See here for details:

http://www.timspain.com/index.php?op...6&id=4476#4476

Simple solution would be to allow people to claim the same benefits as they could if they were in the UK. ;-))

I have just read this the other day....so maybe not?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6833187.ece

I just read that times online article - btw does anyone know if any spanish nationals living in the uk get the same benefits as we do?

I think that anyone coming to the UK gets the same benefits as its citizens. That is why they are scrambling to get on lorries at the Channel tunnel.

What is supposed to happen is that the people who live in whatever country in the EU can claim the same rights as the native population.

Then the Brits in Spain discover that they can claim the same as the Spanish in Spain, which I dont think is very much, and so difficult to claim anyway, that most give up.

From that Times article the Brits just do not learn the language so they cannot register or fill out forms...If they did they could claim the same.

To clarify one point in the Times article.

If you already qualified for the winter fuel allowance BEFORE you came to Spain you can continue to claim it in Spain (from the UK government)

Also contact the aid agencies mentioned or the DWP (now based in Spain) and if you live here as a resident take out 'residencia' all these things help you to get care, any benefits you are entitled to etc etc.

Problems with that is that motability isn't available, and if you were over in Spain for more than 6 months BEFORE the decision that disability payments was implemented, then you will NOT get them restarted, at least according to the form we received, said it was only available for those who had been receiving it in the UK in the last 6 months, so all those keeping an address in the UK can now get the allowances legally.

From what I can gather, there is a reciprical arrangement between Spain and the UK, but the Spanish elderly get only a fraction of what the UK elderly get in benefits????

Jo xxx