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The number of foreign retirees in Spain grows every year. Juan Carlos Soler
'Pensioners freezing on the Costa del Sol': the reality of British OAPs' winter heating complaints in Spain
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'Pensioners freezing on the Costa del Sol': the reality of British OAPs' winter heating complaints in Spain

The Evening Standard highlighted the situation, which arose from a viral post on social media that turned out to be (partly) a hoax

M.C.

Madrid

Monday, 14 October 2024, 16:33

From July 2020 to 30 June 2024, some 217,408 Withdrawal Agreement documents from the European Union have been granted to British citizens and their family members in Spain, i.e. they reside in Spain after Brexit and maintain their rights as European citizens but without having Spanish nationality. Of these, more than 70,000 are pensioners.

Traditionally, many Britons have come to Spain to spend their retirement here, especially to places like the Costa del Sol or the Costa Blanca (especially Benidorm and Alicante) and the UK's exit from the EU, despite the initial uncertainty, has not stopped the trickle.

One of the main reasons why British retirees choose to live out their golden years in Spain is the climate, which is radically different from that of the UK.

However, although these areas of the country are warm practically all year round, in some places, the temperature in winter can drop considerably and that brings us to the point of this article.

"Pensioners frozen on the Costa del Sol"

A few weeks ago a post entitled 'pensioners freezing on the Costa del Sol' went viral on social media, explaining how many British pensioners living in Spain were having a hard time due to the drop in temperatures and had filed a complaint about not being able to access aid to pay for heating in their homes.

Well, there is no such complaint, but it is true that they do not have access to aid, as reported by British newspaper The Evening Standard, which had previously echoed the viral post.

Any European Economic Area (EEA) citizen can apply for winter fuel allowance if they have a "genuine and sufficient link" with the UK and meet a number of other criteria which vary from country to country.

However, in 2015, the British government excluded several southern European countries from this type of aid, considering them to be hotspots where not as much investment is needed. Countries such as Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and, of course, Spain.

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