Karen, Don’t know if this helps your specific case or not, but the prime reason Iain Duncan Smith decided to adopt the ‘temperature test’ for Winter Fuel Payments, and so stop everyone in France from receiving it from winter 2015/2016, was a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). This was the note we have prepared on the issue:
"On 21 July 2011 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a Judgment against the UK’s Department for Work & Pensions (http://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?language=en&num=C-503/09), concerning the payment of Incapacity Benefit to a 22 year old, Lucy Stewart, who suffers with Down’s syndrome, and who had been taken by her parents to Spain as they tried hard to provide her with a better quality of life.
The DWP rejected the claim made for Lucy, and it eventually went to the Administrative Appeals Chamber Upper Tribunal of HM Courts Tribunal Appeals Service, who referred her appeal to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling, including the legality of the UK’s past presence test (PPT), and while the Stewart case concerned Incapacity Benefit in Youth, the CJEU in their Judgment ruled that under the circumstances of the appellant the UK’s PPT did not coordinate with the EU’s social security coordination Regulation. Not only that, the refusal to grant the benefit impinged upon her right of free movement. The decision in Stewart also had implications for other benefits, including the Winter Fuel Payment."
The fourth of four key principals as laid down by the European Commission says: "If you are entitled to a cash benefit from one country, you may generally receive it even if you are living in a different country. This is known as the principle of exportability."
Wasn't there a bit of a furore about situations such as yours? Not standing judgement just reiterating something I read.I got the impression it was meant to stir up bad feelings about immigrants in the UK, ie immigrants claiming benefits for wife and children in home country who had never even been to the UK, but in many cases it turned out that the claimants were ex-pats and fully entitled?
We don't have any CAF support now but did have some before my wife went back to work. I have to pay French income tax on the CB as well so at the end of the day it's worth about 600 a year.
Which, if we have similar, we do not have to declare because we are receiving CAF support for ours. Complicated and confusing, but part of the package for changing country.
You are correct Brian I was already retired when I first claimed and my entire career had been in the UK and my contributions were up to the mark. BTW in the current Toussaint holiday my daughter is in the local Centre Aere and the daily rate payable depends on your household income which has to be declared to the teachers at enrolment.
I still have the letter we got to inform us that our child benefit had ended. We had received it for a few months before that happened. Because we entered the system here as working people, you may have been already a pensioner, we had no further right to claim. As it was we never used the payments but had them paid into our daughters' respective trust accounts, so could have let it run on unhindered for theoretically all time. However, it would seem that if people come here, work and are integrated into health and social security schemes then, certainly were even contacted by them, CAF becomes responsible. With school lunch, transport and some health related things for one of them, we actually get far more than we would in the UK. So, it does depend on status and one needs to be very clear what that is.
reply by Mike Groves, Sec CPFG, Cyprus.
Greetings SFN readers! Cut to the quick...
CPFG looks after pensioners after the financial collapse in March 2013, purely charitable.
We have a long history now of claiming exportable allowances, particularly: WFP, Carers and Mobility. Our expertise comes from RBL (Poppy season!) and a dedicated official who helps folk wade through up to 15 pages of claim...Why? Our needy colleagues are often bed ridden, seriously ill, hospitalised, in homes, arthritic, elderly and have eyesight problems ...factors that need to been borne in mind.
So YES, you can and should claim...under EU and other rules you are eligible and YES you need to talk to the Exportable Allowances team at DWP who have been very helpful...
I have been retired for some years now but unusually for a person of my age I later became father to a British citizen child born here in France. I was made aware that I could apply for UK Child Benefit and did so and now receive it. It's not available for any UK taxable person earning more than £60k and on a sliding scale between £50k and £60k. We will all lose Winter Fuel payment next year.
On a forum such as this, you may stumble upon an expert or professional in the benefits field but most of us only have our own perspectives plus anecdotal information to provide.
We try to help as much as possible but it appears to me you may want to hire a consultant or benefits attorney. From the information you have provided, I think you need to address your issue with the relevant UK office.
I can't answer that Ann, I haven't got a clue how either the French or UK systems work, so don't know what you can claim for from France.
