In response to PaulT, you are right that the mechanism for working out anything by our wonderful Government is flawed, and that goes for all the "benefits" they administer.
As far as France is concerned, it is a big country with extremes of temperature dependent on where you live from the very cold North to the much warmer South.
I know a lot people who have moved to France and Spain for the very reason that they say it is cheaper to live and in a better climate, although I tend to have doubts about the cheapness of living anywhere in the Euro zone.
I also know of a lot of people who take their caravan or motorhome to Spain for 3 or 6 months over our winter period to escape the cold and save on heating bills.
My own personal view is that our country has a finite amount of money to fund various initiatives, which are primarily aimed at those of us who live here all the time, and it seems wrong to be sending such payments to anywhere outside our own borders.
I do accept that there are people here that do not need the winter fuel payment as they have enough money to be comfortably off without it, much the same as not all families actually "need" Family Allowance for children.
However, there are hundreds if not thousands of people who would die if they did not get the money as they do not have the resources as they are, specifically the old with no provisions and those on very limited income.
There are also those of a much younger age who are in poverty and homeless who need extra money but do not get it.
As the saying goes, you can please some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time.
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