Nick Robinson on the Today programme said that people affected by withdrawing the Winter Fuel Allowance were "the wartime generation". AIBU to think he's wrong?

Because it costs money to support and feed and clothe a child. Child benefit was capped to the first 2 children, and also then became means tested under the last Tory government. Didn’t hear the older generation protesting about that.

Maybe he meant the Falklands 😭

Child benefit used to be universal

Yes, which leads to some really unfair outcomes.

I never understood why they didn’t make the cap based on household income if they were going to cap it.

Also each parent (in the same household) can earn just under the threshold and still get it.

Not quite. it used to reduce at £50k and stop at £60k. Jeremy Hunt changed that in the last Budget so it now reduces at £60k and stops at £80k.

I suspect it may go back to where it was.

You don’t get child benefit if you earn above 50K.

The whole WFP is a mess and too often going to people who do not need it. We are even sending it to UK pensioners who have moved to warmer countries abroad! This has gone on for years. Thank goodness it's being looked at now.

However - we are rapidly moving to a society where it doesn't benefit you to work hard all your life and save. The resentment in certain areas is tangible. If you only have a state pension then it means you haven't worked outside the home. It means the working population are shelling out to support those who don't work. I'm not talking about those who cannot work due to illness, but those who choose not to work. It really isn't sustainable.

The current “New State Pension”
is £221.20 a week x 52 = £11,502.40.

For those who became eligible before 2016 the Basic State pension is £169.50 a week x 52 = £8,814.

Pension Credit tops up pension to £218.15 a week x 52 = £11,343.80

So only those pensioners who don’t qualify for the full new state pension get pension credit. This is primarily people who reached 65 before 2016 .

I know everyone is talking about the £400 increase but that only starts in April 2025 so what about winter 2024?

I don’t think someone on just the state pension should miss out on the WFA. That is why £20k would be a fairer cut off point.

My mum is 85 so was born about six months ahead of the war starting.

I am really fed up with all this furure over the winter fuel payment. The pension goes up by well over £400 next year - pensioners are not going to be worse off. And many of them will still get it, or get other things like attendance allowance.

As I said on the youngsters lacking resilience thread, I wish people were so bothered about our young. But then the MSM is right wing and the elderly are more likely to be Tory supporters, and I suppose, are the ones generally still buying newspapers.

I really hope Labour don't back down on this. There are far better ways of spending that money. Including on childcare.

And to the pp who says it's hypocritical to fund childcare - it's so people can work and pay taxes to fund pensions and other benefits.

I agree with this and also with a previous poster that says that ageism on MN is rife. I don't understand how some can call out wealthy pensioners for accepting £200 a year WFA while many households earning over £100k are accepting child benefit each month, making use of free childcare places etc.

I don't begrudge any of these state benefits at all but I think it is hypocritical to say that one is unacceptable because it benefits older people while another is acceptable beacuse it benefits younger people.

No it’s not £11.44 x 37.5 hour week x 52.2 = £22,393.80.

Does it matter if its being funded by energy companies instead of the government? How do you propose identify who "needs it most"?

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · Today 10:08
I actually feel a bit sorry for Keir Starmer already. His legacy is going to be killing old people. Even if the old people die with cold as one contributing factor the press will spin it to read that the blame lies solely at the feet of Labour.
Meanwhile, everyone has completely forgotten how many died as a result of a failed, and deliberate, herd immunity experiment

Absolutely agree. He is taking a responsible decision to not distribute money that the country does not have to those who do not need it. So many people I know, in my family and beyond do not need this money. They like getting it - but it's like a free handout pre Christmas.
The mistake Labour has made is timing - he should have done it in March giving people time to prepare mentally/financially. He should have gone after the energy company profits first.

Either way - if the money isn't there, it's not there. We've had 14 years of Tory government splashing money on what we do not need and the majority will not benefit from - HS2 being one thing. Why no uproar over that?

Robinson is wrong. I listened to Richard Madeley bleating on about it the other morning bemoaning its withdrawal. He and his wife would both get it and clearly don't need it. So many do not need it - it's just a Christmas bonus to them. Give it to the genuinely needy, not everybody.

Not a bad idea in principle but are they necessarily the ones who need it most?

My parents don't need it more than a young person struggling to make ends meet.

My grandad is 99 and was conscripted into the army right at the very end of the war and saw no active service.

Barely any of the "war generation" are actually left.

I was thinking earlier that actually what I'd like to see is the energy companies dipping into their huge profits to provide a bill discount for pensioners.

£200 per household for their older customers, or Labour could fund it with a levy on them.

That would be a great solution all round, taxpayers don't fund it and pensioners still get it.

And people on NMW are eligible for UC, child benefit, free nursery hours, free school meal in the early years etc.

And there is a significant difference between basic state pension and NMW.

The pp I’d just saying the threshold should have been set higher than basic state pension.

Yes it is, newkins, and I am always glad that children are cared for, including free school meals.

Carulean, you surely realise that many pensioners still pay income tax. I am certainly far from wealthy but I do, not a lot now because I don't have a big income, but a contribution nonetheless. I also worked for donkey's years and paid tax, was glad it paid for services and helped those who were in need.

We're not all greedy. However elderly people, alongside the disabled, chronically sick and, of course, children, are often quite vulnerable. The least society can do is ensure they are comfortable, secure and have enough to live on. None of us know how we will be healthwise in a few years time.

I'm eternally grateful that my mother and mother-in-law, plus a chronically sick and lovely cousin, did not have to worry about paying the bills and eating at the end of their lives. They were happy (the dads unfortunately died not that long after retirement). My husband died suddenly a month after he was 70, was still working at that time, planning to semi-retire after Christmas. He died in July that year.

I have no complaints for myself at the moment but that is not the case for many others.

We had this during Covid - all the "they fought in a war and you just have to sit on the sofa" stuff. A 70 year old today was born in 1954. An 80 year old today was born in 1944. You have to have been nearly 100 to have possibly fought in the war. People eligible for pensions today were born as late as 1957.

HRTQueen, the second world war ended (in Europe), in 1945! People born after that are not the war generation, that is obvious. However the war impacted the 'post-war' babies for quite a while. I know, I was one.

I don't think it is overlooked now, it is taught in history and young people find it interesting (& horrifying), but it doesn't do to be too bogged down by what happened in the past. We can learn from it but must live in the here and now.

People of my parents' generation, who lived through the war, many in the forces, didn't go on about it once it was over. They wanted their children to be forward thinking and build a better society, which we tried to do. It is much fairer now than it ever was when I was growing up. I've seen so many changes. However there is still a way to go!

They get child benefit as well which is a lot more than the winter fuel allowance per year.

I think of the war time generation as being born up to around 1955 or even later

The impact of the war is so often over looked, the terrible poverty the impact of being involved in the war and how there was no support people just had to get on with it and this will have often impacted parenting even if the children were born quite a few years after

@CeruleanBelt isn't that what universal credit is for, and I don't think pensioners get that. And also child benefit.