'BENEFIT DELIVERY
inquiry'
'The Winter Fuel Payment',
an analysis of the current situation
with regard to British Pensioners
in other States of the European Union
We believe Iain Duncan Smith and the DWP misled Parliament
by presenting distorted temperature statistics,
in order to deprive some British Pensioners
of a legal entitlement to an old-age benefit.
Here we present the proof!
Introduction
When the Government first announced a ‘Temperature Test Policy’ in order to withdraw
the Winter Fuel Payment from all British Pensioners living in so-called ‘hot’ countries of
the European Union, a number of Expat campaigning organisations began to ask
questions.
It became clear that the ‘Temperature Test Policy’ was a knee jerk reaction to an important
Judgment handed down by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the case of Lucy
Stewart, a Downs Syndrome sufferer, taken to Spain by her parents, who had been refused
incapacity benefit by the DWP.
Those of us who have campaigned to prevent the WFP being withdrawn from some British
Pensioners have seen a number of letters and briefings which show that Government
sources were anxious that the policy was designed to recover the additional costs of WFP
arising from the Judgment in Stewart.
That evidence combined with the growing awareness that the ‘Temperature Test Policy’
contained elements which would be in contravention with EU Regulations concerning the
exportation of benefit rights, because all British Citizens in the EU were not being be
treated equally on matters affecting social security regulations based in the UK.
If temperature rules are to be invoked, then those temperature rules should apply equally,
proportionately and legitimately wherever one lives in the European Union, and they
should focus on the need for elderly British Pensioners to heat their homes in cold winter
temperatures.
We hereby present a document which sets out our evidence of the defective delivery of
the WFP to British Pensioners, for the Committee’s consideration.
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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First, some important background points:
 All Pensioners living within the UK receive the WFP automatically, either, when
they reach the qualifying age when in receipt of another benefit, or, when they reach
the State Pension Age (SPA).
 All British Pensioners living within the EU and other EEA countries have to make a
claim in order to be able to receive the WFP, either, when they reach the qualifying
age, or, when they reach the SPA.
 12,446,330 individuals in the UK are in receipt of the WFP, representing 8,978,860
households. As at November 2014 there were 12,981,350 individuals in receipt of
the State Pension - 96% of them therefore also receiving the WFP.
 For the past five years, and for the next five years the WFP is, in effect, a ‘protected’
universal benefit, having been, and continuing to be, part of the ‘Triple Lock’ pledge
made by David Cameron.
 Except that is for those British Pensioners who have had their entitlement to the
WFP withdrawn by Statutory Instrument. That is those British Pensioners, many of
whom continue to pay UK taxes, who happen to live in six EU countries and one
overseas territory declared ‘Hot’ under the ‘Temperature Test Policy’.
 The DWP does not understand the significance of the continental climate.
Temperatures can be very hot in Summer, but in Winter, temperatures can fall to
devastatingly low levels for many days at a time, especially in some Regions
throughout France, and in the mountainous Regions of Spain, Greece and Cyprus.
Almost everywhere, temperatures descend to where heating becomes an absolute
necessity to maintain good health for elderly people, particularly those in less
fortunate circumstances, see: www.lefourquet.net/Hardup-dossier.doc
 According to the latest statistics published in September 2014 by the DWP, there are
135,285 claimants of the WFP living within the EU/EEA countries, which represents
around 98,000 households. There are 471,000 British Pensioners living in EU/EEA
countries, and using the same proportions as for pensioners above, that probably
equates to around 340,000 households.
 Looked at another way - 96% of eligible households within the UK receive the WFP,
whereas only 29% of households of those living within EU/EEA countries are in
receipt of the WFP - soon to be reduced to only 9% under the ‘Temperature Test’!
 It should be remembered that many of those losing the WFP, are also in receipt of
Public Service Pensions, many using their lump sums to buy a retirement home in
the sun. Individuals who worked in Local Government, the NHS, Education, the
Civil Service, the Armed Forces, the Police, Fire Services, and the Judiciary.
 The HM Revenue & Customs cannot tell us how many British Expat Pensioners
continue to pay their taxes in the UK because of their Public Service Pensions, but
from anecdotal research, we suspect there are many.
 We believe the time has come to scrap the WFP altogether, and find another way of
boosting the State Pension with some other form of Winter Supplement.
Second, an Executive Summary of our evidence:
 Testing the Temperatures (click here) - evidence illustrating the discriminatory
effects of the application of a defective delivery policy, and the weaknesses
associated with the policy from the outset.
 Government’s Cold Weather Plans (click here) - for care of the elderly evidence that guidance on winter temperatures for older British Pensioners in the
UK was ignored for older British Pensioners living in the EU.
