Amelia Gentleman’s piece on claiming EU settled status (The long read, 8 October) was helpful and revealing but overlooked the organisation that is probably best placed to steer claimants through the process: Citizens Advice.
I am a volunteer adviser and have seen for myself how complicated a business it can be, especially for older people. My conclusion is: don’t try this at home – unless you are very computer-literate.
We have far more branches than there are local authorities, and as long as clients have brought all the necessary bits and pieces, they can often get the job done on a single visit. It would benefit a large number of people if you could publicise this.
Les Masters
Bleadon, Somerset
• To add to the debate about the status of EU citizens in the UK, the British government has just seen fit to write individually to all of its citizens resident in Europe and in receipt of UK state pensions, thus entitling us to reciprocal healthcare rights in our country of residence.
This missive informs us that our healthcare will only continue to be funded by the UK until the end of next year and that our pensions will only receive index-linked increases until 2023. This is, supposedly, to allow us time to make arrangements.
How is this justified? We have all paid our taxes, so why are we suddenly to be deprived of medical services and expected to stretch our meagre pensions even further? Few of us could remotely afford private medical insurance.
We hope that our host countries will be considerate enough to continue our medical care – but this will mean they are doing so without any contributions from HMG, which leaves us in a precarious position and subject to the differing priorities of changing governments.
Stephanie Clements
Alicante, Spain
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