As he becomes a pensioner this Thursday, Prince Charles will donate his weekly pension to charity.
One can assume that the pensioner years of Prince Charles will not be like others who turn 65 this year. The Prince is in a unique situation and plans on using his position once again to assist others.
So on Thursday, Charles will participate in the tradition that everyone who turns 65 partakes in: claiming his state pension.
“Clarence House has confirmed that Prince Charles has completed the necessary claim forms and from 14 November will claim his statutory entitlement of up to £110.15 per week,” According to an article in The Guardian.
Now before one thinks that Charles is going to go to his local bank and withdraw his pension money, he has stated that he plans to donate the money to charity. Although the specific charity has yet to be named, he is likely to focus on one supporting the country’s elders.
Charles is now eligible to benefit from a pension from having contributed taxes during his time in the Navy. He has also paid supplementary funds after he left the Navy in 1976.
How much Charles will earn has not been established as of yet. The full amount of pay to a pensioner is contingent upon “those who have contributed for 30 years or more.”
There is no word on if the Duchess of Cornwall is claiming her pension at this time. Age rules are different for women at the moment. “Women are currently entitled to a state pension from the age of 61 years and eight months, an age which is gradually being increased.”
Charles will spend part of his 65th birthday travelling to Sri Lanka for the CHOGM. The Royal couple has spent the last nine days touring India.
Hosting as Her Majesty’s representative for the meeting, this will be the first time he is deputised to represent the Queen on her behalf in an official state function.
photo credit: UK in Spain via photopin cc
This is commendable of the Prince and I’m sure we all applaud him. I hope he has taken on board the pleas from the state pensioners who have appealed to him to speak up on their behalf at the CHOGM who have retired overseas to find they now live in a frozen country and uses the opportunity to bring an end to the blatant discrimination suffered by them at the hands of the British government. These state pensioners get no cost of living increases just because of where they live and yet they have paid for their state pension under the same terms as the pensioners who live overseas in unfrozen countries. Ironically most Commonwealth countries are frozen along with many other non-commonwealth countries and it is an illogical lottery as the majority of ex-pats get cost of living increases annually and this injustice affects just 4% of state pensioners. I hope Prince Charles uses this meeting to point out that Britain, as the head of the Commonwealth has a government that is ignoring the the pledge regarding discrimination contained in the new Commonwealth Charter which declares that Commonwealth countries are ‘implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination’ . It seems the UK government are just thumbing their noses at this agreement and in so doing is an insult to our Queen who signed this agreement earlier this year.
The comment by protempore really says it all. Because of this discrimination by successive British governments, which has been perpetrated for as many years as Her Majesty the Queen has been on the throne, these pensioners are destined to poverty should they have no other means or family to support them. Of course, the Commonwealth of families would never see a person suffer but assist financially in many cases but why should the British government be freeloading on others and this is why many people in the Commonwealth are calling for the UK to be suspended until they put matters right and pay all pensioners their full entitlement each year.
The meeting in Sri Lanka is a perfect opportunity to put an end to this diabolical and blatant theft from such a small minority. To add insult to injury the new Pensions Bill even contains the same policy for all future pensioners ! Go figure !
As an afterthought, I wonder if Prince Charles realises that he will inherit this policy which is now introduced into the new Pension Bill. Perhaps he will have words to say about that as I along with many others have informed him of the current situation.
And just think….if Prince Charles was to emigrate to, say to the USA his pension would be index linked but if he goes to, for example, Canada, his pension would be frozen…I wonder what his reaction would be to the government discriminating against the heir to the throne?
Thank you Prince Charles for making the UK £110.15 a week better off. I hope sir, that you have read the previous comments regarding the discrimination practised by the British government, under the guise of the Pension Bill. Some ministers seem to think that because this policy has been short-changing British expat pensioners for decades, that it’s perfectly alright to continue down that path.
Sir, you know this policy is discriminatory cruel, unfair, unjustifiable, and plain wrong. To continue with it – as Ian Duncan Smith and Steve Webb seek to do via Clause 20 in the new Pension Bill, and Regulation Three in existing legislation – will not make it right.
To make it right takes a conscience, and the guts to admit “We were wrong”. Not many politicians have the nerve to say those words, because it’s said most are looking after themselves. I suggest that you Sir, are not.
In the upcoming CHOGM in Shri Lanka, we that are discriminated against by a British government that proclaims itself to stand for all things fair, appeal for you to speak on our behalf, and help correct over half a century of wrongdoing. Thank you.
Its gratifying to know that the beneficiaries of his pension can look forward to their annual increases,while the 650,000 Frozen pensioners living in mostly Commonwealth countries, have to be satisfied with the same pension they received when they first left the UK.