 What Made France Hot (click here) - how the DWP mislead everyone into
believing France’s Départements d’Outre Mer (DOMs) had to be included.
 Facts about DWP Statistics (click here) - evidence of the ways in which Iain
Duncan Smith and the DWP hyped up the propaganda around the statistics.
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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 Manipulation of Statistics (click here) - evidence of the misuse of temperatures
from earlier years.
 Double Standards (click here) - one rule for Gibraltar another rule for the DOMs
 Our Conclusions (click here) - our view across the whole issue.
Who are We?
We are representatives of a number of Expats who have campaigned as individuals, and
within a range of organisations or associations, fighting for the protection of rights for all
British Citizens living overseas, whether retired or not, and including those who have
exercised their right of free movement within the EU. Much of the focus has been
concerned with the absence of representation, and for many, no votes in UK National
Elections, when it comes to issues arising from actions by the UK Government. In
particular, the withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Payment from some Expats, all of them
British Pensioners, has been the cause of much concern over the past three years. This
document presents research carried out by a number of those involved in campaigning on
this issue across Europe.
This document is composed by Roger Boaden MBE - 30 years a Conservative Party Official
Supported by:
Brian Cave
Rodney Harper
David Spokes
Christopher Chantrey OBE
Lorraine Hardy
Giles Goodall
Paul Rees
Anita Rieu-Sicart
Margaret Hales MBE
Mike Groves
Pensioners Debout! http://pensionersdebout.blogspot.com
Votes for Expat Brits Campaign. www.votes-for-expat-brits.com
Charente-Limousin Exchange. http://www.cle-france.com/
British Community Committee of France (BCC).
www.britishinfrance.com
Labour International. www.labourinternational.net
Liberal Democrats - Europe (Brussels). www.uklibdems.eu
45,000 Readers. http://www.algarvedailynews.com
Var Village Voice. www.varvillagevoice.com
Campaigner for Democracy & the Welfare of Pensioners (Spain)
mailto:margaretgeraldhales@gmail.com
Cyprus Pensioners Focus Group. www.cyprusexpat.co.uk
Part 1 Testing the Temperatures
“people in hot countries will no longer get it” so said Chancellor George Osborne in his
spending round statement, in the House of Commons, in June 2013.
The DWP must have been surprised when they began consultations with the Met Office
over the creation of the ‘Temperature Test Policy’. The policy had been decided withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Payment from the maximum number of British Pensioners
living in so-called ‘hot countries’ across the EU. Now they had to develop the means to
implement that objective - making facts (or fiction) fit a pre-determined policy!
We may never know what took place, but one thing is clear the DWP refused to reveal the
exchanges which took place between them and the Met Office, despite Freedom of
Information requests to publish correspondence between the DWP and the Met Office,
leading up to the Met Office Report in December 2012.
The DWP correspondent said: “I am unable to provide you with copies of exchanges
between the DWP and the Met Office as I believe it falls within exemption 35 of the
Freedom of Information Act. This exemption relates to the formulation of Government
policy. I consider this exemption applies because it is intended to protect the space within
which Government can think and develop its policies without prejudice.
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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“I maintain that the information you seek falls into this category. As required by the Act, I
have also considered whether the balance of the public interest comes down in favour of
not complying with your request. I consider that there is no overarching public interest
argument in favour of releasing this information for the following reasons.”
The Met Office in response to a separate Freedom of
Information request, said this about their report: “In
response to your first question, the Met Office produced a
report showing the average winter temperatures for all
European Economic Area Member States, including the
UK. DWP interpreted the data from this report to inform
its policy for future eligibility to Winter Fuel Payments.
In response to your second question, the report provided
two temperatures, one to include the French
départements d'outre mer (DOMs), and one without. The
average winter temperature for France (including the
DOM's) is 7.0°C; without DOMs, it is 4.9°C.”
We believe we are entitled to examine what is known for sure about the decision made by
the DWP, and set it against what we believe to be the truth, simply because of their refusal
to admit to the truth, or try to hide it by making all manner of excuses.
The DWP manipulated and distorted facts, figures, and temperatures, on several
occasions. Iain Duncan Smith and his Department made several statements, and issued
briefings and documents to put alongside the publication of statistics, all the time
‘spinning’ the facts to create tabloid press headlines.
For example, The Daily Mail ran a story in the issue of the 19th January 2013, in which
they reported Iain Duncan Smith was ‘furious’ at the Court of Justice Judgment in
Stewart. The story said: “Clearly it is a crazy idea that pensioners living in hot places
abroad in Europe should be receiving winter fuel payments,” a source said. “We are
looking into seeing if there is something we can do around setting an average
temperature in order to get round the European Court of Justice ruling.”
