Following a ruling last year by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), more people living in mainland Europe now get the winter fuel allowance of between £100 and £300.
The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that the amount spent by the UK on winter fuel payments for people in Europe rose by 70 per cent in a single year and has gone from £12.8m in 2011/12 to £21.4m in 2012/13.
Most of the money goes to British citizens but it is also available to those with a “genuine connection” to the UK and is dependent on the recipient’s age and family circumstances.
Nearly 120,000 households in the European Economic Area and Switzerland received the payment in 2012/13, compared to almost 75,000 in the previous year. In addition, around 50,000 people in Spain and 30,000 in France received the payment.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith called the ruling ”ridiculous” and said that the huge increase in payments equates to a near doubling in costs to the British taxpayer.
Meanwhile, Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the Taxpayers Alliance, said that the Government should stop all payments to people living outside the UK and argued that decisions over who is eligible to receive the payment should be taken by those we elect, not “unaccountable judges in Luxembourg”.
However, Chancellor George Osborne announced this year that from autumn 2015 people living in European countries with an average winter temperature higher than the UK’s will no longer be eligible for the payment, which means that pensioners living in France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Malta, Gibraltar and Cyprus, will no longer receive the payment.