Jan 25th
Yesterday, the Xàbia councillor responsible for relations with foreign residents, Oscar Anton, attended a meeting in Alicante organized by the British Consulate in with the UK Ambassador, Giles Paxman, the consulate staff and other officers of the province. Along with Anton was Yvonne Henry from the Jávea helpdesk. This meeting addressed the challenges and difficulties in supporting British citizens, the limitations that exist in each sector (municipalities and Consulate) and how to best work together.
The meeting focused on the need for foreign residents to register in their municipalities, since municipalities receive allocations for health and welfare and grants depending on the registered population. Also consulates manage their financial resources from the British Government according to the number of residents they represent.
132,000 British permanently reside in the province, and an estimated 1.4 million holiday here each year. Anton added that in the case of the Marina Alta many are elderly who are alone, have a language barrier and do not know how to access the public health system. The representatives of Javea indicated that in the municipality, "associations such as MABS, HELP, U3A and Women in Business serve many people who lack the basic knowledge to apply for social benefits or health assistance". They also discussed the creation and performance of the centralized HelpDesk as a source of assistance and support to all foreign residents which has served more than 4,800 people since its inception, many of them British.
From Press Release.