So, how does the UK Government define ‘HOT COUNTRY’ and ‘HOT PLACES ABROAD’?
And, what are the effects of cold weather on elderly people?
Part 2 Government’s Cold
Weather Plans
The UK Government published two booklets
in October 2014. Two senior officials from
the DWP served on the Steering Committee
which drafted these two booklets, alongside
their colleagues from six other Government
Departments, as well as the NHS and the Met
Office.
Of course the DWP will rush to tell us these
documents only apply to British Pensioners
living in England, and that they were
prepared for health and welfare professionals.
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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We say, low temperatures
affect older people the whole
world over, particularly
those with health issues.
What the two Government
publications show is how
vulnerable individuals
become when winter
temperatures fall below a
certain level.
The first thing to note from
the publications is the detail
alongside. These
recommendations apply to
daytime temperatures in
winter.
It follows, if this is considered the minimum standard for indoor temperatures, then the
outdoor temperature must be at least 18°C to be considered warm or hot enough.
The second important element to come from these two booklets is the advice concerning
the levels of risk associated with low temperatures on the health of elderly individuals.
There can be no doubt that this is well illustrated by the chart reproduced above. It shows:
there is an ‘increased risk of death’ whenever average winter temperatures
fall below 8°C! The Government booklets go on to say: ‘these findings indicate that
negative health effects start at relatively moderate outdoor temperatures of around 58°C. Although the risk of death increases as temperatures fall, the higher frequency of
days at moderate temperatures mean that the greatest health burden in absolute
numbers of deaths, occurs at these moderate temperatures.’
Even though this information is taken from booklets published for the protection of the
elderly in England, the issues they raise are only too clear when it comes to ensuring that
all elderly British Pensioners are well protected from winter temperatures as they plummet
to levels requiring homes to be heated.
It beggars belief therefore to understand that Iain Duncan Smith and the DWP have
decided that average winter temperatures above 5.6°C MUST be considered to be ‘HOT’!
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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We wrote to Météo-France to see what their view on average winter temperatures
happened to be. We asked them if they included the temperatures from the DOMs (the
Départements d’Outre Mer) with those of France.
This is one item of interest we found:
This Météo-France chart plots the 2012/2013 average winter temperatures for France as a
whole. The Graph shows the deviation from the norm (the central curved line) for each
day during the winter of 2012/13. The average was 4.8°C spread across the 90 days of the
standard definition of winter - December - February (DJF) - just like the Met Office
definition. All temperatures are below the 12°C which marks the maximum limit for the
development of serious health problems, and more than half under the 8°C below which
there is an ‘increased risk of death’! (see the red line).
Here are Met
Office charts
of average
temperatures
in the UK for
the winters
of
2012/2013,
2013/2014,
and
2014/2015.
Note the blue
lines showing
the 8°C
limitation,
but note also
that very few
days record
less than
0°C!
The first
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
Page 6
significant feature of these charts is they show the Met Office definition of winter December to February - DJF - exactly the same definition of winter used by Météo-France,
and exactly the same as used by all Meteorological agencies and organisations. The
temperatures used by the DWP were taken from analysis done over the years 1961/1990 by
the CRU, research done to provide a ‘norm’ against which to measure climate change.
The second, and perhaps the most significant feature, is almost all the temperatures shown
on all three charts fall below the 8°C after which there is an ‘increased risk of death’! So,
how can George Osborne and Iain Duncan Smith go on claiming that average winter
temperatures BELOW 8°C MUST be considered to be HOT!
And yet we know from DWP publication of the statistics of the ‘Cold Weather Payments’,
which reveal that as the Winter of 2013/2014 was exceptionally mild, payments in that
winter were “triggered” in one area only (postcodes linked to the Braemar weather station)
in one week.
As a matter of fact, the ‘Cold Weather Payment’ is awarded from a statutorily defined
position, since not only is it targeted at those elderly people on low incomes, it is based on,
‘when the average temperature where you live is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees
Celsius or below, over seven consecutive days during the period from 1 November to 31
March’.
Meteorological Office weather stations which are used to obtain this information are
specified in the regulations supporting the legislation. The grant of such awards comes
within the meaning of Article 5 (b) of 883/04 - ‘Equal treatment of benefits, income, facts
or events.’
The results taken from the DWP publication was:
1. Only 1,100 of the automatic payments were made in 2013/2014,
totalling £27,500
2. This compares with 5.8 million separate payments in 2012/2013,
totalling £146,000,000 (Yes 146 Million)
The difference between those two figures is a truly dramatic illustration of how unsafe it is
to apply a fixed ‘norm’, using datasets from 1961/1990, and then comparing that ‘norm’ to
any present day average winter temperature anywhere!
