UK sends Brexit letters to UK pensioners in EU
Healthcare and pension updates sent to retired people with S1s from the NHS Business Services Authority
UK authorities this week sent out letters to S1 healthcare form holders living abroad in the EU telling them about their healthcare after Brexit – and more letters are set to go out next week about state pensions.
The letter sent this weekheaded Your healthcare after Brexit covered some of the healthcare updates we explained earlier this week.
It went to those, mostly UK state pensioners, living abroad in the EU and currently having care paid for by the UK government as part of the EU’s reciprocal S1 system for health. It was sent by the NHS Business Service Authority, an agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, that administers the S1 scheme for the government.
It said recipients should prepare for “possible permanent changes to how you access healthcare” in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Meanwhile the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions states it will next week send letters to “more than 363,000 pensioners living in the EU...reassuring them their UK state pension will continue to be paid when we leave the EU”.
It comes after the government texted pensioners last week saying “You will carry on getting your UK state pension when the UK leaves the EU on 31 October” and inviting them to visit this page to find out more.
In the pension letters the DWP will state that (as already announced) the UK intends to continue pension uprating (currently an annual increase of at least 2.5%) for three more years, adding that during this period it “plans to negotiate a new arrangement with the EU to ensure that uprating continues”.
The letter will also say that UK pensioners living abroad in the EU do not need to do anything specific in order to continue receiving their pensions.
A number for a new dedicated call centre team will also be provided, the letter will say.
