflation.
New Zealanders have seen been given a 13% boost since last February and Canadian expats are 9% better off.
The main exceptions are the United States and Switzerland, where the pound is at weaker levels than a year ago.
But the picture for the decade shows that two-thirds of expat pensioners are worse off because of exchange rates.
The figures come from Equiniti, which administers the payments of over 60,000 expat pensions.
Andy Brown, director at Equiniti, said: “Expat pensioners are always at the behest of the currency exchange rollercoaster and the pound strengthening over the last 12 months has been a welcome relief for most, especially those in the eurozone.
“However, many pensioners are still much worse off than a decade ago, especially those that retired in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The hardest hit are those receiving their pension in Switzerland, Thailand or the Philippines.”
Pensions might be able to avoid some of the exchange rate fluctuations by agreeing a fixed rate for a period of time with a currency specialist.