In reality this was a surprise to find differences as great as these, but then we appreciated
most winters in recent years have been varying year on year. That’s why it’s crazy, in our
view, to attempt to develop a policy based on temperatures from a fixed point - no two
winters are the same!
On 8th April 2015 the DWP gave us a further example of the degree to which winters
fluctuate. The latest report for Cold Weather Payments for winter 2014/2015 were
published for the period to 31st March 2015 - this report showed:
415,200 payments were made in 2014/15,
with an estimated expenditure of £10,380,000
Another dramatic illustration of how using a fixed temperature as a yardstick can quickly
be distorted by reality. The winter of 2014/2015 was nearly four hundred times colder
than 2013/2014, and yet only 7% as cold as winter 2012/2013!
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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The DWP eventually admitted that the figures used by the Met Office had come from
datasets published by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia.
We contacted the CRU who confirmed their figures were being used, but that no contact
had been established with them.
The Director of the CRU had this to say, when we questioned him about combining
temperatures for France with those of the DOMs. He said: “Your second point doesn't
make any climatological sense. For us France means mainland France and Corsica. We
got all the country boundaries from a dataset at the UN. The French overseas
departments are in our dataset as different 'countries'. There are numerous small island
groups, that aren't technically 'countries', but that doesn't have any interest for us.
France for us is European France. I agree it is absurd to include these distant groups into
France, and that is why we didn't do it!!”
The UK’s Met Office wrote recently: “This year the meteorological winter began on 1
December 2014 and ends on 28 February 2015. The meteorological seasons consists of
splitting the seasons into four periods made up of three months each. These seasons are
split to coincide with our Gregorian calendar making it easier for meteorological
observing and forecasting to compare seasonal and monthly statistics. By the
meteorological calendar, winter always starts on 1 December.”
However, contrary to Met Office advice, the DWP opted to redefine winter, ignoring what
all meteorologists and climatologists recognise. The DWP redefined winter to be 1st
November to 31st March, stretching winter from 90 days to 151 days, together with all the
implications that embraces for the calculations of averages. The DWP justified this by
saying: “The period 1 November to 31 March is used for Cold Weather Payment purposes.
Therefore, there is a consistency with existing policies.”
It is very odd therefore to learn, that letters go out from the DWP during November stating
Winter Fuel Payment was being made ‘in time for the start of winter’!
Part 3 What made France HOT
Alongside we reproduce a typical daily
display from the website of Météo-France.
No confusion, daily forecasts for France &
Corsica, with a drop-down menu headed
Outre-mer. Five of the six French Outermost
Regions are listed, 3 in the Caribbean, and 2
in the Indian Ocean; plus two other
territories known as TOMs and Collectivities
(COMs).
Weather forecasts published daily, with no
attempt to include these into France - treated
as separate countries. The resultant weather
maps show the forecast for each location.
There is nothing to suggest the information
should be used for anything other than
informing visitors to the website about the
weather in those locations.
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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Illustrated above, taken from the Météo-France website is a typical weather forecast for
two of the islands. And yet…. the DWP, in its wisdom, decided that the average winter
temperatures for places such as these tropical islands of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, and
La Réunion in the Indian Ocean, HAD to be included with the average winter
temperatures for France. Not even the French Government does that!
In a letter to a fellow MP, dated 12th February 2015, Iain Duncan Smith said the following:
“The situation is different for the départements d'outre mer (DOMs), which are integral
parts of the French State just as is the case for any of France's other departments. They
are therefore subject to the same EU social security co-ordination rules as all other EU
country regions. Winter Fuel Payments are currently available to those entitled to the
benefit in the DOMs and so application of the policy and its changes has been entirely
consistent. The DOMs included in the average winter temperature calculation were:
Guadeloupe; Martinique; La Réunion; and French Guyana. Mayotte was not included
because it did not become an outermost region of the EU until 1 January 2014.”
It is not an explanation of HOW and WHY the DWP arrived at that view!
These tropical islands are former French colonies. Successive French Governments since
1946 tied them closer to France, and then closer to Europe. The two islands shown above,
became Départements d’Outre-mer, known as DOMs, in March 1946. Like the other
DOMs they have an infrastructure of Government and a legal administration exactly like
the Départements of mainland France.
The Treaty of Maastricht of 1992, established the first seven of the Outermost Regions.
There are now nine ORs, fully integrated into the European Union and the EEA - six
French, two Portuguese and one Spanish. The status of the five French DOMs and one
COM has been substantially changed by being upgraded to become ORs.
