Expat pensions again are under threat as anyone who has missed a deadline to prove they are alive may have had their pension stopped.
But the government has not demonstrated that the programme has saved the promised millions.
The “life certificates” require pensioners abroad to complete and have countersigned a statement verifying that they are not dead.
The certificate programme was announced by the Treasury in 2013 and pensioners have to complete a form every two years.
At the time the policy was announced, the Treasury said this would result in a savings of £45 million in just two years from 2014 because payments would no longer be made to people who had died.
It said friends and relatives of deceased pensioners sometimes do not notify the UK authorities, and continue collecting the pension.
However despite repeated requests from Telegraph Expat, the Department of Work and Pensions has not said how many pensions have been stopped as a result of the policy.
The spokeswoman did say: “We have a clear duty to protect taxpayers’ money from the risk of fraud and we recognise that we must ensure we are not still paying pensions to people overseas who may have passed away.”
Life certificates are required only in countries which do not automatically share information with the UK about deaths.
The DWP insists that the witness who countersigns the certificate must have a British, Irish, EU, US or Commonwealth passport. They must have known the person being certified for more than two years and not be related to them by birth or marriage. They must also be someone in ‘good standing’ within their community.
For some pensioners, particularly in deeply rural areas, the conditions may not be that easy to meet.
