DLA/CA/AA - exportability of payments abroad

hotchocolatequeen · 28 October 2008 at 10:42AM

I totally agree! I think the government needs to realise that DLA has given many people like myself the freedom and opportunity to be able to follow careers that in the past may have been closed to us as an option. For example I am a teacher but without my motability car I would never have been able to pursue this career path as my student placements were not accessible by public transport and as I often end up bringing work home with me I really need a car to transport this. As a result of receiving DLA I have been able to fulfill my potential and now pay back 4 times more to the government than I receive in benefit. Whether or not I teach in the UK or abroad I would like to think that the government would still support me in getting out there and working as opposed to countless others who they fund to sit around all day and do nothing! I do understand the government's rationale however and to some extent agree with it however if you are British and you are disabled I think you should get the benefit you are entitled to no matter where you choose to live. Perhaps there is some scope for a compromise i.e. perhaps the support given could be on a sliding scale with foreign DLA claimants getting 100% of their allowance the first year they live away from home reducing to 70% or something thereafter?

karenj · 18 November 2008 at 3:06AM

My parents have lived in Spain for 4 years (inland Spain, not Costa del crime!!) and had both recently retired when they moved here. Not only is the cost of living MUCH lower than the UK, the quality of life is MUCH better. However, dad was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year and the treatment and care he has received from the hospital in Granada, has been second to none. I can vouch that it is much, much better than the NHS. No waiting times for scans or x-rays etc., no waiting for results and appointments made within the coming week - not 6 months later like in the UK. I could go on about other friends of theirs who have received medical treatment immediately (i.e. having an x-ray the day the doctor asks for it to be done and waiting for the result, then going back to the doctor with the x-ray result in his hand on the same day, then being sent to the hospital).

To seven-day-weekend, if you are recently retired (pensioner age in UK) then you are entitled to all the benefits you would receive in the UK, i.e medical care, you do not have to have paid into the Spanish healthcare system as it is transferred from the UK system. Also, if you received fuel allowance in UK before moving to Spain, you are also entitled to that.

big turnip - I get your point, but if you have paid into the NHS system for 40/50 years and you have to return from abroad for whatever reason (certainly not for diagnosis and treatment - see above, it is much better), then I think that you should still be entitled to receive at least healthcare if you are suddenly struck ill - does the E111 apply in UK as in other EU countries? How much have the EU immigrants paid into the system, yet still receive healthcare?? At the end of the day, if you are born in the UK, you will never lose your UK citizenship, no matter where you choose to live in the world - it is a right as a UK citizen (or as they say on your passport 'British Subject' - which I strongly detest - I am a person, not a subject).

Don't know anything about DLA or other benefits, just pensions...

Hope this helps and you all find it of interest.

seven-day-weekend · 18 November 2008 at 8:24AM

karenj wrote: »

My parents have lived in Spain for 4 years (inland Spain, not Costa del crime!!) and had both recently retired when they moved here. Not only is the cost of living MUCH lower than the UK, the quality of life is MUCH better. However, dad was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year and the treatment and care he has received from the hospital in Granada, has been second to none. I can vouch that it is much, much better than the NHS. No waiting times for scans or x-rays etc., no waiting for results and appointments made within the coming week - not 6 months later like in the UK. I could go on about other friends of theirs who have received medical treatment immediately (i.e. having an x-ray the day the doctor asks for it to be done and waiting for the result, then going back to the doctor with the x-ray result in his hand on the same day, then being sent to the hospital).

To seven-day-weekend, if you are recently retired (pensioner age in UK) then you are entitled to all the benefits you would receive in the UK, i.e medical care, you do not have to have paid into the Spanish healthcare system as it is transferred from the UK system. Also, if you received fuel allowance in UK before moving to Spain, you are also entitled to that.

big turnip - I get your point, but if you have paid into the NHS system for 40/50 years and you have to return from abroad for whatever reason (certainly not for diagnosis and treatment - see above, it is much better), then I think that you should still be entitled to receive at least healthcare if you are suddenly struck ill - does the E111 apply in UK as in other EU countries? How much have the EU immigrants paid into the system, yet still receive healthcare?? At the end of the day, if you are born in the UK, you will never lose your UK citizenship, no matter where you choose to live in the world - it is a right as a UK citizen (or as they say on your passport 'British Subject' - which I strongly detest - I am a person, not a subject).

Don't know anything about DLA or other benefits, just pensions...

