chrisjolly

I am now receiving my State Pension from the UK and having spoken to someone in the DWP when I was there does anyone know if there are any allowances one can obtain whilst living in Spain as they do not seem to know..

lynnxa

afaik the only added allowance you can still claim is the Cold Weather one - and that only if you were already receiving it before you left the UK

Fred James

I 'm sure you mean the Winter Fuel Payment but confusingly there is actually another allowance called a Cold Weather Payment - you get a payment automatically if the temperature is below freezing for 7 days.

You certainly won't get that one in Spain!

lynnxa

that's the one

spainrico

This is the best site to start research on those issues
http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/help-...ions-benefits/

also try and attend one of the consulates roadshows - I have just had an article published here - see pg 18
http://issuu.com/timadmin/docs/november-11

chrisjolly

Thank you everyone..it is I thought...we are expected to live as a married couple on 120 pounds a week! Its a good job I live in Goa half the year!

jackytoo

Haven't they kicked out a lot of Brits in Goa?

chrisjolly

In a way but most have left of their own accord due to the problems of property ownership and the visa. If you get a 6 month tourist visa you have to leave and stay out of India for two months before returning. Obviously that has made retiring here an impossiblity. Its such a shame for the local economy but they are now relying on the domestic Indian market..if you have over 600 million people under thirty then you have a good client base!

jackytoo

Sounds nearly as bad as the US 6 months in and 6 months out

agoreira

But nothing like UK, everyone can stay forever! Didn't catch all the details, but this morning there was something on the news about they don't know where 125,000 immigrants are, they've lost them!

chrisjolly

They easily get lost with all the existing immigrants. As we only go there once a year we notice what everyone seems to have got used to..and that is??? the country is full of immigrants! even the girl at immigration was Polish..........!! We had to laugh!

lynnxa

it's more or less what Spanish pensioners live on

jackytoo

I thought you had to be British to be an immigration Officer

Domino

And I thought India was part of the Commonwealth, but if the UK tried to do that it would be all wrong.....Article 8 Human Rights Act (?)
but it is an idea.

EsuriJohn

£120 pw is about right for a full UK State pension so that's about £7250 pa and if we average the exchange at £1 : €1,10 that's about €8000 pa. I heard that the full Spanish pension was about €1000 pm so about €12000 pa.

This squares with the fact that the standard UK State pension is one of the lowest in Europe. Lower even than some of the East European new members. It's OK if you qualify and can have all the top ups and add on's such as pension credit and housing benefit then I guess it is about the same as the Spanish pension but of course a UK State pensioner does not qualify for the add on's