Winter Fuel Allowance

[Ron Avery]

Quick question.  Is there any legal way that a British immigrant,  tax resident in France and under the UK state retirement age can claim the Winter Fuel Allowance  when he reaches 65 in December?

I said No.    "Bloke in bar" says yes, but refused to explain how.  Only way I could see was if he lied about his address and residential status as some on here boast about, but is there a legal way?

[Sunday Driver]

Is this just one of those 'I have a friend' questions you're using to avoid giving your true age away.......[:P]

Bloke in bar is always right, isn't he?

 

[maude]

The qualifying age is 60,but have to be resident in UK legally at this age to receive the allowance.Thereafter the allowance is paid even if resident in France.I have tried to claim this,but was resident here before age 60 so no can do! Unfair for those who cant claim like us -but those receiving it -good luck!I have thought about puuting in a claim against my human rights but Im not a traveller,illegal immigrant!!!!Maude

[Ron Avery]

"Is this just one of those 'I have a friend' questions you're using to avoid giving your true age away.......""

You can be so hurtful SD, typical you,  just popping in from time to time and being nasty, I can feel some real Forum rage  [:@] coming on........ you .......... you helpful person you[kiss]

Rage is not good at my ripe old age.[:D]

No it actually was a friend who asked me as he believed as I did, you had to be in receipt of it before leaving the UK, but would you believe, ex Bank Manager aged 63 told him he was already in receipt of it despite having lived in France for four years, no UK address and O/H as far as I know is not yet 60.  Dodgy barstewards these bankers[Www]

[Bugsy]

As previously said, no.

When I received the application form there was no way that it could be claimed without giving a false UK address.

[Ron Avery]

Begs the question Gary that if you were not entitled to it by way of living in France, why did they send you an application form in the first place?  Isn't that encouraging false claims?

 

[Bugsy]

After we sold our house in the UK in 1999, we used my mothers address for mail. The form was sent there and then forwarded on to me here.. This was despite having advised them of our move to france.

[Anna]

Hi

I know the answer to this one as it is of great annoyance to me!!!

You have to be resident in the UK in the September before your 60th birthday. If you meet this criteria, you qualify to receive the Winter fuel allowance wherever you are resident in the world. You do not need to have an address in the UK.

My neighbour was resident in the UK in the September before his 60th birthday and moved to live permanently in France in the November of that year, just before his 60th birthday. Five years on, he still receives his Winter fuel allowance and continues to tease me about it lol!

Surely, it would have been fairer to pay everyone the Winter fuel allowance when they became eligible for the UK state pension. After all, if eligible for the state pension, then that proves that we have paid into the system.

I would love for this to be taken to the European court for a verdict on this as it's so unfair!

Anna

[Frederick]

    If this allowance is supposed to help with high cost of fuel in the UK...should it not be linked to what people actually pay to keep warm over the winter period not just a set amount to everybody.?..and... if like one couple I know.... you shut your house up and fly off to Goa for the winter then you dont get it ....simple... You dont buy winter fuel to help you out over a UK winter so you dont get the allowance ...Make people produce their winter fuel bills at the council offices to claim it ! 

[Ron Avery]

[quote user="Anna"]

Hi

I know the answer to this one as it is of great annoyance to me!!!

You have to be resident in the UK in the September before your 60th birthday. If you meet this criteria, you qualify to receive the Winter fuel allowance wherever you are resident in the world. You do not need to have an address in the UK.

My neighbour was resident in the UK in the September before his 60th birthday and moved to live permanently in France in the November of that year, just before his 60th birthday. Five years on, he still receives his Winter fuel allowance and continues to tease me about it lol!

Anna

[/quote]

Thanks Anna, that explains it, this bloke was 60 before he came to France and so was elegible to continue to receive it in France. Its not of course means tested as it is in France ,but can be back claimed, but I'm not actually old enough..........  yet[:P]

[Anna]

Hi Frederick

Yes, point taken, although I think that would be very complicated in that some people will be heating a large house and some a small house and some houses will have more dependants in the house so would have larger bills although may well have larger incomes coming into the one dwelling, etc., etc! That smacks of reverting to means testing, does it not?

My neighbour says that as he paid his dues in the UK and his Winter heating bills are high here; then, in his view, it should be paid to people like him! I think he does have a point. In my view, a fairer system could surely be found. As it is now, it is certainly crazy!

