This payment has been available since 1998 to all pensioners over the age of 60 who live in the UK, but until now, has not been an option for most expatriate pensioners.
However, a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice means that British pensioners who live in the European Economic Area, and Switzerland, may now receive an annual handout worth as much as £300.
The news of the ruling, which came last week, was accompanied by a widely-reported public appearance by Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who vowed to fight what he said was a “ludicrous” rule.
Duncan Smith said he would introduce a new “temperature” test to ensure that pensioners living in warm countries did not receive the payments.
Predictably, perhaps, this was met with concerns that some pensioners living in milder parts of England could lose out. By the time the Daily Mail stopped accepting comments on its article on the subject, it had received some 333 comments, mainly from pensioners on one side of the English Channel or the other; the Daily Telegraph’s story currently shows some 369 comments, and they are continuing to be posted.
Many contributors on both websites, such as the most recent commentator to the Telegraph, who identified himself as as “Shadfan”, saw the Government’s plans to try to prevent expats from receiving winter fuel payments as echoing its long-running fight to avoid having to ‘up-rate’ the now-frozen pensions of UK expats living in certain foreign countries.
Said Shadfan: “This latest news is not surprising.”
As reported, the European Court of Human Rights officially ended a long-running legal effort by British expat pensioners in these ‘frozen pension’ countries in May, 2010 to get their state pensions up-rated, the way those of pensioners living in the UK are. However, the expats are continuing to push politicians to change the law, arguing it would actually save Britain money as it would encourage more pensioners to move abroad and cease to require such services as state medical care.
‘Genuine and sufficient link’
Until the recent ECJ ruling, British pensioners living in Europe were only eligible for help with their fuel bills if they emigrated only after they turned 60, and only if they left after 1998, the year the payments were introduced. Now, however, to be eligible, they need only be able to prove a “genuine and sufficient link” to the UK.
To read more about how the winter fuel payment system works, see the direct.gov.uk website, by clicking here.
