Can’t just be me who is sick of the moaning about the private school VAT and winter fuel payments

It might get raided like the pensions of today’s pensioners did in 1997.
Labour took over £100bn in value from workers pension savings.

So wierdly enough, you might still end up in need of a benefit as a pensioner.

Every person I know who has kids in private school have kids with SEN. Dyslexia, dyscalculia, ASD/ADHD, dyspraxia, erlos-danos syndrome. That’s at least 10 kids I can think of, just off the top of my head. But it doesn’t suit the ‘everyone who has kids in private school is a privilege-purchasing elitist’ narrative to acknowledge the very high number of children in independent schools who are there because the state system couldn’t support them.

Acc to the independent Schools council:

103,000 pupils at our schools have special educational needs.
55,000 pupils are identified as having Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD) and 7,000 pupils have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans.

Out of 615, 000 children - that is 16.7%.

… but perhaps that number is inconsequential, as is the fact that 103000 families will have to go with out to find the VAT uplift, or withdraw their SEN children from schools that they are settled in and supported and hope the local LEA has a place at a school with SEN provision (none in my area, hence had to go private).

‘Cos VAT on fees will suddenly generate the money needed to invest in state schools and magic up 6000 new teaching staff and qualified SEN professionals by September.

@TruthorDie So then did people you know on UC have to pay for up to 50 years for OTHER peoples UC before they qualified for it - NO

OK not all pensioners paid in some would have credits but of course that is the same with UC you don't have to pay a penny to the state to qualify for that

Are the people you know on less than £400 a month on UC able to increase their income? because if they could not work they would be getting more than £400 a month not less due to LCWRA

If they did work is their UC added to their wages and taxed like the state pension is - again NO

Please do some research you do not get £221 PLUS pension credit unless you have a severe disability premium, the threshold for PC (income based) is £218.15 so people on the new state pension amount of £221.20 are £3.05 a week over that threshold, how can someone on just small amount be rich enough not to need the WFA

As a pensioner myself I lose mine which is OK I could do with it but at least I am not only £3.05 a week above the threshold like so many others.

What should have been done and could have been done if Reeves had thought about it is that the WFA could have been added to peoples state pensions that way pensioners who pay tax lose all or part of it through taxation - I would still have lost mine but others not as fortunate as me would have kept theirs

Means tested yes, people that have a large income shouldn't get it but they have on purpose set it at an extemely low threshold so that the majority of people won't get it. Basically you would be better off if you hadn't paid your full NI and didn't get full state pension as pension credit plus the winter fuel allowance would give you more than the £11,500 full state pension 🤷‍♀️ I'm sure they could have saved money in a much kinder way, £11,500 is not a lot to live on if that's all you get!

The best state schools are already oversubscribed and the undersubscribed schools will be glad of the extra funding per student.

@TruthorDie - see, no one really cares about either issue VAT on PS fees and/or WFA - so you are quite right to alert us all to this fact.

My apols for turning your obvious, righteous point against your PP OP.

The squeeze on the best state schools will make people start to care. I'm not engaging with the conversations because nobody ever listens to anyone else's point of view anyway. Time will be the deciding factor and by then it'll be too late anyway.

I am kind of dreading the autumn budget. Already have lots of worried disability claimants calling up after the Tories announced the voucher idea,

Wait till Labour start raiding other benefits as inevitably they will, it won’t stop at pensioners and school fee paying parents.

I know several people in the same boat. It’s a disgusting way to treat pensioners.

I think you must be from a wealthier neighbourhood than me OP because a lot of the older people I know are worried about the winter fuel allowance going. People who are single and surviving on the state pension but don’t benefit from pension credits will really suffer because of this.

Sorry if you’re sick of hearing about it though, hope you’re feeling better soon.

My Dad worked full time from age 15 to 65 and gets £218.15 a week. He has never smoked, barely drinks and lives frugally. His only comment (lifelong Labour voter) was, “That wasn’t in the manifesto.” I’m transferring him the winter fuel allowance, he’s in his late 70s.

One day you will be a pensioner.

It's not just the OP. Sorry for people whose family members will be worse off, but as a number of posts here have shown, lots affected are not doing too badly, just think they are. Don't get me started on VAT on private schools. The entitlement on that has been awful.

I'll be 62 in a few days, a knackered, toothless family carer for a young adult autistic ds and I have actually done a super fantastic job at single-handedly raising him to be a productive member of society.

The VAT on private school fees is very irrelevant to me.

Maybe in 5 years when I can claim my full state pension the WFA may still exist and I may or may not be able to claim it.

Meanwhile, I could not give a shiny shit about either issue as obviously tryng to find ways of earning for the next 5 years a as a toothless, yet educated and experienced hag somewhat trumps the OP's difficulties. Methinks.

Because the elderly lose their ability to regulate body temperature and so are prone to dying of hypothermia at much higher temperatures than a younger person.

Its got nothing to do with being a vote winner and everything to do with biology.

The HRT prescription card costs the government more than the WFA…do you think that is buying the votes of women or do you think there is a biological reason for HRT to be available cheaply?

I can't believe it can be that much of a money saver. People are now flocking to claim pension credit, there will be more hospital admissions with hyothermia and pneumonia, that will mean pensioners getting generally frailer, delayed discharges , increased pressure on the Nhs.

Exactly. Older People Feel the Cold More.

The threshold is too low is the problem.

Well if you had bothered to look into this cut off threshold, you would see it is ridiculously low and will cost lives. That is why people are “moaning”.

The issue is a lot of older people are housebound, they can't always go and sit in a warm space/ library etc if they can't get out. They also often can't move around freely which puts them at additional risk. It's a real worry. And people who have to pay for oil in rural areas, I guess the wfp helped a lot for many with that initial outlay.

No one is saying they aren't allowed heat....just that if they are over a certain threshold they won't get money from the government towards it.

No one can survive without food but we don't have universal benefits from the government to help us buy it