DO YOU OWN A SPANISH PROPERTY?

At a meeting at the British Consulate in Malaga on Sunday 7th March, in the presence of Chris Bryant, UK Minister for the EU, the British Ambassador from Madrid, a Spanish Government Interior Minister and a senior Member of the Junta de Andalucia, it was announced that following an investigation of the land and demolition order problems that currently are causing ex-pats so much trouble and worry, each case is to be reviewed, and to assist in this, a permanent Spanish Civil Servant is to be positioned at the Consulates in Malaga and Alicante.

It is expected that these appointments will be made within about 3 weeks. The purpose of these positions is to advise on the law and associated problems concerning property, present the correct interpretation of the law, and also to advise on all matters concerning Spanish Health and Social and Welfare Services as it applies to ex-pats. This is a huge step forward and should greatly assist in the understanding of our situation here in Spain.

Further information will be published as soon as it is known. We, RAFA Benalmádena Branch 1357, have requested a meeting with the new Malaga officer as soon as is reasonably possible.

Several times during the presentation emphasis was placed on the importance of being registered with the Town Halls (i.e. being on the Padron), so please, if you are not registered, do it as soon as you can.

CONSULATE NEWSLETTER ON HEALTH AND BENEFITS

Partners Newsletter a monthly Newsletter from the Pension Benefit and Healthcare Team based at the British Consulate in Malaga. The newsletter can be downloaded from our Newsletters page. This will hopefully be a monthly newsletter.

LEEDS BUILDING SOCIETY OFFER

As part of our ongoing effort to provide services to our members, and to attract more members to the branch, we have received the attached offer from the Leeds Building Society. This offer may be of interest to some of you, especially those who use interest on savings as an income. Make sure that you mention RAFA Benalmadena when talking to them. The offer essentially is that if you open an account with the Leeds BS, they will pay your Branch subs for a year, or for new members joining, the first years joining subscription. Please pass on to your friends, it may encourage them to join.

The responsibility for any arrangements made under this offer rests with the Leeds BS and their client, and not RAFA Benalmadena Branch 1357.

We are anticipating a presentation by the Leeds BS at our March Branch Social meeting…

An information sheet is available for download.

LATEST COBSEO NEWSLETTER AVAILABLE

The latests COBSEO Newsletter is available for download.

PRESERVED FORCES PENSIONS

If you left the forces before April 1975 and unless you had served 22 years, you were not entitled to receive a pension.

These rules were changed in April 1975 so that if you left the service after that date and had served for at least five years and were over the age of 25, you became entitled to an inflation proof pension payable when you reached the age of 60, plus a terminal grant of 3 times the annual pension. Those with 12 years service received a pension of over £300 a month plus about £12,000 terminal grant.

I personally missed that date by about 18 months and I have heard of those who missed it by a few days. Indeed there were many servicemen who would have qualified for a pension but were “encouraged” by the MoD to end their service early, by a matter of a few months, without being made aware of the impending rule changes. The MoD obviously wanted to avoid paying the pensions.

There are currently two groups lobbying to have the rules applied to all those who ended their service prior to April 1975. These are Combined Armed Forces Federation UK www.caffuk.org.uk and Armed Forces Pension Group www.afpg.info

If you left the service prior to 1975 without receiving a pension I would urge you to take a look at these websites and perhaps sign up to their campaign, it will cost you less than £40 per year and if their fight on your behalf is successful then you may receive a lot more than that in return.

Reg Haywood