First, in France, with reforms made to the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic,
enacted in 2008, devolving powers from Paris to the DOMs (ORs). And, second, with the
development of the Outermost Regions, completed with the Treaty of Lisbon (TFEU), of 1st
December 2009; that Treaty declared the full integration of the ORs in to the EU and the
EEA, and so, in the case of France making all six ORs different from the other 96
Départements of France.
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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That full integration into the EU of the ORs ensured they are fully incorporated into the EU
social security co-ordination regulations, used in the co-ordination and payment of
benefits, in their own right. This placed the ORs on exactly the same footing as every one
of the 28 Member States of the EU, establishing each of them at a different level, and with
a different status from the other 96 Départements of France.
This makes them different, and not the same. The DWP used the co-ordination of social
security benefits as a reason to explain the inclusion of average winter temperatures from
the tropical islands - their interpretation is quite simply wrong - yet another manipulation
of facts!
The maps above, illustrate the ludicrous nature of transplanting average winter
temperatures in the 20s of degrees centigrade from tropical locations, and combining them
with the average winter temperature of France, when they are thousands of kilometres
away geographically, and located in the tropical zones of the World.
We included Mayotte in this illustration, which was not an Outermost Region when the
policy of the so-called ‘Temperature Test Policy’ was cooked up, an illustration of how wide
of the mark the DWP were! Mayotte, a small archipelago of 213,000 inhabitants in the
Indian Ocean, became an overseas department of France (Département d'Outre Mer,
DOM) on 31 March 2011. It adopted the same legal and social system used in the rest of
France. Following a directive of the European Council in December 2013, Mayotte became
an Outermost Region (OR) of the European Union on 1 January 2014.
A successful agreement between the 27 Member States of the EU followed a petition made
by the French Government, for Mayotte to become an integral territory of the European
Union nonetheless benefiting from the derogation clauses applicable in existing Outermost
Regions, namely Article 349 TFEU, as favoured in a June 2012 European Commission
opinion on Mayotte's European constitutional status.
In the UK, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office published an Explanatory Memorandum
for Parliament:
http://europeanmemoranda.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/files/2014/03/13313-13.pdf
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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This publication acknowledged the special and separate status of Mayotte (an Outermost
Region from 01/01/2014) along with the existing Outermost Regions. The memorandum
reported that it had been examined by the House of Commons Scrutiny Committee. It is
therefore significant to read in Iain Duncan Smith’s latest letter of 12/02/2015, the words:
“Mayotte was not included because it did not become an outermost region of the EU until
1 January 2014” – finally, recognition of the existence of Outermost Regions (ORs)!
Throughout our exchanges with the DWP about the manipulation they carried out with the
average winter temperature of France, there has been an attitude that the DOMs had to
be included with France. Throughout, the DWP, and Iain Duncan Smith, have reacted as
if nothing had changed in the Law - EU Law in particular!
Now with the recognition of Mayotte as an Outermost Region, the reaction from Iain
Duncan Smith implies that Mayotte is in some way different from four of the other five Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and La Réunion.
Mayotte is not different - it is the same - an Outermost Region of the EU!
As a MATTER OF FACT the other five French Outermost Regions are included under
Article 349 of the Treaty of Lisbon (TFEU), which was ratified by a vote of the House of
Commons on 11th March 2008, and the UK Act which concluded that ratification received
Royal Assent on 19th June 2008. That means the UK Parliament has voted into existence
all Outermost Regions (ORs) and thereby legally recognised their enhanced special status
and full integration within the EU and the EEA.
We believe Iain Duncan Smith and the DWP
misled Parliament by ignoring and withholding
evidence of changes in the Law arising from the
Treaty of Lisbon, in order to deprive British Pensioners
of a legal entitlement to an old-age benefit.
Here we have presented the proof!
Part 4 Facts about DWP Statistics
With effect from 21st September 2015, 98,000 British households will be deprived of the
Winter Fuel Payments, averaging around £175 per claim. Two-thirds of those qualified
legitimately for the WFP before the Judgment in Stewart of the Court of Justice of the EU.
The other one-third is mainly made up of those whose claim refusals had been reversed by
the Judgment.
An end to madness of winter fuel cash
for expats on the Costa del Sol:
As bill reaches £130 million,
the law WILL be changed
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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A headline like this appeared in the Daily Mail Online on 30th December 2014. That
headline came directly from an ‘exclusive’ interview given by Iain Duncan Smith to Matt
Chorley the Political Editor of the Mail Online.
