BRITISH taxpayers forked out whopping £14 million sterling in winter fuel allowance to retired expats living abroad in warmer climes such as Spain, Greece and Cyprus, The Times reported yesterday.
And despite the TaxPayers’ Alliance group, which campaigns for lower taxes, demanding that cash payments sent abroad be slashed, the number of people living in EU countries abroad and receiving the annual payment, hit a massive 63,740 last year.
British pensioners living in Cyprus, also qualify for the allowance of £250 pounds a year. The payment rises to £400 pounds for those over 80.
The coastal town of Paphos is home to a large population of retired British ex pats who see the yearly payment as their right.
Ian Alexander a 63 year old retiree has lived in Paphos for the last five years. He said: “This isn’t a charity payment, it’s a necessity. It gets jolly cold here in the winter and I’ve been paying tax and National Insurance payments all my life, so this money is rightfully mine.”
Alexander said the sum is paid into his bank account by the UK government every year.
Yvonne Blackwater agreed. “I receive my pension here in Cyprus, and I believe that I should get my fuel allowance as well. I agree that it’s warm here in the summer months, but winters can be very cold. People in Britain have to remember that we don’t have central heating or fitted carpets here and the building aren’t insulated as well as they are at home. I live in the mountains and the winters can be very cold, its hard to warm up.”
According to the British paper, payments to expats abroad rose to £14 million between December 2008-2009. This was a huge leap from £9.5 million the previous year.
The fuel allowance is paid to pensioners when they turn 60, whether or not they live in warm climates.
“These people in Britain have to remember that they too will be pensioners one day, and it will be their right to get something back from all the hard earned money they will have paid into the system by then. Now it’s our turn, and what we are receiving from the government in payments, including our state pensions is laughable,” said pensioner Donald Fosdyke.
Matthew Elliott, Matthew Elliott, chief executive of TaxPayers’ Alliance told The Times: “To get the deficit under control, cuts in unnecessary benefits are going to be essential. We should start with winter fuel payments to retirees in the Algarve,” he said.
Angela Eagle, the Pensions Minister, said: “Less than 1 per cent of winter fuel payments are made to people outside the UK, who all qualified for these payments before they moved abroad.”