I am confused about what I might be able to claim. I have a permanent colostomy so at the moment I am entitled to free prrscriptions. I have just been diagnosed with RA. I have just bought my home in France and will be moving in after xmas but I won’t let this spoil my new life in France. I have never made a claim in my life so my question is are there any conditions that you can still claim free prescriptions for. My urostomy supplies would cost £55.00 per month but don’t know what the athritus medication would cost.
Hello there.
What type of benefits are you talking about please? They don't all have the same rules.
Edit: apologies, I couldn't see the replies when I looked at your post, now I see you've had quite a few.
Well if they were not willing to be of any help to your friend in Italy I'm certainly not holding my breath - but then again I wasn't holding it anyway.
It is very difficult getting the correct information about anything in France because people will always 'advise' you coming from their own perspective. Even many websites I've seen are very misleading. For instance if I have to hear that you register with CPAM when you get to France, I will scream. Not everybody is entitled to register with CPAM, different situations and different authorities apply. I've driven heaven only knows how many km's trying to get registered and been given the wrong information every single time!
Oh hell, best of luck with that. I have never needed to claim anything but having seen the 'rings of fire' people have to jump through to get what they are entitled to don't bank on anything. Fingers crossed for you anyway.
Mine's a different situation Brian - although I'm aware that a lot of people have a UK address and they will give you information that is not applicable to your situation simply because they still have that foothold in the UK, not only relating to benefits but most other things too.
In my situation it's not a case of double claiming because I'm not claiming from anyone - it's a case of not being given the correct information in the first place (by the UK authorities) and it looks like I maybe did have a right to claim, for at least a certain period of time and I'd like to get that cleared up with them.
Do not be misled by people who keep their 'first' residence in the UK, even if that is their 'sister', another relative or friend's address in reality. If they live here then they are cheating the system. If you are normally resident in France, if you are eligible for any kind of French benefits, which more people are than they believe or are informed, then you are not entitled to claim them in the UK.
Yes, continuing benefits are often claimed and allowed but seldom permanently. We know somebody living here in France now somewhere in the south with whom we worked in the UK, same university at least. He has brought his disability allowance with him, being very disabled and wheelchair bound for many years already. He works as a research consultant in the disability field, thus is presumably an AE as we are, and gets some kind of allowances here but not ones that duplicate UK ones that would give him a double claim. Be very careful claiming in the UK anyway, as with banking as of this month, every benefit transaction is shared with other EU countries within the ESAC scheme as part of the attempt to end benefit fraud along with other measures to end tax evasion and money laundering. We used to worry about 'Big Brother' watching us as George Orwell framed in his works, but now it is our reality and the trouble it will eventually bring with it goes well beyond the gains made by playing the claims game. The International Pension Centre will answer on state pensions and complementary benefits but not, for instance, on health or unemployment type claims. For that you have to go to the DWP's international information service which a) I have heard very few people ever manage to get through too because lines are all engaged, and b) the few people I have spoken to who have managed to speak to somebody got more hmms and haas than answers, eventually a 'leave it with us' response that brought them a standard letter that did not actually tell them what they wanted to know. One friend in Italy had a medical compensation payment that she got as a regular monthly payment stopped because there was no record of her still being alive (!!) which made it very complicated to set up again. She was asked if she could 'pop into' one of their offices to talk to somebody. Difficult for a profoundly blind person at the very least, but jumping in a plane to not necessarily get what she wanted put her off so she dropped it although she is entitled since it was a brain tumour operation that went wrong because the surgeon had the scans for another patient... It is that complicated, so ask if it is worth it to begin with unless it is totally legitimate and you have a cast iron entitlement.
That was it, the International Pension Centre. But if you phone them they deny all knowledge - at first.
I once did business with a water company who behaved that way - they wouldn't give you an estimate for the job until you'd had the job done.
Ridiculous, is it not?
CAB - Hmm, I'm not saying they are wrong - but I'm not saying they are right either.
I know some of their stuff is out of date (not on this subject) because I told them a few months ago. They still haven't altered it.
The UK are rotten though at trying to squirm out of their responsibilities toward ex-pats. Oh, I'm not going to start on a UK rant...
I saw that one as well - I remember because they misspelled absence! I've probably misspelled misspelled!
I honestly don't know - I don't think anybody wants us to know either!