On June 24th 2016, the majority of the British population have voted in favour of leaving the European Union. While a number of people from different walks of life will experience major changes and will have to adjust to this new reality of having a European Union without Britain, thanks to the Bilateral Health and Social Security treaties signed between Malta and the UK, the status of a Maltese citizen resident in the UK or a British citizen resident in Malta will remain mostly unchanged in the sectors of health and social security.
Malta-UK Health and Social Security Treaties
Irrespective of EU membership, Malta and the UK continue to exchange reciprocal benefits in the areas of health benefits, social security, cooperation and mutual support. Maltese and UK citizens can still enjoy the benefits of the 1956 and 1958 bilateral Health and Social Security treaties.
Reciprocal Health Agreement (RHA) UK-Malta
The Bilateral Reciprocal Health Agreement between the UK and Malta allows Maltese and UK citizens to use the health services of each other's country gratuitously if they can prove that they are ordinary residents. The aim of this scheme is to facilitate access for national public healthcare services to those who would otherwise not be entitled.
Maltese Citizens resident in the UK
Reciprocity through Health and Social Security treaties carried out in 1956, before either country had joined the EU, will still allow Maltese citizens to continue receiving treatment in the UK.
Maltese residents who work or study in the UK amount to about 27,000. These will not experience drastic changes anytime soon, however, upon the conclusion of a full exit of the UK from the EU, Maltese students may be considered as third country nationals, and thus tuition fees could increase substantially, unless further bilateral agreements between the UK and Malta or the UK and the EU are negotiated.
With regards to pensions, the situation of Maltese pensioners who receive a British pension and vice versa will not change.
UK citizens living in Malta.
The 12,000 British expats living in Malta under one of the residency programmes: The Ordinary Residence Scheme,The Malta Residence Programme or the Malta Retirement Programme will still enjoy free healthcare in Malta thanks to the Health and Social Security treaties carried out in 1956. Pensioners who live in Malta under residency schemes as devised in the sixties for UK citizens who had served in Malta during World War II, and those who fall under newer residency programmes, will not experience any changes in the areas of health and social security. The health and social security treaties which were negotiated fifty years ago have proved to be invaluable for Maltese and UK citizens.
