Ministers are planning to crack down on British people living abroad who are fraudulently claiming benefits, following the publication of figures showing the cost to the taxpayer ran to £79 million last year.
About 10,000 people who have emigrated from Britain are collecting sickness benefits from abroad, the government estimates.
The majority, who live in Europe, especially Spain and Ireland, and are claiming up to £94.25 a week in incapacity benefit (IB). About 5,800 will be reassessed for employment support allowance (ESA) by April 2014.
But the rest, around 4,200 people, will be able to carry on claiming IB whether they deserve it or not, because they will retire before that date.
The Department of Work and Pensions has decided not to reassess people due to retire by 2014 - under European Union regulations the same rules must apply to Britons living abroad as to those living at home.
A spokesman for the department said people on IB will be reassessed for ESA either by returning to the UK at their own expense or by doctors in the country where they are now living, using exactly the same criteria as people living in Britain.
“Incapacity Benefit is an outdated benefit which is now closed to new claimants. We are currently reassessing everyone of working age on IB, whether they live in Great Britain or abroad, to see if they are eligible for ESA or fit for work," he said.
“People from the UK living abroad will only be entitled to Employment Support Allowance if they have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions. If they are found to be fit for work they will have their benefits stopped."
He added that British fraud investigators are working with oversees governments to track down benefit cheats.
The figures were obtained by the Daily Mail under the Freedom of Information Act.
Tory MP Priti Patel told the paper the figures were "deeply alarming" and blamed EU rules for the entitlements overseas
"Huge sums of public money are going to people unjustifiably, and it is all down to EU regulations," she said.
"British doctors will be strict in reassessing claimants, but we need an assurance that doctors in other countries will be just as strict."