Iain Duncan Smith said: “Winter fuel payments exist to help Britain's pensioners keep
themselves warm. It's absurd and offensive that taxpayers are funding these payments
for people who have retired to the Mediterranean and enjoy warmer weather. The
European Union has frustrated our attempts to address this issue in the past, but with
our new temperature-based eligibility criteria we're able to satisfy EU rules as well as
prevent this obscene waste of taxpayers' money.”
Most people reading a National Newspaper do not have time or opportunity to analyse
headlines such as those reproduced above, but one thing comes through far too strongly and that is the impression created that all expats are living on the Costa del Sol, and that is
already costing £130 million a year. It is true that the full article attempts to explain the
headline, but with Iain Duncan Smith using the words: “…. People who have retired to the
Mediterranean….” inevitably created that devastating impression.
We tried through Freedom of Information requests to establish how many claimants of the
Winter Fuel Payment, live on the Costa del Sol, following the Daily Mail headline. To date
the DWP has frustrated our requests by claiming that it would take them at least 3.5
working days to analyse the information, which would exceed the cost they are allowed
under the Freedom of Information Act to spend on any request. We don’t accept their
claim and have called upon the Information Commissioner to investigate. Whilst we wait
for that investigation, we have produced our own estimate - carefully examining the
Spanish population of the Costa del Sol; then, projecting the number of British citizens in
that population, we estimate there are about 2,000 claimants of the Winter Fuel Payment
living on the Costa del Sol.
We also know from statistics published by the DWP in September 2014 that the average
claimant was paid about £175 per annum. That means the cost for claimants living on the
Costa del Sol was around £350,000 - a long way short of the Mail headline of £130
million!! It is not for us to try to correct what the Mail stated as fact as a result of the Iain
Duncan Smith ‘exclusive interview’. It is for him to correct those factual mistakes which
have arisen from that ‘exclusive interview’!
Reproduced below is a further extract from the DWP document published in July 2013. It
shows figures, which they admit are only estimates, but a clear revelation of a deliberate
attempt to manipulate the figures.
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
Page 12
This Briefing Note published by the DWP on 19th July 2013, at a point in time they would
have known the outcomes of claimants for the upcoming winter of 2013/2014, which had
closed at the end of March 2013. This is a crucial piece of the evidence against the DWP.
The estimates published, as shown in the table below are still being quoted, for example in
a letter written on behalf of David Cameron, dated 17th April 2015.
The figures shown in the above table are cumulative - showing the DWP were projecting
130,000 extra claimants by 2014/2015 at an additional cost of £20 million.
Extracts from this Briefing Note published by the DWP on 19th July 2013 appeared in the
Mail Online three weeks earlier on 26th June. This is evidence that the DWP were
‘spinning’ the figures they were promoting. Two months later on 22nd August the Mail
Online returned to the same subject, using more figures from the Briefing Note.
The Mail wrote: ‘The European Court of Justice ruling means the Government must pay
the annual hand-out worth as much as £300 to up to 444,000 British pensioners living
abroad. Mr Duncan Smith told the Daily Mail: “We will fight these ridiculous rules. The
winter fuel payment is about helping British pensioners with heating costs and it is
ludicrous we could have to pay more pensioners living in hot countries.” It is estimated
that the European judges’ ruling allowed up to 440,000 expats to claim the payment.’
The words ‘must pay the annual hand-out worth as much as £300 to up to 444,000
British Pensioners living abroad’ is misleading. The average payment of the WFP to each
claimant in the last three years on record (taken from DWP published statistics) has been
£170.85, £179.05, and £175.28 respectively. Nothing like the £300 quoted, proving this
figure was used by the DWP to stimulate support for the policy.
In the Briefing Note the DWP estimated there could be as many as 471,000 UK Citizens
throughout the EEA, who, by age qualifications, could claim the WFP. The WFP is
described as a household benefit in the claim form, IN FACT the total number of claimants
to date, is only 135,285 (as published in the 2013/2014 statistics from the DWP), even after
the expected jump in numbers in the previous year, which followed the implementation of
the Regulations by the Government as a result of the Judgment in Stewart.
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
Page 13
The figures in the table on the previous page are taken from DWP’s own published
statistics, and show the top ten countries for WFP claimants, plus Switzerland and
Gibraltar. The most remarkable feature of this table is the increase over the two years
following the CJEU Judgement in Stewart for the Republic of Ireland. Every other
country fell back in the year after the Judgment year to levels roughly equivalent to years
before the point at which the claims were allowed as a result of the Judgment.
All except that is, for the Republic of Ireland! The increase in 2013/2014 was higher, at
12,845, than the previous year, and giving a total which now outstrips the total for France.
What is more remarkable is that Ireland has the highest number of pensioners in receipt of
the British State Pension than any other country in the EEA, with 136,000 Pensioners.
