Pensioners living abroad, even in sunnier climes, are to be given winter fuel payments - at a cost of £5m to the taxpayer.

But people with disabilities living in this country will still be excluded.

The UK Government extended eligibility for the annual £200 payment to about 30,000 people living in 19 countries abroad, after lengthy discussions with the European Commission.

Under the new rules, people who were 60 and qualified before they moved within the European Economic Area, or Switzerland, will be eligible to receive the payments.

Angry

The grant is intended to help people over 60 with the extra costs of keeping warm in winter.

But the move is likely to be controversial as it will cost up to £5m a year and many countries included will be enjoying warm temperatures during the British winter.

Also, the payment will not be made to anyone in the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, where winter temperatures can be freezing.

Another group of people angry at the move are the disabled who have been campaigning for some time for inclusion.

EC concern

The government had wanted to confine eligibility to the UK.

But the EC was concerned about the rights of EU citizens throughout Europe.

Brussels insisted that although an individual has to be living in the UK when they qualify, if they move to any one of the 19 other countries they can continue to receive the payment.

As a result, eligibility extends not only to people in Spain, France, Italy and Greece but also to people living on three tropical islands.

People who previously qualified and then moved to any of these areas will also get their payments backdated.

The 19 countries are the 14 other members of the EU, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, together with Gibraltar and Switzerland.

But French territories include Martinique and Guadeloupe, Réunion and French Guiana, all of which enjoy very warm temperatures during the British winter.

And in the Spanish territories of the Canary Islands, Ibiza and Majorca temperatures rarely fall below 10C.

Assessing the cost

Although in theory the extra cost could be £5m, previous experience shows that not all those eligible do actually make a claim.

Many of these people are men aged between 60-64 who are not known to the DWP as they are not in receipt of a state pension or other benefits.

In order to qualify a person must be 60 or above during the qualifying week, which is 16-22 September.

Anyone over 60 in the UK in receipt of a state pension, disability benefit, or received the payment last year does not have to claim.

Claims will be accepted up to 31 March 2003.

If you would like your payment before Christmas then the claim must be made by 20 September 2002.

More information and a claim form is available from the DWP website.

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