British pensioners living in Europe have claimed £235MILLION in winter fuel payments since scheme began _ Hieuuk
British pensioners who live in Europe have claimed more than £235million in winter fuel payments, MailOnline can reveal.
Despite no longer living in the UK, some retirees on the continent are eligible for the £300 energy bill subsidy each year.
During the 2022/23 winter – the most recent for which statistics exist – £18.3million was spent on giving nearly 36,000 ex-pats and previous residents the hand-out.
The total bill since British pensioners residing in Europe became eligible in 2002 sits at £235.5m.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance said the sum could pay for over 7,000 new police officers or nurses.
It comes amid anger over Labour‘s ‘cruel’ proposal to take the payment away from millions of British pensioners this winter.
Almost immediately after getting elected, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced all winter fuel subsidies in England and Wales would be means-tested.
Around 10million face having their hand-outs axed this autumn.
Sir Keir Starmer said the decision to axe winter fuel payments was needed to repair what he claimed was a £22billion ‘hole’ in the public finances.
Unions have collectively slammed the plan. Unite, the largest in the country, called the policy ‘completely wrong’.
Ex-pats already receiving the subsidy will remain protected, so long as they receive an equivalent benefit to pension credit in their country of residence. Would-be recipients could also stand to gain the pay-out if they meet the means-tested criteria and are located in one of the designated countries.
William Yarwood, from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told MailOnline: ‘Taxpayers will be baffled by this bizarre double standard.
‘While pensioners just above the cut off are stripped of their winter fuel payments at home, those sunning it up abroad will go unaffected.
‘Ministers must ensure fairness in the system and deliver support to those most in need.’
Department for Work and Pensions figures show that there were 36,000 ex-pats or former UK residents who received the subsidy in 2022/23.
This includes 28,000 who reside in Ireland. Another 2,200 are registered in Germany as well as nearly 1,700 in Italy.
From 2004/05, the number of ex-pats claiming the payments rose exponentially for a decade. Levels peaked in the winter of 2015-16 at 140,000 people.
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That year, the Government outlawed claims from those in Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain.
The winter fuel allowance is not available for British expats in every EU country.
For example, it is not available to British expats living in France or Spain because of the rule change.
Government rules stipulate that only people living abroad who have a ‘genuine and sufficient’ link to the UK can claim the benefit. This could apply to people who have lived or worker in Britain.
Pensioners must have moved to the continent before January 1, 2021 to be eligible for the subsidy.
Updated figures for 2023/24 are due next week and will likely see the cumulative bill push past £250million.
Both Sir Keir and health secretary Wes Streeting have sought to calm growing panic around the plan to axe the winter fuel payments.
Labour analysis published in 2017, when Sir Keir sat in the Shadow Cabinet, warned Conservative plans to scrap the allowance for elderly voters would increase excess deaths by 3,850 that winter.
At the time, Labour branded the plan ‘the single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation in our country’.
The Department for Work and Pensions has been contacted for comment.