Part 5 Manipulation of Statistics
In December 2012 the Met Office delivered their report to the DWP on the average winter
temperatures of every country within the EEA. It took us a whole year to get sight of a
copy of that document, having to use Freedom of Information requests, and it makes for
some interesting reading.
Incidentally, in a separate Freedom of Information response, the Met Office told us in a
letter: “DWP interpreted the data from this report to inform its policy for future
eligibility to Winter Fuel Payments.” There was no need for the Met Office to have written
in that addition, and that makes the comment all the more revealing!
Shown below are copies of temperature tables published in the Met Office Report for
France, Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal. British Pensioners in four countries have lost
Winter Fuel Payments - France, Greece, Spain and Portugal. Three of those countries
ended up with average winter temperatures of 7.0°C, 7.1°C, and 7.3°C respectively, even
though 20 Regions had average winter temperatures LOWER than the SW of England!
One country, Italy, will retain the Winter Fuel Payment, and yet, this illustration shows
that 5 Italian Regions (BLUE upward arrows) all have average winter temperatures which
were ‘HOTTER’ than every Region of France, 7 Regions of Greece, 11 Regions of Spain, and
3 Regions of Portugal (RED downward arrows).
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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British Pensioners all over Italy will be paid WFP in November 2015!
It should not be forgotten that in the Met Office Report to the DWP of 12th December
2012, Italy was shown to have an average winter temperature of 5.7°C, compared to the
whole of the UK at 4.1°C. However, the DWP decided to use the SW of England as their
yardstick region to compare with every other country in the EEA. That produced an
average winter temperature of 5.6°C.
And so, technically, at 5.7°C Italy was ‘hot’ compared to the SW of England. Despite that
difference, the DWP declared that Italy was to be ‘cold’ - in other words, allowing ALL
claimants living in Italy to retain the WFP. The DWP justified their decision to allow Italy
to be ‘cold’ by saying: “an average winter temperature that is close enough to that to be
statistically equivalent”!
We maintain all British Citizens in the EU/EEA and Switzerland should be treated
equally on matters affecting social security regulations based in the UK. If temperature
rules are to be invoked, those temperature rules have to apply equally, proportionately and
legitimately wherever one lives in the European Union, the European Economic Area, and
Switzerland, be it in Bristol, Blarney, Basel, Bologna, Bordeaux, Barcelona or Braga.
If they are based on one region, the SW of England, then those same rules should apply
equally to designated regions throughout the EU. The illustration on the previous page is a
perfect example of how the DWP decisions have become totally disproportionate, and
discriminatory. Every claimant of the DWP living in Italy will receive the WFP in
2015/2016; and yet, the DWP decision deprives every legally entitled claimant living in
France, Greece, Spain and Portugal, as well as Cyprus, Malta and the British overseas
territory of Gibraltar from receiving the WFP for evermore!
With average winter temperatures for the Republic of Ireland at 5.5°C, and Italy at 5.7°C,
being in truth, ‘hotter’ than France at 4.9°C (that is the ‘official’ temperature before the
new ‘manufactured’ temperature for France was adopted by the DWP and the DWP only),
it is immediately evident that the DWP really did succeed in their quest to ‘find a way to get
round’ the Judgment in Stewart and the EU Regulation 883/04!
Part 6 Double Standards
There is proof of the ‘double standards’ adopted by the
DWP: Gibraltar has been treated by the DWP as if it is
a separate Nation State, which of course it is not.
Gibraltar has been included in the list of proscribed
‘countries’ for the removal of the WFP, because of its
special relationship within the EU as a dependent
territory of the UK.
An additional fact is that Gibraltar forms part of the
Euro Constituency of SW England and Gibraltar, and
so therefore we would maintain that the average winter
temperature of Gibraltar should have been added to
that of SW England, in exactly the same way as they
added those French tropical islands to France!
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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Gibraltar is the proof, if ever proof was needed, that the pursuit by the DWP of the socalled ‘Temperature Test Policy’ had nothing to do with achieving the ‘proportionality and
legitimacy’ required by EU Regulations. Treating Gibraltar as if it were a separate state is
totally disproportionate to the way the DWP has tried to deal with the nine Outermost
Regions of the EU.
All except Gibraltar have been added to their respective home countries - why did the DWP
not add the Gibraltar temperature to the winter temperature of the SW of England? A
‘double standard’!
On 12th February 2015, Iain Duncan Smith wrote to a fellow MP saying: “Winter Fuel
Payments are currently available to those entitled to the benefit in the DOMs and so
application of the policy and its changes has been entirely consistent.”
