Retired UK citizens living abroad will no longer be entitled to the winter fuel allowance under new rules by the Chancellor George Osborne,can hear woe popping open the champers and laughing their head off ;D ;D
Quote from: Paddster on June 26, 2013, 18:10:11 PM
Retired UK citizens living abroad will no longer be entitled to the winter fuel allowance under new rules by the Chancellor George Osborne,can hear woe popping open the champers and laughing their head off ;D ;D
Not quite.
There will be an autumn temperature test to see if they qualify.
Not according to what i just heard on the news ? I could be wrong ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D
The temp test will be to see if it is higher than the UK which it certainly will be....It applys to ex pats living in Spain, Gibraltar, Malta,Cyprus, France,Portugal, Greece and takes effect from Autumn 2015...
I remember the last time this issue was aired on here...tin hats were needed :o
From BBC News
This will affect those living in a European country with an average winter temperature higher than the UK.
Expats in seven countries will lose the payment. They are: Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain
The list was compiled by the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, which analysed which countries were warmer on average between November and March than the South West of England - the warmest part of the UK. It used a data set from the last 29 years.
The cost for people in Spain was £5.78m in the winter of 2011-12, according to the most recent statistics.
In addition to Spain, the amounts spent in 2011-12 were £926,000 in Cyprus, £3.1m in France, £34,000 in Gibraltar, £240,000 in Greece, £189,000 in Malta, and £356,000 in Portugal
So there you have it folks
It's a bit like being in a Christmas Club and when December comes around they say "sorry mate we're only paying out 90% of what you've paid in because we're short of cash due to our bad management over the past year"
We shall see what the response is from pressure groups who stand for equal rights throughout the European Union
I have heard lots of people in the UK saying they don't need their fuel allowance as they have so much money already. Haven't heard of anyone not claiming it though........ >:(
This is complete rubbish on the part of the Government. has any of them ever lived in El Matorral or Triquivijate in the winter ?? It's bloody freezing. No insulation in the walls or ceiling, the cold strikes right through, and any heat goes straight out.
Many times I've had to sit and watch TV with a small, oil-filled electric radiator, and a duvet wrapped around me. No central heating here Mr George Osborne.
I lived in Costa Blanca once, and for 3 months in the winter, I was the coldest I've ever been in my life.
So, all you people in the UK, Bleeting about us living in "A Place In The Sun" with 360 days of sunshine, come over from November to March and check it out.
So are you saying that Fuerte really isnt worth visiting in the winter, cos it aint much warmer than the UK then??
Quote from: Voldermort on June 27, 2013, 16:47:44 PM
So are you saying that Fuerte really isnt worth visiting in the winter, cos it aint much warmer than the UK then??
It was a
lot warmer than the UK when I visited last November!
Quote from: Voldermort on June 27, 2013, 16:47:44 PM
So are you saying that Fuerte really isnt worth visiting in the winter, cos it aint much warmer than the UK then??
Yes it's a lot warmer in the winter here than in the UK.
I was refering to the NIGHT TIME. It's bloody cold inside our houses, with no central heating, no damp courses, and Everest Double Glazing, like you know-all Brits living in the UK. I can't afford to have 2 or 3 electric heaters going all night, just like any Pensioner in the UK. I paid my wack over 40 years, I'm entitled to it.
Try living out here in the winter, then tell me it's not cold at night.
Well I was out there last November, walking about at night in shorts......freezing back in the UK...I paid me wack as well and when I got to 60 they kicked my fuel allowance and bus pass into touch until God knows when.....so although you get until 2015 many in the UK suffering very cold winters dont..
The recorded temperature may by 12C but then put on the wind chill of a 30-kph wind that has traveled thousands of miles across the North Atlantic and it does get cold - especially in the last five years. You need hat, scarf and gloves along with a warm coat at 650 feet above sea level in the mountains on the west coast of Fuerteventura now
Any road up - as Tommy Cooper once said "it's NOT the principle, it's the money that counts!"