Hope this helps and you all find it of interest.

karenj, we are not yet of State Retirement age, we get free Healthcare due to my husband receiving IB. When I said people had to pay into the system, I meant people BELOW retirement age who were not covered any other way. These people could also take out private medical insurance. I also was pointing out, in response to another poster, that unless you have paid into the Spanish system, you can't get any State Benefits out of it if you have only just come from abroad. as this poster seemed to think you should.

I agree that all State Retirement Pensioners are completely covered for Healthcare, as are people on long-term Incapacity Benefit. If they have a dependent these people are covered too, whatever their age.

Speaking of the quality of Healthcare, my husband had an operation in Hospital Universitario de San Cecilio in Granada last year and his sare was absolutely wonderful, the hospital was clean, there are not any of the delays as there are in the UK (the only delay caused was by us as we went to the UK for a month and had to put it back a bit). He too has sen a Dr, sent for an X-Ray, been given the X-Ray and seen the Consultant the same day. Can't praise the Health Service enough.

The E111 (now called the European Health Insurance card, or Tarjeta Sanitaria Europa in Spain), covers visitors for Emergency Medical treatment whilst abroad in the EU. It is up to the particular country what they class as Emergency.

If you are a Spanish Resident, covered by Spanish Healthcare , you have to get this card from Spain, not the UK (don't forget you will need it for emergency treatment in the UK as much as in any other European country other than Spain). It has to be renewed every year.

Hope this helps.

bigturnip · 18 November 2008 at 12:20PM

karenj wrote: »

big turnip - I get your point, but if you have paid into the NHS system for 40/50 years and you have to return from abroad for whatever reason (certainly not for diagnosis and treatment - see above, it is much better), then I think that you should still be entitled to receive at least healthcare if you are suddenly struck ill - does the E111 apply in UK as in other EU countries? How much have the EU immigrants paid into the system, yet still receive healthcare?? At the end of the day, if you are born in the UK, you will never lose your UK citizenship, no matter where you choose to live in the world - it is a right as a UK citizen (or as they say on your passport 'British Subject' - which I strongly detest - I am a person, not a subject).

The thread has gone a little off topic, it was originally about DLA, CA and AA, I was only commenting on these benefits, not healthcare or pensions that's a whole other minefield. DLA is awarded based on care and mobility needs relative to costs in the UK, this ruling means there is nothing stopping an 18 year old moving abroad and receiving DLA for the rest of their lives, without ever having contributed to the UK tax system and without a penny of that money being spent in the UK economy.

I'm not necessarily against the portability of benefits, I'm just not sure whether it's fair.

seven-day-weekend · 18 November 2008 at 12:50PM

big turnip, you have to continue to qualify for the benefits. My husband has recently filled in an IB50 (questionnaire about his condition) for his IB and is now waiting to hear whether he has to have a medical or not. If he has a medical and does not reach the threshold of Incapacity his IB will stop (and so will his entitlement to free Spanish Healthcare).

This is the second time he has had the questionnaire in the four years we have been in Spain. It is bilingual and his Spanish Dr has to fill it in as well.

lea2001gb · 30 November 2009 at 4:13PM

With regards to the DLA and people having it removed if they leave and go abroad, my father has just received the following:

In case C-299/05 the European Court of Justice ruled that Disability Living Allowance (care component), Attendance Allowance and Carer’s Allowance were sickness benefits and therefore British citizens moving to another European Economic Area (EEA) state could continue to claim these benefits in certain circumstances.
The European Community Regulation EC Reg 1408/71 provides rights for workers and people who used to work. People who have left Great Britain to live in another EEA state since the date of the judgement are able to export their disability benefit as long as they meet the relevant conditions of entitlement. Over 1500 people are now receiving their disability benefit in another Member State. In most cases, people whose benefit ceased when they left the country before the judgement in October 2007 cannot have their benefit reinstated.
The Department for Work and Pensions can consider a person’s entitlement to these benefits if they are now living in another EEA state. The Department for Work and Pensions’ guidance to its Decision Makers on this issue (Memo DMG 17/09) is available on the following link: www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/m-17-09.pdf. People who do not have access to the internet can call the Benefit Enquiry Line on 0800 88 22 00 (textphone 0800 24 33 55).

And by the way Bigturnip, my father still pays into the English system as he pays tax on his savings and tax on pension. He has also paid into the system since leaving school in 1967. He has only retired from work in 1999 due to an illness which is no fault of his own. Everyone is different so I think you really should check your facts before you start stating it is not fair. What isnt fair is this government is a complete rip-off and will continue to be so. My father didnt move abroad 'just because he could' he moved abroad because the British climate was making his illness worse and was on his doctors advice.

DLA/CA/AA - exportability of payments abroad

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