The average winter temperatures of the four French DOMs (ORs) which were added to
France should have been treated in exactly the same way as Gibraltar, in order for any
‘entirely consistent policy’ to exist. Gibraltar was treated as if it is a separate country and
not as a dependant overseas territory of the UK.
The four French Outermost Regions (ORs) should also have been treated as if they too
were separate countries, in exactly the same way as was done by the CRU of the University
of East Anglia, which was the original source of the temperatures used by the DWP in the
creation of the ‘temperature test’ policy.
The Director of the CRU told us: “…. click on the country Table you'll see that
Guadeloupe, Réunion and several others are separate 'countries' in the list. France for us
is European France. I agree it is absurd to include these distant groups into France, and
that is why we didn't do it!!”
The four French ORs listed in our chart on the previous page, La Réunion at 20.5°C,
Guadeloupe at 24.1°C, Martinique at 24.9°C, and French Guiana at 25.8°C, which together
with the other two French ORs not included by the DWP in their ‘Temperature Test’ policy
- Saint-Martin at 24.6°C, and Mayotte at 26.6°C - are IN FACT the only places which can
be described as ‘hot’ in the months of winter as defined by the DWP!
Earlier we made reference to the two booklets published by the Government giving advice
for the care and protection which must be given to elderly people when cold winter
temperatures strike. That advice quite simply cannot be clearer - when outside
temperatures fall less than 16°C, then the cold ‘may diminish resistance to respiratory
diseases’ - when it is 9-12°C the cold ‘may increase blood pressure and risk of
cardiovascular disease’ - when it is 5-8°C the cold shows ‘Mean (average) outdoor
temperature threshold at which increased risk of death observed at population level’ when it falls below 5°C the cold ‘Poses a high risk of hypothermia’.
Please, will Iain Duncan Smith and the DWP
tell us which European country
has a ‘hot’ winter
with an average winter temperature
greater than 16°C??
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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Part 7 Our Conclusions
1.
Taking everything into account shown above, it is impossible to escape the conclusion
that Iain Duncan Smith and the DWP attempted a confidence trick on MPs, on
Parliament, and on the British public, not to mention the Court of Justice of the
European Union, by changing UK Regulations by Statutory Instrument without any
Parliamentary debate and without any Parliamentary vote!
2.
We may never know the whole truth about what it was that drove Iain Duncan Smith
to return to the attack over and over and over again, and to say some derogatory
things about British Citizens who have chosen to exercise their legal right to spend
their twilight years away from Britain, trying to find some extra days of sunshine.
3.
On the basis of published statistics from the DWP, withdrawing the WFP
disproportionately from a limited number of British Pensioners who under EU Law
are entitled to this old age benefit, the savings will amount to £16,425,000 - a tiny
proportion of the £2.2 Billion cost of the WFP within the DWP Budget.
4.
A Cabinet Minister who uses words such as ‘absurd’, ‘offensive’, and ‘obscene’ in a
tabloid press 'exclusive interview' to describe an old-age benefit entitlement, which by
law, should be available to all British Pensioners, wherever they may live, can never
be given the respect the office deserves!
5.
The Winter Fuel Payment was introduced as a Pension supplement to assist British
Pensioners with the high levels of their heating bills when winter temperatures fell.
The DWP decided to use fixed value average winter temperatures taken from research
carried out by the CRU, intended for use in measuring climate change, figures never
intended for use as absolute values. Nevertheless the CRU datasets were used, from
the period 1961/1990, but temperature data studied over recent years reveals a huge
anomaly between the figures used and actual temperatures which have occurred,
showing it to have been a severely defective policy.
6.
Those responsible for the ‘Temperature Test Policy’ are obviously confused between
hot summer sunshine and plunging winter temperatures. For George Osborne and
Iain Duncan Smith to describe an average winter temperature for the whole of Spain
of just 7.3°C as indicative of a ‘hot’ country is just plain daft, quite apart from being
dangerously disproportionate! An average temperature across 151 days as low as
7.3°C, means there will be many days when daily temperatures will be much lower,
and frequently falling into the minus territory of freezing conditions. This completely
ignores the fact that 3 of Spain’s Regions have an average winter temperature lower
than the SW of England! To suggest British Pensioners living under conditions such
as that do not need help with their heating bills, is uncaring and cruel.
7.
Heating Gas Oil is more expensive for the consumer in all six countries in which the
WFP is to be withdrawn, than is the case for the UK. Electricity prices are more
expensive for the consumer in Spain and Portugal, than is the case in the UK. This
means that British Pensioners losing the WFP, are at further disadvantages when it
comes to their household expenditure on keeping warm in winter - it makes no sense!
Document Published 12/08/2015
Benefit Delivery Inquiry August 2015
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