kimamey

Unfortunately we won't get the chance to find out

Sorry about that. I wrote it on Libre Office as I didn't have time to do it all at once. The formatting probably got lost in transfer and I didn't check.

The difficulty is finding those who might be getting the increase when they aren't entitled to under the current rules. If they have a way to find people who are possibly infringing the rules then it becomes much easier. It's not difficult to investigate someone to find out where they are living. Their passport information should do that. I'm surprised they aren't using that already although that might only go back so far.

Yes it did go to the European Court of Human Rights in 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8568970.stm I disagree with this part. "As non-residents, the applicants did not contribute to the UK economy, in particular, they paid no UK tax to offset the cost of any increase in the pension," a statement from the court said. That's not true. I pay UK tax on my state pension, 2 private pensions, rental income on a flat and VAT on all the payments to the letting agent and for maintenance and insurance. I could have my state pension paid in Thailand but I'm not sure about my private ones. The rent might be able to be paid here, but I'm not sure. All he rest is stuck in the UK.

I think the situation is a little more complicated than you suggest. It’s not always the case that there’s an easy choice. A case I read about, an elderly man’s wife died, and his daughter, who was living in Australia with her Australian husband and young children, suggested he went to live there as he no longer had any friends in the UK and of course didn’t see his grandchildren as much as he’d like. I have a similar situation with my granddaughters. That’s not a simple choice to make and not something that can be planned for. I’ve heard of several similar cases as well. When I first came to Thailand in 2008 to meet the woman who is now my wife there were a lot of things to think about, but my pension wasn’t one of them as I didn’t know how things would work out. Call me an old romantic but I wasn’t going to bring up ridiculous UK pension regulations when deciding whether to live with and marry my then girlfriend. At the time we decided to live in Thailand due to me being 15 years older and my son and daughter being adults whilst her daughter was 13. There wasn’t a firm plan, although I did think I might have to return full time to the UK if my health took a turn for the worse. I’m 70 now but OK so far. I also had in my mind that I’d be spending more time in the UK by now but amongst other things my wife’s mother is getting older so that makes it more difficult. Plans don’t always work out as you intend. As for knowing the rules, that’s not so simple either. If you pack up and move completely then yes it’s straightforward and also if you move back in the same way. If however you move between the UK and, in my case Thailand then it’s complicated as there aren’t any actual rules as such. I did have a letter from the DWP setting out their method of determining residency but I can’t find it now. They look at whether your flights are return tickets, do you have family, do you have somewhere to live and do you have a car? That’s all I can remember. All departments have their own. HMRC is pretty clear but others use ‘ordinarily resident’ or ‘habitually resident’. I did phone the International Pension Centre early on to ask where I could find the rules. I was told they would be on the .gov.uk website. I said I’d looked and couldn’t find them and was told “They’ll be on there somewhere”. I mentioned this when I wrote to my MP and he couldn’t help either. On various calls when I’ve asked what would constitute becoming resident again, I’ve been told. “Being in the UK for 6 months”. I don’t know if that’s got to be continuous or not. “It’s not really just how long you’re here as it’s based on other things as well that help us decide if you’re resident or not”. On my last call when I pointed out that between early April 2024 and early March 2025 I would have been in the UK for 186 days, so more than 6 months, the woman said “Oh yes that would mean you are resident”. So I’m now resident, at least for now. It’s not as simple as it sounds is it.

The thing is, they come up with this plan on a regular basis. If it worked these high end tourists would already be coming anyway. They could look at making it easier for foreigners living here. It doesn't say how long these tourists stay in Thailand, but let's say 4 weeks, 28 days. If they spend at the top end mentioned, 7,000 baht per day, that's 196,000 baht. A foreigner living here and spending 537 baht a day would amount to 196,000 baht over the year. Plus they aren't likely to say to their wife and family "I've never been to the Maldives, we should go there next year. That would seem a much better option in the long term. However that would make sense so rather lacking in Thainess.

A lack of amulets as well maybe?

I do hope he's not neglecting his grandchildren.

Good to see they want to stop nepotism. Wouldn't want that would we?

As far as I know the big tobacco companies are getting into vapes as they can see that regulations are closing in on tobacco. Mind you vaping may not escape either.

The tank is a short bypass from the main supply, so it should be ok. The only problem may be the pump. I'll have to just try it and see. I could always replace the pump as we've had it a while. I'm off to Bangkok on Saturday and then back to the UK on Tuesday until early March so it may have to wait until then unless I can fit it in. Thanks.

It's a plastic tank so it's been covered I may drain it but it isn't used for drinking. Thanks

We have a water tank and pump that hasn't been used for a while, maybe nearly a year. It's still full of water but I guess I should drain that, but is there any chance that it may need some sort of cleaning to avoid any possibility of bacteria.

Good post, although I think your English need a bit of improvement. You should have written. Yeah Jeff... WTF are those? 😃

Maybe they already have and that's the problem.