Gove responds over residents’ rights
“A UK state pensioner living in Spain could continue to receive an uprated UK state pension in the EU and reciprocal healthcare covered by the UK for their lifetime”
ASSURANCES have been provided over post-Brexit healthcare and updated pensions for Britons living in Spain by Michael Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Mr Gove sent a three-page letter to campaigning MP Sir Roger Gale after he had asked for cast-iron guarantees over basic rights for those who have made their homes in EU countries outside the UK.
Sir Roger had voiced concerns that Boris Johnson’s European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill had not legislated for Britons after the UK leaves the EU.
He had tackled the Prime Minister over this issue last month and Mr Gove was tasked with providing the answers.
The letter, which is dated November 5, has been forwarded to Costa Blanca News.
In it Mr Gove starts by thanking his party colleague – the MP for North Thanet – for his ‘ongoing work to champion these important issues’.
Mr Gove notes that the ‘Withdrawal Agreement and the Bill which implements it into UK law, is designed to provide for the protection of state pension and reciprocal healthcare rights for UK nationals who have chosen to make their lives in the EU’.
He makes this statement despite the answer given by the Department of the Exiting the European Union to Costa Blanca News earlier this month in which a spokesman noted that the British government can only legislate via the Bill for EU nationals living in the UK, which is why Britons in Spain and elsewhere are not mentioned in the Withdrawal Bill, and only in the agreement.
Mr Gove notes that the Withdrawal Agreement provides for an implementation period after Brexit during which ‘current rules and regulations will apply’ on the ‘right to receive an uprated UK state pension and reciprocal healthcare cover in the EU’.
The transition period is set to last at least 21 months.
He added: “UK nationals living in the EU at the end of the implementation period who are not yet receiving their UK state pension, for example because they are working or because they have retired early, will also be able to receive an uprated UK state pension in the EU once they reach UK state pension age. They will also be entitled to any reciprocal healthcare cover based on their state pension entitlement.”
Mr Gove continued: “The Withdrawal agreement also provides that individuals will have their state pension and reciprocal healthcare rights protected for their lifetime, unless they cease to meet the relevant conditions set out in the Withdrawal Agreement, such as needing to have a right to reside in a Member State.
“This means that a UK state pensioner living in Spain could continue to receive an uprated UK state pension in the EU and reciprocal healthcare covered by the UK for their lifetime.”
No deal provisions
Mr Gove noted that the UK government had been working hard to protect rights in the event of a no deal Brexit.
He stated that Britain has been in discussions with EU Member States ‘to ensure we have reciprocal arrangements which safeguard the position of UK nationals’.
“As part of this work the UK and Spain have taken steps to ensure that reciprocal healthcare access in each country,” he added.
“And we are making progress with other countries to provide the same assurance.”
The protection of residents whose healthcare the UK currently funds also includes a ‘commitment to pay for courses of treatment which started before exit day for up to one year for UK-insured individuals receiving healthcare as an S1 or an EHIC holder’.
“For those receiving treatment under the S2 scheme, individuals only need to have applied for authorisation to receive treatment before exit day – they do not need to have started their treatment,” explained Mr Gove.
On pensions, he added: “I want to be clear that it is this government’s intention to ensure that the payments of an uprated pension can continue beyond 2022-23 and that it why we intend to seek a new arrangement with the EU or with Member States in a no deal scenario.”
Costa Blanca campaigner David R. Burrage said: “Assuming the Tories are re-elected and in the event that Johnson's new deal is adopted by Parliament, Mr Gove’s letter goes a long way to lifting the cloud off the much confusion that has, hitherto, been distributed. “However, there is still ambiguity in the event of a no-deal scenario, nevertheless, I know we can all rely on Sir Roger Gale, if re-elected, to continue to fight our corner.”