After Working for Decades in UK, Hundreds of Yemenis Are Deprived of Their Pensions

The BBC published several testimonies of Yemenis who worked in Britain for decades and whose pension payments were cut off without any clarification from the government.

The newspaper pointed out that there are about 2,500 people who have not received their due pension payments from the government for years, with one of them disclosed that he had not received any wages for 10 years.

Many wonder what the reasons for are depriving the Yemeni former workers of their pensions. Is the pensions’ cut off related to the deficiency of the Yemeni banking services because of war conditions? Or is it a drop in an ocean of scandals targeting the immigrants in the UK, such as Windrush 2018’s scandal?

Qasim Saeed al-Juhouri, a Yemeni worker who immigrated to the UK in the 1960s. His first work experience started at Blackheath Stamping, to take different jobs later on, in many factories in the center of the industrial Black Country. Reaching retirement age Mr. al-Juhouri returned to Yemen.

However, he told the BBC that he had not received any pension payments for 10 years.

The British Department for Work and Pensions (BDP) requested the Yemeni former workers to send proof that they are still alive to be eligible for pension payment. Yet, Mr. al-Juhouri and many other former workers said that they sent the requested life certificate without receiving any answer. "I sent them messages and since 2012 my [money] stopped," he said.

He expressed that they are really desperate and have nothing but God to relieve them of this distressing situation. "We are here in a war. There is no government in Yemen and no embassy in order to put our cases to them. We have become lost," he stressed.

 

Intense Suffering

Rajeh Muflehi, CEO of Sandwell Yemeni Association in the West Midlands, which includes one of the largest Yemeni communities in the UK, representing more than 50 former workers.

He pointed out: "People who came here for work, got involved in the most difficult occupations of steel and other works in industrial areas. Many of them lost their hearing or limbs while working for periods extending from 30 to 40 years in factories. They returned to their country of Yemen to spend the rest of their lives there. And now, they're suffering and struggling because they're not getting their pension, it's really unacceptable."

Yemenis who are facing a daily struggle to survive today after their pension payments were cut off without explanation suffered for years in the UK as workers.

Middle East Eye newspaper revealed details about the taught Journeys of the Yemenis who left their families in the 50s and 60s to work in the UK at the height of Britain's post-war.

They were encouraged by British colonial rule to migrate and work in British factories in order to fill out the labor shortages.

The newspaper stated that most of the Yemenis who arrived in the UK from the countryside looking for better living conditions were illiterate and had little knowledge of the language or their workplace rights. Thus, they couldn’t claim their rights.

It emphasized that: “A significant majority sustained injuries, lost their fingers, or suffered from deafness, asthma, and skin allergies. But often these went unreported as the victims had minimal English skills and were clueless about their human rights.”

In a journal titled Drinking From One Pot, which was published in 1991, Dr. Abdulgalil Shaif, who led the Yemeni Community Organisation in Sheffield for 12 years, said the consequences of the dire working conditions among many Yemenis can be felt even today.

“Industrial deafness is in 90 percent of working-class Yemenis, and 30 percent suffer from asthma,” said Shaif, adding that there’s hardly one former steelworker who has not had an accident at work. 

 

War Conditions

There have been bursts of civil unrest in Yemen for many years. Amid the constant threat of famine and destitution, the Yemeni Former workers have also been fighting to get their due pension payments.

The BBC explained that the pensions’ payment drop is a combination of Yemen's situation in light of the war and the deficiency of Yemen's banking procedure. In addition to the reluctance of the British government.

Saber Saeed al-Sharmani, manager in foreign relations at the bank, said: “Payments made in sterling to the men from the DWP had stopped in October 2019, affecting 2,489 clients, several hundred more than the DWP has said are affected.”

"I can't explain why some people have not been paid [for many years] - when stoppage was only in 2019," Mr. al-Sharmani said.

The seven-year war has destroyed the Yemeni economy, destroyed services, shut down ports, prevented oil and gas exports, introduced foreign military forces into the country, caused high rates of poverty, unemployment, and starvation, and destroyed Yemen's infrastructure.

The war also claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people, and 80 percent of its population, which numbered about 30 million people, became dependent on aid, and caused "the worst humanitarian crisis in the world," according to the United Nations.

 

Windrush Scandal

The UK government scandals depriving the immigrants of their rights are many. Yet, the Windrush scandal was the most significant one drawing the media attention, leading to the resignation of British Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

Several years ago, the Windrush generation of immigrants was threatened with deportation from Britain, with them denied health care and some citizenship rights, despite their prolonged stay in the United Kingdom, spanning decades, as some of them came after World War II.

British Prime Minister Theresa May apologized to the leaders of 11 Caribbean countries after parliamentarians signed a memorandum calling for a solution to the crisis.

This resulted in the resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who asserts that she was misled on this issue, specifically about the voluntary deportation of these migrants.

In 2018, A leaked memo from the Ministry of Interior revealed a "target" that had been set: the forced return of 2,800 of these migrants during 2017, and a 10% progress in the forced return promised by the Ministry of the Interior during this year.