British pensioners living in the EU could lose their Winter Fuel Payments

The new EU / UK Free Trade Agreement may allow the UK Government to stop providing Winter Fuel Payments to British pensioners living in the EU, say leading accounting and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg.

Robert Salter, a tax service director at the firm said: “ Though the regulations around the WFP payments were tightened in 2015, so that pensioners living in warmer EU countries (e.g., Spain, Portugal and Cyprus), lost their entitlement to the payments, EU regulations ensured that British- pensioners living in most EU states remained entitled to the annual payments (worth up to £300 per pensioner).”

He added: “ However, the EU / UK Trade & Cooperation Agreement specifically states that the international Social Security cooperation elements of the Agreement shall not apply to payments which are paid to meet expenses of heating in cold weather.”

Robert said: “ The new Agreement doesn’t automatically mean that British pensioners living overseas in countries such as Austria, Ireland or the Netherlands will automatically lose their WFPs. Any such decision would be a decision for the British Government of the day. However, the move does highlight the additional ‘challenges’ which British pensioners living overseas may face over the coming years.”

He added: “ On a more positive note, the Agreement does ensure that British pensioners living in the EU will continue to benefit from rises in the UK state pension. Without this deal, it was possible that British pensioners in EU states could have (as is the case with those British pensioners who retire to countries such as South Africa, Trinidad and the Bahamas), suffered a ‘state pension freeze’ – that is, their state pension could have been frozen at the amount they were entitled to when they retired overseas.”