Retired Gurkhas Living Below the 'Poverty Line' in UK- by Lt. Col (Retd) HM Adams, former CO of a Gurkha Regiment

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Posted by: santosh, on 2/4/2010, in category "Gurkhas-related articles"
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Retired Gurkhas living below the ‘Poverty Line’ in UK



Last week, the UK-based British Gurkha Welfare Society lost their legal challenge in the High Court, in which they claimed that the British Government had unfairly discriminated against the Gurkha soldiers who served in the British Army before 1997, by paying them inferior pensions compared to their British counterparts, and by differentiating between Army service before and after I July 1997, the date when according to the Government, the Gurkha Brigade was based in the United Kingdom. Government actuaries have assessed pre-1997 service at one quarter of the value of post –1997 service, so that four day’s service before 1997 equates to only one day thereafter.

Mr. O’Dempsey representing the Gurkhas, had wanted to introduce new evidence, which if accepted, might have given the Gurkhas grounds for claiming that recent Government policy had fundamentally altered the raison-d’être for giving lower pensions to pre-1997 Gurkhas, specifically that they would previously have had an expectation of retiring in Nepal where the cost of living is much lower than it is in the United Kingdom. However, the Government’s landmark decision announced on 20 May 2009 to allow all Gurkha veterans with more than four year’s service to settle in Britain on retirement has completely changed that expectation. With the Government’s new ruling, 10-12,000 Gurkhas are expected to migrate to Britain with their families over the next three years. The Government’s change of policy means that it can no longer be stated that the pre-1997 Gurkhas have the expectation to retire in Nepal, and therefore it is no longer justifiable to base their pensions on the cost of living in Nepal.

Mr. Justice Burnett would not allow Mr. O’ Dempsey to introduce this evidence; The Government’s decision could not be declared irrational on this basis since the decision predated the Government’s change of policy. The Gurkhas are therefore placed in a classic ‘Catch 22 situation’. On the one hand, they need to convince the judges that the recent change in Government policy effectively removes the Government’s justification for paying them such low rates of pension. But conversely, they cannot introduce this crucial evidence because the Government’s decision on Gurkha pensions predated the new immigration policy. The Government therefore claim that their decision is both lawful and rational.

Therefore, as things stand at present, the pre-1997 Gurkha migrants who are allowed to settle in Britain are receiving pensions that the Government admits were tailored to the cost of living in Nepal, and are woefully inadequate to meet the increased cost of living in Britain. All the retired Gurkha veterans, including retired Gurkha Majors receive pensions that are way below the United Kingdom ‘Poverty Line’, and this explains why they are facing extreme poverty on arrival in Britain. A Gurkha rifleman gets only £40 a week, which is only 20 percent of the United Kingdom ‘Poverty Line’. The situation is even worse for some 10,000 non-pensioners who receive only £30 a month, and roughly 7,000 veterans, who had insufficient service to qualify for a Service pension, who have no income whatsoever.

By far the fairest solution is to give the Gurkha veterans pensions that are equal to all other soldiers of the British Army, including those recruited from Commonwealth countries.

-Lt Col (Ret) H M Adams
Former CO of a Gurkha Regiment"