The state pension administrator SVB has upped its control of Dutch pensioners living in Spain after spot checks showed some 25% were committing fraud. An estimated 30,000 people in Spain receive a Dutch state pension – some 40% of them are Dutch nationals who have retired to the sun, the rest used to work in the Netherlands and moved back home when they stopped work.

The most common form of fraud involves people who say they live alone to claim a single person’s pension but in fact live with a partner. Two single pensions amount to an extra €550 on the state pension for a couple.
The SVB also carried out checks on 27 campsites where retired people often spend the summer months. Again, around 25% claimed to be single but were living as a couple.