Tens of thousands of people who are in receipt of Winter Fuel Payments (WFP) are living abroad, new figures have shown.
Rachel Reeves has sparked outrage after she put an end to the universality of WFP, which used to be paid to people of a certain age regardless of their personal circumstances.
Those entitled to pension credit will now be the only ones to receive the benefit, leading to warnings that many people risk being plunged into poverty this winter.
But figures published in the Daily Record have made a mockery of how universal the benefit used to be.
Nearly 35,000 older people who received WFP didn’t even live in Britain, with most pensioners in this category reside in Ireland, while others are living in countries like Germany and Italy.
Some 780 of those to receive help to heat their home are based in Bulgaria and 500 are in Switzerland, one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
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