Anna 

[woolybanana]

Very surprised that this allowance  can be exported I must say. What is the justification for this? Or is it another issue to bring to the attention of an MP or two. I can't see why it is so necessary in say Benidorm or Malaga in the winter?

[Anna]

Yes, but we're not all lucky enough to live in Benidorm or Malaga, Woolybanana! Also, although we have moved out of the UK, it doesn't mean we're flushed with cash and, certainly in my case, I would have welcomed a little extra cash towards my heating bills. As I paid into the UK system for many years, and am in receipt of a UK state pension, why shouldn't I and others in the same situation, be paid the Winter fuel allowance?

Anna

[NormanH]

Because it's to help poor people in cold parts of Britain, not rich ex-pats who came to France for a better  climate!

[Anna]

Oh, Norman, tut, tut! Your comments are rather petty!

Come on now, you must know that there are lots and lots of rich Brits living in the UK who are in receipt of the Winter fuel allowance!

You must also be aware that not all Brits living in France, or any other part of the World for that matter, are rich and have not all necessarily moved out of the UK just for a better climate!

[mint]

Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure that I read in one of the newspapers (probably Times so I certainly don't mean some tabloid) that if you were living in the UK in the relevant week in September when they dish out the benefit, you'll receive it and thereafter should you move to Timbucktoo where the sun shines everyday, you'd still get it.

I don't believe everything I read in the papers so I don't say it's right and anyway it doesn't affect me but your friend might wish to investigate this further.

[Bugsy]

From their website:

Part 4 – FURTHER INFORMATION – Please answer Y for yes,or N for no in the

boxes on the claim form that apply to your circumstances during the relevant qualifying week.The

qualifying week is the week commencing the 3rd Monday in September of each year. It is important

that you answer every question in this section by putting  Y or N in the boxes as it may affect your

entitlement.

Do you normally live in Great Britain or Northern Ireland?

The bold bits are mine

Pretty straightforward to me. Normally doesn't mean only the third week in September.

[mint]

Sorry, Bugsy, posted at the same time and I bow to your superior knowledge![:D]

[Anna]

Hi Bugbear

I take it that your exerpt is from the form to claim for the Winter fuel allowance, in which case the criteria is, as I stated, that you must be resident in the UK in the September before your 60th birthday. However, if you already qualified and are in receipt of the Winter fuel allowance, there is no need to re-apply each year, unless your circumstances have changed. In the case of my neighbour, he was contacted in France by the relevant UK department, telling him that he qualified and does not need to re-apply each year. This is from the Pension Service website:

Will I need to complete claim forms every year?

Once you qualify for a payment, and we have up-to-date information about where you live, payments for future years are generally sent automatically. You must remember to tell us if your circumstances change.

I have lived outside the UK for more than a year. Can I claim payments for past years?

If you left the UK after qualifying for a Winter Fuel Payment, and you normally live (or, in the year you are claiming for, you lived) in another EEA country outside the UK, you may be able to get Winter Fuel Payments for past years.

The newspaper article, which Sweet 17, read, is, in fact, correct.

Anna

[HoneySuckleDreams]

i'm not rich, of pensionable age, or allowed to claim winter fuel allowance from the UK. Yet have had to close down half the house and rely on a poele to heat the 2 rooms we live in as we cant afford to turn the oil central heating on.  Poor...but happy(ish). Is there an equivalent french top-up-free-claim-sort-of-thing for french tax payers?

 

[mint]

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1393471/ShowPost.aspx

Is this of any help to you?

[KathyC]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Very surprised that this allowance  can be exported I must say. What is the justification for this? Or is it another issue to bring to the attention of an MP or two. I can't see why it is so necessary in say Benidorm or Malaga in the winter?[/quote]

 

It actually gets very cold in Spain in the winter; certainly at night time.

[Russethouse]

Anna - Has entitlement to this benefit altered since you moved to France ?

If not then I'm afraid it was just part of the equation, a factor in the mix when you decided to move - sorry !

[Quillan]

Just as a matter of interest do people get the Cold Weather Allowance of £8.50 per week (I think that's the right amount) from the UK when its activated or whatever you want to call it?

Oops I got that from the Help the Aged website, now I have found it on the direct.gov.uk website and its £25 per week. I assume they are talking about one and the same thing.

[Frederick]

  For a couple its £125 each....one off payment paid October / November .. for maried couples it comes as a shared payment....they assume your wife chips in towards the fuel costs and you can get it from her before she gets to Debenhams !