And how about Kalima - 50C, scorching sunshine, 60kph easterly winds full of suspended sand, it's as dangerous as freezing temeratures for olden's like me. The only escape is my small room, windows and doors closed, Neville the cat on my knee [he suffers breathing problems too and comes indoors during Kalima] and turn the air con on, costs a small fortune
Quote from: Voldermort on June 27, 2013, 18:50:22 PM
Well I was out there last November, walking about at night in shorts......freezing back in the UK...I paid me wack as well and when I got to 60 they kicked my fuel allowance and bus pass into touch until God knows when.....so although you get until 2015 many in the UK suffering very cold winters dont..
Imma stick up for Woe here, it's all very well saying that you walk about in shorts etc but the pure and simple fact is that you are not acclimatized to the weather, it's as simple as that.
I sit on the fence with this, harsh to say but it doesn't affect me, but then I'm of an age where I can say that present and future governments will strip me of anything I might "come" to expect if and when I reach old age.
Even the libcon's biggest supporters know that they are on their way out in 2015, so the thieves are pulling out all the stops to line their pockets along with the others within the Eton massive before they depart.
Woe is right in that there is no heating, double glazing, it's even an aristotle ache finding a worthy duvet on the island, and trust me, when your used to 30+ temps in the summer, 13-15 degrees at night in the winter is frigging cold.
I can guarantee that not one of you have walked past one of the looky looky men and questioned why on earth they are wearing bomber jackets in 25 degree heat.... think about it.
Quote from: brightspark on June 28, 2013, 01:09:01 AM
Quote from: Voldermort on June 27, 2013, 18:50:22 PM
Well I was out there last November, walking about at night in shorts......freezing back in the UK...I paid me wack as well and when I got to 60 they kicked my fuel allowance and bus pass into touch until God knows when.....so although you get until 2015 many in the UK suffering very cold winters dont..
Imma stick up for Woe here, it's all very well saying that you walk about in shorts etc but the pure and simple fact is that you are not acclimatized to the weather, it's as simple as that.
I sit on the fence with this, harsh to say but it doesn't affect me, but then I'm of an age where I can say that present and future governments will strip me of anything I might "come" to expect if and when I reach old age.
Even the libcon's biggest supporters know that they are on their way out in 2015, so the thieves are pulling out all the stops to line their pockets along with the others within the Eton massive before they depart.
Woe is right in that there is no heating, double glazing, it's even an aristotle ache finding a worthy duvet on the island, and trust me, when your used to 30+ temps in the summer, 13-15 degrees at night in the winter is frigging cold.
I can guarantee that not one of you have walked past one of the looky looky men and questioned why on earth they are wearing bomber jackets in 25 degree heat.... think about it.
Come on BS I bet your getting your fair share of government handouts without putting in :'( :'( :'(
You might find it cold at 13-15 degs but what you DONT get is bone chillling cold easterley winds, straight from the Urals or nitherring northerlies from the Arctic that go on for weeks, like it did this year. When did you last get snow out there??..thought not..when was..I could go on but the allowance was brought in to specifically cover people living in the UK..Now its going back to that...cant see the problem meself..
what i am sick of reading is that over 60,s receive winter fuel allowance and free bus passes.i am 62 next birthday and not entitled to either yet. >:( >:(
Quote from: appy ammer on June 28, 2013, 06:20:59 AM
Quote from: brightspark on June 28, 2013, 01:09:01 AM
Quote from: Voldermort on June 27, 2013, 18:50:22 PM
Well I was out there last November, walking about at night in shorts......freezing back in the UK...I paid me wack as well and when I got to 60 they kicked my fuel allowance and bus pass into touch until God knows when.....so although you get until 2015 many in the UK suffering very cold winters dont..
Imma stick up for Woe here, it's all very well saying that you walk about in shorts etc but the pure and simple fact is that you are not acclimatized to the weather, it's as simple as that.
I sit on the fence with this, harsh to say but it doesn't affect me, but then I'm of an age where I can say that present and future governments will strip me of anything I might "come" to expect if and when I reach old age.
Even the libcon's biggest supporters know that they are on their way out in 2015, so the thieves are pulling out all the stops to line their pockets along with the others within the Eton massive before they depart.
Woe is right in that there is no heating, double glazing, it's even an aristotle ache finding a worthy duvet on the island, and trust me, when your used to 30+ temps in the summer, 13-15 degrees at night in the winter is frigging cold.
