Genuine question re pensioner fuel payment cut

Yes it is. So without disability benefits the person is far worse off

Yes that £27 is likely to be council tax support only. new state pension is just above the pension credit threshold unless you get a disability benefit which hugely increases the pension credit applicable amount.

Now I've just run someone getting the current state pension with no savings and now other benefits through entitled to and got the following

I agree with this. Some of the comments I have read on MN recently about this cut are disgusting. The middle class on here have no idea how much a lot of pensioners struggle. People now wanting the £10 Christmas bonus scrapped and bus passes scrapped.

I thought we were supposed to look after the vulnerable in our society. How can anyone be so cruel to begrudge an elderly person an extra £10 at Christmas or a free bus pass to be able to get out and about. Surely elderly people deserve to have a little bit of extra comfort in their twilight years.

Yes the WFA should be means tested, but for those pensioners who are just above the threshold to get pension credit, they are really going to struggle this winter. Elderly people feel the cold so much more, they can't help that. There will be a lot more hospital admissions this year.

Then I apologise.

That wasn't me!

Yes, your comment about parents with their tongues hanging out oozed empathy.

Eh! I never said they could! Read my post properly, I said neither group should suffer.

Children can't help being born poor!

I think you need to read her post again

But people can't help getting old and the health care needed that comes with that. It's a well known fact that elderly people feel the cold. Neither group should suffer.

I have a few questions.

The woman at the start of your post was "working and working" then it turned out that she didn't know who the father of her child was was there an illness or accident involved here?

Then she needed to get a job. I'm assuming that was more difficult given the effects of the undisclosed illness / accident and no longer having the support of the partner who she had forgotten.

Then she needed to accept that the gravy train was over. Are we to understand that she was actually "on the gravy train" all along or the gravy train had dried up somewhere around the time of her accident / illness and job loss

Or, was she lying about working and working, struggling to afford childcare and holiday clubs to allow her to work. In which case, did she also lie about the accident / illness? Did the father ever exist? Do the children?

Are there reasons for the massive lies she is telling? Has there been a mental health assesment? Have SS assessed the safety of the children who are in the sole care of this deranged woman?

Is the WFA part of the gravy train or a separate condiment?

TIA

I totally agree with you.
All this pensioner bashing !
I can’t afford to have more than two children & don’t get child benefit . I work and I work and still struggle due to COL - no free kids clubs for me - all top dollar!
To be quite frank I’m sick of subsidising all these women who keep having kids & don’t know who the father is. Not true in many cases - just a way to get more money. It’s the working poor we should be helping! What about them.. hard enough being a working women & qualifying for nothing …
As quite rightly said, pensioners can’t add to their income and many no longer are able to work .
Plenty on work related benefits can work & won’t work and some have never worked. How is this sustainable?
Downsizing - to where we’ve known since the 60’s we are an aging population- but no provision were made to build suitable housing for older people to downsize to .
People need to start bucking up their ideas and realise the gravy train is no longer here … & start taking personal responsibility for their actions & decisions in life!

@ruby1957

Surely a more equitable cliff-edge to remove the allowance can be made

There are cliff edges all over the tax/benefits system. It's a shame the "clever" politicians and senior civil servants can't work out better ways.

Just be grateful the loss of WFA is only a few hundred pounds.

During covid, people were excluded from thousands/tens of thousands of pounds of support for being just a few pounds over the threshold, or because their "other income" for a whole tax year was as little as a pound more than their self employed income, or because whilst they were paid wages for every month in the year besides February, 2020, they were excluded from furlough for having no wage in February! It was absolute madness.

The loss of WFA for being a few pounds over the threshold is trivial compared with what 3 million freelancers/self employed and other workers lost due to being excluded from support by Rishi!

Wow, that was unpleasant.

How about parents stop with tongues hanging out for every penny for the kids they wanted and chose to breed.

Children don't chose to be 'bred'. In your depiction of parents breeding for cash, you still begrudge that child being given some toast?

Let's hope its gone by the time you benefit from it hey?

My mother was a pensioner. She was a single parent to 2 kids. She worked as much as she could and benefits were a pittance in the 1980s and 90s.

She fled an abusive marriage and my dad stayed abroad. He hid all his wealth and assets whilst he was abroad. So she got fuck all from him.

When she finally retired she lived in poverty. I used to take her for coffees and lunches every weekend and take her shopping (so I could pay for it) as I knew she couldn't pay for things.

When she died last year there was a lot I didn't know about. She had a huge credit card bill and looking at the statements it was food and essentials. It had racked up as she was paying the minimum.

She was barely surviving despite being to entitled to all the additional extras including pension credit. She was in her 80s so working wasn't possible unlike many young parents who won't.

OP is absolutely right. If the tories have done this they would be crucified. Because its your precious labour they can do no wrong.

How about parents stop with tongues hanging out for every penny for the kids they wanted and chose to breed.

Listen to you all- free breakfast clubs- you don't even want to feed your kids. You had the kids you pay for them.

I'm absolutely delighted labour have done this. They just ensured the tory return at the next election.

Yes that's certainly possible if someone is on a disability benefit. I've just done a calculation for someone today, full new state pension, small private pension of about £280 a month and daily living PIP and savings of just over 10k and it's come out with a very small amount of pension credit but as we know even a very small amount will give this person the winter fuel payment, warm home discount , all rent and council tax paid paid, free dental care, free opticians. So this person would have almost £900 state pension, £280 private pension plus around £300 PIP so almost £1500 a month to live on after all rent and council tax paid. To be honest I don't think it's bad. I know people will say the PIP is extra money for having a disability. but it is still money to live off. having worked in benefits for seven years now I never fail to be amazed at how much some people are getting and also how little others get. There's a huge numbers of pensioners on disability benefits so the pension credit calculation is raised by £85 if they live alone due to the severe disability premium. Most of them are blown away when they not only get £108 a week Attendance Allowance awarded but then the exta £85 premium too. £185 a WEEK extra money. I have now idea how the country isn't bankrupt !! If you don't work in this area or have a relative getting it, then you won't know about it.