Winter fuel payments to nearly 50,000 ex-pats soar by £9m

 
14 November 2013

Taxpayers in the UK have been hit with a £9 million bill for winter fuel payments to nearly 50,000 more people living in France, Spain and other EU countries.

£21.4 million was spent on the allowance in 2012/13, compared with £12.8 million a year earlier.

The huge rise came after a European Court of Justice ruling changed the rules of entitlement for payments to people in most of mainland Europe.

It means that people who were not originally eligible for the payment can now claim it from abroad, provided they can show a “genuine and sufficient” link with Britain.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: “The huge increase equates to a near doubling in costs to the British taxpayer and follows a ridiculous ruling by the European Court of Justice. The winter fuel payment is intended to help British pensioners with heating costs. From winter 2015-16, we are changing the rules so that it no longer goes to people in European Economic Area countries with an average winter temperature higher than the warmest part of the UK.”

This means pensioners who live in France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Malta, Gibraltar and Cyprus will no longer get the money.

Almost 50,000 people in Spain and 30,000 in France got the payment last year, with the bill for payments to pensioners in Spain rising by £3 million, and in France by £2 million. Pensioners get between £100 and £300 depending on their age and family circumstances.

Tory MP Dominic Raab said: “If you can afford to move abroad, for retirement or work, it’s not clear why taxpayers at home should be coughing up benefit payments.”

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