UK winter fuel payment

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Sue
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UK winter fuel payment

Post by Sue »

MANY UK pensioners living in France may now be eligible for this year’s winter fuel payment.

Following a ruling by the European Court of Justice, the UK has had to ditch rules which previously stated that you needed to qualify for the payment before leaving the UK in order to claim while living abroad. This meant reaching age 60 by, or before, a certain “qualifying week”, usually in September of the year of the claim.

This ruled out people who became resident outside the UK before age 60. Also excluded was anyone who left the UK before the winter fuel payments were introduced in 1998.

Under the new rules, the only requirement is that a claimant should be of suitable age and “have a genuine and sufficient link with the UK, for example, you have lived or worked in the UK for most of your working life”.

In a letter to one couple in France, who left before 1998 (published on expats' campaigns site Pensioners Debout) the UK’s Pension Service said that “to assess this we will consider several factors, for example how long someone has lived and worked in the UK and whether they receive UK state pension or other benefits”.

The UK’s Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, reportedly called the EU ruling “ridiculous” and said he was looking at creating a rule on eligibility according to the temperature of the country the pensioner lives in. This follows outrage in the UK tabloid press about taxpayers being “squeezed” so as to fund expats in hot countries.

This year, under the new rules, the age requirements to qualify are that you should have been born on or before July 5, 1951 in order to claim the payment for winter 2012/13. Connexion will be querying why this appears to be stricter than the old “qualifying week” arrangements.

Claims can be put in up until March 31 next year and the payments are £200 or £300 (per household) for people aged 80 or more on or before September 23 this year. The amounts dropped as of last winter, from £250 and £400 in winter 2009/10.
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Post by marinamen »

Have you sought permission from The Connexion for reproducing their article which appeared today?
You must attribute data to its source.
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Post by Sue »

So sorry Marinamen.
I would like to point out that the posting I made earlier regarding winter fuel payments was an extract taken from The Connexion English speaking newspaper.
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Post by Sue »

Received my first winter fuel payment as an expat in my french bank account today.
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Post by russell »

How does one go about claiming?

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Post by sue and paul »

I think you can either download the form from DWP website and post it off to the address given, or ring International Pensions in Newcastle for them to post you the form
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Post by Santiago »

I love the way the tabloid always make out that the taxpayer is being squeezed or footing the bill. Anyone ever received an extra tax bill saying "We've decided to give ex-pat pensioners the winter fuel allowance, so please pay this extra amount to HMRC".

If anyone is being squeezed it is schools, hospitals and government workers who will find their budgets reduced next year.

It seems a weird decision to make, given that hardly any of the beneficiaries will vote in the UK.

I wonder if they will decide to pay child benefit to those of us ex-pats who paid NI subscriptions. That would be nice :)
Domaine Treloar - Vineyard and Winery - www.domainetreloar.com - 04 68 95 02 29
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Post by Sue »

I understood child allowance is paid to expats! You mean to tell me Santiago when you reach retirement age you wont claim state pension, xmas bonus or winter fuel allowance. Well bigger fool you. I paid tax and NI in the UK for 40 years and never once did my husband and I claim benefits other than child allowance. Why shouldnt I benefit now in my retirement after all there are many living in the UK who have paid in nothing but take out everything.

Yes Sue is right the claim form for winter fuel allowance can be down loaded from DWP website and sent to them by post. Everyone who was born before a certain date (probably April) 1951 is eligible and it must be claimed by March of next year for this year.
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Post by Sue »

By the way Santiago around 90,000 have applied for the winter fuel allowance and it wont be they dont vote it will be that they are not allowed to vote.
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Post by Smiley G »

We are in agreement with you Sue, well said.

We have also paid tax and NI in the UK for over 40 years each and never claimed anything from the State. So what's wrong in taking back what is yours by right as a UK State Pensioner?
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Post by Santiago »

Sue wrote:By the way Santiago around 90,000 have applied for the winter fuel allowance and it wont be they don't vote it will be that they are not allowed to vote.
Didn't understand that. Sorry.

Where did I say ex-pats should not be entitled to the winter fuel allowance? I said it was weird decision for the government to make because I can't see them getting any votes for it. In fact I can see them losing votes from the residents who feel less fortunate.

There may well be people living here who are continuing to claim Child Allowance in the UK but it is fraudulent. Once you are registered in the French system (CAF, CPAM or whatever) you cannot continue to claim child allowance. You probably are not allowed to claim invalidity benefits from two governments either but I'm sure some people do.

I'm not against these allowances and I believe that we should claim the things we are entitled to, especially when we've paid into the system.
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Post by Sue »

If not said outright it was implied.
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Post by Santiago »

No, it was inferred.
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Post by Sue »

No implied i.e. to be suggested without being stated directly!
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Post by russell »

Santiago wrote:I said it was weird decision for the government to make because I can't see them getting any votes for it.
I thought that it wasn't really their decision. The European Court of Justice more or less forced it upon them.

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Post by Sue »

As far as I am aware thats it exactly Russell.
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Post by russell »

It's a bit difficult to find but the correct form is here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg ... 202418.pdf

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Post by Sue »

I remember hunting for the form and that has brought back to me where I read about expats and child benefit. It was on one of the government sites I was going through and if I remember rightly it said expats living in the european union but still working in UK could claim.
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