General Chat

Whether you like being in the EU or not, the fact remains that we are all part of it & the same rules & entitlements should exist wherever you live.
Personally we are in a bad situation at the moment,so living in Spain is not the idyll it is percieved to be.
My husband has another 3 years to go before he can claim his pension. He has been unable to find work for the past 4 years. There is no income support here, so I am supporting both of us on my state pension which I contributed to for 42 years. I can´t claim for him as a dependant.
Consequently we are having to draw on our savings, not for extras, but for essentials. In a very few years the savings will have been used up.
Then what?
There are no council paid services for the elderly. If you need care, you pay for it.
Our combined pensions would not be enough to pay for residential care for both of us, so we have to pray that at least one of us remains healthy or that one of us dies & reduces the cost of existence.
Not exactly living the dream & through no fault of ours.
We thought we had made adequate provision for our old age & if things had remained as they were when I retired, we could have lived comfortably, but no longer.

No there are no perks given by the the country you move to for the simple reason that all your contributions were made whilst living and working elsewhere, and so without the pension to which you have contributed to for years in the UK you would have nothing. No, again, I don't think that expats think 'let's drain the UK' I think that is what most but not all the illegal immigrants to the UK are doing. I can only speak for myself and I think I am entitled to what I have contributed to . Nothing more, nothing less . No perks . But where and how I spend that entitlement is up to me not for some government or anybody else to decide. Yes I left the country to live somewhere else and yes I did leave the perks. I did accept the pension I had paid into and on which I am still paying tax to the UK I also pay VAT.

Did you refuse the family allowance that you didn't think you should have? Have you forgone your right to your OH's fuel allowance therefore making your contribution against draining the country? If the answer to these questions is no then the only difference between anyone who shares your views and an expat is where you have chosen to live. As for 'leaving the country because you don't want to live there ...then leave the perks too,' isn't that the same as saying stay trapped living somewhere that you don't want to live or give up what you have spent the last 40 years paying for ...your state pension.

How can you say that if you leave the country then you should leave the perks and also say that if you were to move to another country you would take all the freebies you could get. Isn't that kind of sitting on both sides of the fence or having your cake and eating it!

These comments are by no means meant to come across as argumentative. Just, like you, saying things as I see them and for whatever reason we don't see them in the same way.

No Idea Tenerife.....Just saying what I think.......I am one of these people who could never understand why the government wanted to give me family allowance.....after all....were they not my children?.....should I not keep them?.......Couldn't believe it when Oh was given winter allowance......Why?.......I know there are those who cannot afford winter fuel.....but why does 'Everyone' over a certain age need fuel allowance?.....sheesh.....we are a weird country........If I left this country.......Why would I expect it to support me any longer?..........sheesh!.........doesn't it have enough problems supporting all the others who see it as a free lunch. As for dreams of a better life......Yep....we can all dream I suppose.......let's drain the UK and get a better life at their expense......Isn't that what a lot of countries and expats think of us......As I say and say again.......Leave the country cos yer don't want ter live here.......then leave all the perks too.......Of course.....I, like most others.....would want the perks and if they were given would take them..........My case also rests...... :-)





Edit:-.......It is my opinion that if one moves abroad that one should expect to live by the standards according to the country one lives in........If it doesn't have the same perks as the Uk then so be it.....There must be perks of the country better than the UK.....Your choice and so be it......Can't have it both ways......wish we could.

I rest my case.....lol I'm not sure exactly what you mean by not drawing finances from a country unless you belonged to it. Do you mean you have actually got to live in the country to receive finances from it. If so not many pensioners would be able to fulfill their dreams of retiring to the sun and better living conditions especially for health reasons as they depend on their pensions to live. Isn't that a bit like saying ' if you need to draw a pension to live, the same pension that you have contributed to all your working life, then you must do as we tell you and live in the UK.

Hmmmm......but are they treated the same?......in the UK that is......going by what has been said ...the UK citizens do not seem to have the same respect as those who live abroad..... But then I only go by how I actually 'feel' which is.......I have never expected to draw finances from any country unless I belong to it and have allegiance to or would give my life to ( sort of ) ........having said this......If The UK want to give it away then they can expect more than those who deserve it , to come get it, and if I decided to live abroad would take advantage of as many freebies as I could :-)

Hi Susan with numbers, I totally respect your opinions but the fact remains that we are, at the moment, in the EU and therefore I feel that all UK citizens should be treated the same regardless of where they choose to live.

Not sure what I am getting into here Tenerife......But I for one do not agree with being in the EU.....so perhaps that part of the debate is not relevant to anything as far as I am concerned :-)

I have just come across this thread and agree 100% with everything that Wisechild has said. I object to the suggestions that ex pats have ' turned their backs on the UK' . I and many others still have interests in the UK and still pay taxes there. I worked in England for about 40 years and paid everything required of me. I then married someone who lived and worked here, paying his taxes to the Spanish government. In the winter here I have an electric blanket, a log burning fire which is very expensive to feed and electric heating. I also have to pay for air conditioning in summer if it is very hot. I do not have a bus pass or any of the extras that I would qualify for had I not 'turned my back on the UK'

I pay 10% of any prescribed medicines and I pay for eye tests, both free in the UK. For those who think that ex pats should not qualify for the same benefits as non ex pats can I ask them if they would agree that all EU countries should come in line which would also mean that what we DON'T get neither would you and what we pay for so would you. In this situation I think that you would be worse off over all.

PS......Lynda for char Lady at number Ten :-D

To be perfectly honest.....If I lived abroad I would not expect to draw a pension of any kind from the UK.....Now here is the perfectly honest part.........If
they want to give it to me I will take it....as a perk........hands up anyone who would say......No.....I do not want it.....tis human nature I am afraid......It may not be right in some eyes.....but if the UK government want to give it away ..........what more can I say! :-D

Sorry Sue, I'll be 32 NEXT birthday, still only 31 at the moment, thanks for pulling me up on that ;-)

*chokes at the 32*

:-P :-P :-P

Thanks for the vote Amokavid, Actually I'd love to live at number 10 it's so central, and so me :-D

~Lynda~ for Prime Minister, LOL

Joan.

I think that ALL ladies over 60 should get fee travel, to anywhere in the world, free cars, unlimited petrol, free heating/water/gas/electricity, and a spa fitted in there garden, free meals, and be taken out daily to wherever they desire to go, and they should be also be given 700 quid a week, to spend as they please.

Why? BECAUSE THEY DESERVE IT..... :-D

I have no personal interest in this scheme, as I am only 32, but like to make sure my elders are comfortable in life :-)

Thanks Maggie for the update

Sue

It won't affect UK pensioners. The 'temprature test' is only for ex pats.

:-D

...or so IDS said on the news on Radio 4 at 6pm!

Marion,
Thank you for your reply. I have just added to it!

I always try to add to items you write as we seem to have a similar thought process.

Hope you are well, I am back, more or less to my normal self.

Bridget :-)

The Conservatives HATE this allowance & have already reduced it by £50 from every household claimant since they came into power!!
Just don't know why David Cameron & his cronies don't just take the whole thing away in one fell swoop & have done with it??

Remember the 3 way debate on tv when the 3 main parties were battling to win the election & DC constantly refuted G Browns claims that the Cons would get rid of the Winter Fuel allowance AND increase the vat?
DC repeatly saying "they had NO plans to get rid of the WFA or increase VAT" Aye right..............& the band played believe it I you like!!!!!!!

Unfortunately us oldies are now living too long! & DC needs to find some way to kill us off,sooner rather than later, being cold is one sure way of him succeeding.

Joan.

Yes, the heating allowance is for the house not for the person/people.