I can guarantee that not one of you have walked past one of the looky looky men and questioned why on earth they are wearing bomber jackets in 25 degree heat.... think about it.
Come on BS I bet your getting your fair share of government handouts without putting in :'( :'( :'(
What a pension and heating allowance? I wish, I'd put it towards the 200 quid gas bill I've got :/
Quote from: Voldermort on June 28, 2013, 09:05:53 AM
You might find it cold at 13-15 degs but what you DONT get is bone chillling cold easterley winds, straight from the Urals or nitherring northerlies from the Arctic that go on for weeks, like it did this year. When did you last get snow out there??..thought not..when was..I could go on but the allowance was brought in to specifically cover people living in the UK..Now its going back to that...cant see the problem meself..
I'll just agree to disagree on this one I think, personally I think that if a person in whatever surroundings is susceptible to cold them what's the problem.
Whatever happens the whole system will eventually be abolished anyway, the government is more interested in sending money to third world countries than looking after it's own, that's a fact.
Quote from: Voldermort on June 27, 2013, 18:50:22 PM
Well I was out there last November, walking about at night in shorts......freezing back in the UK...I paid me wack as well and when I got to 60 they kicked my fuel allowance and bus pass into touch until God knows when.....so although you get until 2015 many in the UK suffering very cold winters dont..
We locals have a word for punters like that :o I've seen tourists walking about in shorts and vest, bellies hanging out, when the people who live here have jeans and a parka on.
When your in Triquivijate, with the Gale Force North Wind blowing down the valley off the mountain, and the INSIDES of your North Facing walls are growing Black Fungus from the damp, then you know it's cold.
After living here for 20 winters, I think I know more than George Osborne about the Winter weather here.
Then, like Spike says, we have the Electric Guzzling Air Conditioners in the Summer.
Think some letters to George Osbourne might be in order!!
Just raised foreign aid handouts by a mouth watering o.7 billion i think it was. A now staggering sum of over 11 billion quid being poured into a massive black hole of which it has been suggested only a fraction actually gets to where its supposed to be going. The rest , who knows ?, our government certainly doesn't. Better savings might be found there instead of a few quid being paid to British pensioners who allegedly don't deserve it. Personally i think they do. If you paid your whack you deserve your payout despite your bank balance or your place in the world. If you didn't put in , then you don't.
One thing for sure is Osborne won't worry about losing it.
Quote from: stedge on June 28, 2013, 15:06:39 PM
Just raised foreign aid handouts by a mouth watering o.7 billion i think it was. A now staggering sum of over 11 billion quid being poured into a massive black hole of which it has been suggested only a fraction actually gets to where its supposed to be going. The rest , who knows ?, our government certainly doesn't. Better savings might be found there instead of a few quid being paid to British pensioners who allegedly don't deserve it. Personally i think they do. If you paid your whack you deserve your payout despite your bank balance or your place in the world. If you didn't put in , then you don't.
One thing for sure is Osborne won't worry about losing it.
I wouldn't actually mind them spending that money if all of it was thrown at a job lot of jonnies from Durex, that would be the way forward, stop them from mass reproducing.
Quote from: emmi on June 28, 2013, 13:55:13 PM
Think some letters to George Osbourne might be in order!!
Waste of a stamp emmi. It'll be 200 quid more for some gun-toting Despot's already bloated bank account, somewhere in Africa.
all those bankers need the money ,pensioners paid all their life for this money , this ruling is to be taken to court ... people need to start fighting this tory scum,,and its voters
All these little add on pensioner benefits were designed to create a smokescreen to disguise the fact that the UK state pension is one of the meanest in Europe.For the amount paid in and what you actually get back is a joke. We've all been hoodwinked over the years to think these benefits, including the winter fuel payment, were a wonderful present from our thoughtful governments , labour or tory, and that we should be so grateful that only the lowest denominations should actually receive it. Cobblers. We are being taken for a ride and we are all toeing the party line. They have even got us squabbling on forums about who should get it and who shouldn't. Fact is NOBODY should need it .State pension itself should be enough to live on.
