Fraud fears over millions paid to ‘British’ pensioners in Yemen

THE UK is paying millions to ‘British’ pensioners living in Yemen who may not even exist, official figures suggest.

Full state pensions are being paid to 30 supposedly UK citizens aged over 100 living in the war-torn Arab country – where the average life expectancy is only 64.

There also appears to be more ‘Britons’ claiming retirement handouts in Yemen than there are known UK citizens resident in the country, data uncovered by an MP suggests.

A total of 2,667 UK passport holders lived there in 2010, figures from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank show. But the Department for Work and Pen- sions (DWP) says it pays the state pension to 2,870 individuals. If correct, this would mean that every single British citizen living in Yemen is a pensioner – and there are also an extra 200 ghost claimants.

Tory MP Philip Davies, who uncovered the figures, said: ‘It’s the only country in the world where there are more British state pension claimants than there are British citizens.’

He added: ‘Officials and ministers in the department should be over this like a rash, making sure that UK taxpayers’ money isn’t being obtained by fraud and deception.’ The Foreign Office has advised British citizens living in Yemen to ‘leave immediately’ following a devastating war that has killed 8,530 and injured 48,800 since 2015.

The IPPR has noted that some foreign nationals are entitled to UK state pensions, such as Yemeni women whose husbands worked in the UK during the 1960s.

Nevertheless, the 30 pensioners in Yemen over 100 could have accounted for nearly £3million of taxpayers’ money since 2010 alone.

DWP sources last night said ‘abroad fraud’ across all benefits and pensions amounted to £94million last year, less than 0.05 per cent of total expenditure.