General Chat

The DWP has decided that when calculating av temp for winter heating allowance it must include Tahiti, Guadaloupe, the Canaries and so on.
The reality is that England is one of the warmest countries in Europe during the winter.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11304858/Pensioners-living-in-France-miss-out-on-payment-after-officials-manipulate-calculations.html

From my standpoint in Balmy Menorca, would just like to say that I now go to bed in a t shirt fleecy pjs & a dressing gown under a duvet, blanket & bedspread. If it gets any colder, the hottie bottle will come out. can´t afford to run an electric blanket.
We´re told that electricity in Spain is the dearest in Europe. I believe it. Ours averages out at around €100 per month over the year.
Sick of being told how lucky we are to live in a warm counrty.
Perhaps the powers that be would like to come & try it from November to April.

For We used to go every Jan for a few months and was warmer back home
.
Houses aren't built with cavity walls, they have tiled floors ad of course no insulation.
I have sat on settee covered with a duvet,wishing I was back home.

People who go out there for a few weeks in the winter probably stay in hotels which have heating.
It .can be warm during the day ,but really cold at night....and this in Southern Spain near Gibraltar. :-S

I have an electric blanket and wouldn't want to be without it. I sit with a blanket tucked round me in the evening whilst watching television.

My house is built to keep the heat out in the summer but it's cold inside in the winter.

Today is warm and sunny but the evening will be cold. I have a log burner, logs are very expensive as most trees here are protected. I light the log burner when I have visitors, I can't really ask them to wrap themselves in blankets and duvets during the evening.

I live in cold and windy Plumstead. Sth London. We have NO central heating when it gets even colder, put on more clothes and more covers on the bed.

I honestly can´t see that the winter climate in Italy is any colder than in France or Spain.
I only know that in northern Spain the snow starts falling in late October, with sub zero temperatures continuing until late March.
Even in the south, in the mountain areas there is snow for 4 months of the year & Catalonia is pretty parky for most of the winter.
Can´t speak for France because I´ve never lived there, but would imagine that a similar situation applies.
Anyone who believes that these countries enjoy tropical temperatures all year round is deluding themselves.

Why should ex-pats receive it at all? It isnt paid automatically. They've chosen to make their permanent home outside of the UK and should have factored the cost of aircon or heating into their calculations.

Winter heating allowance has to be claimed once you reach the female retirement age. Some people, whether male or female, could still be working meaning they don't need to heat or cool an empty home during their working day.

(runs and hides)

If you are a British ex pat and live in the EU you are entitled to the Winter Fuel Allowance once you are the required age, at the moment born before 5th July 1952.

You do not automatically get it and you must apply for it. We get it even though we weren't in UK when we reached pension age as we applied for it after the EU ruling made the UK government pay up.

I think the EU will have to rule again about the new rules the UK government wants.

Perhaps the fact that I paid quite a bit in tax and NI and my husband was paying 40% tax as well as a huge amount of NI and we paid company tax means we can claim a little back.

Edit - OH just read the item in The Telegraph and said why hasn't UK added their DOMS, many in very warm areas including parts of Cyprus.!

In order to qualify for the winter fuel payment, I had to be living in the UK when I applied for it, which I did.
I qualified under the rules that applied at the time I retired.
Why should that change now that I´m 10 years older & less able to supplement my income in order to get through the winter.
I know that many recipients in the UK regard the payment as a bit of extra spending money & don´t really need it.
Mine has always been spent on keeping warm & I´m sure I´m not alone.
I certainly don´t use mine to pay for aircon. My house (which is rented) doesn´t have such luxuries. Due to the non existent insulation in Spanish houses, we freeze in winter & boil in summer. At least in summer we can stay outdoors. There is no alternative in winter other than to huddle into blankets hope that the cat will choose to sit on our laps to act as an animated hot water bottle.

Although some UK residents may regard the heating payment as extra spending money I am sure they still spend an awful lot of money on their fuel bills. I estimate that we currently spend somewhere between £1500 - £2000 per year on fuel and that is being careful with the heating. I turn radiators off in rooms we don't use all of the time and turn the heating off when we are out. Fortunately we are in Kent so by no means the coldest in the UK. I hate to think how much people spend in the colder parts of the country