Denboy, why are you not entitled to free bus pass and winter fuel allowance. I am 62 in October and I applied for and received my free bus pass in March 2013. Also, I have enquired and am eligible for winter fuel payment for this coming winter
In Wales we get our bus pass at 60, not sure about winter fuel allowance though. I was due to get my pension this year at 60 but now don't get it till I'm 64. :'( Been working and paying tax national insurance since I started work at 15.
Tax, what's thatvv :o
Quote from: woe10 on June 27, 2013, 16:31:06 PM
. No insulation in the walls or ceiling, the cold strikes right through, and any heat goes straight out.
without wanting to change the subject completely, - i have a genuine question - would wall and loft insultion ( keep a house - in fuerteventura - cool or would it get hot then stay hot?
Quote from: uk_greg on June 30, 2013, 21:28:01 PM
Quote from: woe10 on June 27, 2013, 16:31:06 PM
. No insulation in the walls or ceiling, the cold strikes right through, and any heat goes straight out.
without wanting to change the subject completely, - i have a genuine question - would wall and loft insultion ( keep a house - in fuerteventura - cool or would it get hot then stay hot?
How many houses over there have lofts ?
Hmmmm .... Good question. The construction of houses is totally different here than in the UK. No cavity walls means you would have to clad the house totally on the outside with some sort of insulation boards of a certain thickness. No lofts as such, so you can't lay the requires thickness of insulation in the ceiling.
I`m sure if it were possible, and you could buy the materials here, the insulation would keep out the glaring heat of the sun in the summer. After a day of temperatures in the 40's, the walls inside the house are hot to the touch, and stay like that, making bedrooms unbearable at night.
Once heated up, a concrete wall can hold the heat for days. The only answer would be to have Air Conditioning going all day and night, but who could afford that ?? £200 allowance wouldn't cover it. Also I don't think there's such a thing as getting a Grant for things like that, like they do in the UK.
The walls here are alot thicker than back home and there are no lofts - you may also notice the lack of windows here as it is there that the heat gets in, hence shutters
Not a great opportunity for a loft insulation company!
And as such, makes a complete nonsense of the new Energy Certificate requirements. :-X
We have been here for nearly 4 years. The night temp is 15c at it worst. No need for heating at all.So winter fuel allowance give us a break. give it to the poor folk in Scotland at minus 20 most of the winter. Its a long time since we had to put a log on the fire...
It amazes me, (Stedge covered this) even if lets say these people living abroad don't deserve it (in some people's opinions on here) why should they not just get it anyway, the vast majority have paid their way, and as Stedge said, a state pension is at best pathetic anyway.
Why are people slating their own countrymen here?
Where should the money go instead then? lets think..
The Polish? sure they could do with a bit extra to send home to their kids
The underpaid politicians? Now being considered for an extra 15% payrise? http://news.sky.com/story/1110023/mps-pay-cameron-warns-against-big-rise (http://news.sky.com/story/1110023/mps-pay-cameron-warns-against-big-rise)
Or more foreign aid maybe?
The bloke above your post gives an indication of where some people think it should end up BS. Although i'm inclinded to hope he's either joking or just a very poor scotsman himself. The whole idea of the ruling classes is to divide and conquer. If folk are at each others throats it doesn't give them any time to have a stab at the real culprits...the career politicians themselves. So they dangle these little carrots like winter fuel payment with one hand, and craftily drag it away with the other and while we are all bickering and pointing our fingers at the rich, all of a sudden, hey presto, nobodys got it.. even the poorest. They are a bunch of thieving shysters who have no qualms about enriching themselves (as your article on mp's wage increases shows), while having no shame in depriving the aged of a livable pension.
Farage here i come
in answer to fred the red,the reason i don,t get a free bus pass is:quote from yougov website."you have to be born on or before january 5th 1952".i was born on february 8th 1952.to qualify for winter payment2013/2014,the same criteria applies.i qualify for a free bus pass on 6th january 2014,one month before my 62 birthday.
I spent my winter fuel allowance on a chainsaw, a bow saw & an axe. These enable me to get enough winter fuel for my stove.
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give it to the bankers.. working people always upset , someone might be getting tenpence more than them . but let the bankers have it , or mps . but not some pensioner living in the sun , who paid in all his life , typical .vindictive mail and sunreaders,,,,. turn on each over,,, like they did in Nazi Germany .