Some families to get a total of £1,200 cash, to support with cost of living crisis.

[flashbac]

Highlights:
All families can now keep the 200 quid energy payment, no longer repayment based. This will be topped up to £400.
Low income families to get £650 straight into bank account.
(Non means tested) disabled benefit recipients to get £150.
All in all some will receive total of £1,200.
Funded by windfall tax.

I thought they got £400 per property?

Per domestic bill.

The culture wars have been given a real boost by this. Ageism is going to be on the rise, and a proportion of the middle classes will further resent those on benefits.

I suppose you should take into account that the cost of living crisis isn't just about domestic energy prices
Food and other shopping price rises ( any idea if they are considering a VAT reduction now we are out of the EU ? )
Fuel ( still paying 1.79 for diesel despite Sunak's 5p off )
Rent/mortgage increases
Childcare
Council tax
Public transport fare increases, to name but a few.

Less disposable income is going to have a detrimental effect on business, especially when their own costs are also rising.

So if you own two houses and neither are rented out isn't that £800 ? I'm trying to work out which bit of my maths is wrong

It's not ageism.

About 1.6m pensioners get pension credit.

If we focussed the money on them (ie didn't give other pensioners the £300) that's £2.8bn
4.5m properties pay council tax e,f,g or h. They're getting £400 each. That's £1.36bn

If we instead have that money to pensioners on tax credits they each get £50 ish extra a week. Taking their annual income to a grand £12,000.

Surely that's better than giving the extra to people much better off?

And if we just boost pension credit there's no additional cost to administer

I was wondering the same but I’ve developed a headache from skimming so I’ll check tomorrow if there’s any guidance on untenanted/second homes.

I’m stepping away from this thread now as getting too annoyed with the pensioner bashing and people accusing others of not being worthy.

Don’t let em get you down @saraclara

@PaddingtonBearStareAgain maybe you could enlighten why my facts are incorrect?

It's not ageism.

Yes, TBF, most posters who’ve commented on generational aspects have confined themselves to statistics about wealth accumulation. It’s not hatred or bigotry based on age, and (can’t remember who said it) I don’t think most people are expecting older people to apologise for benefiting. They’re just debating the policy design.

The issue is that many older people don't claim benefits that they're entitled to. And if they don't claim those benefits, they don't get any extra help that's allied to those benefits.

The link that someone posted a bit earlier to a Guardian piece about why means testing doesn't work, goes into this.

In a rare example of actually caring about people, a past government introduced the non-means tested winter fuel allowance to make sure that those many pensioners who would otherwise fall through the cracks, at least didn't die of hypothermia.

Today's announcement simply adds a bonus amount to an allowance that already existed.

Fair enough but to reinforce I am NOT pensioner bashing.

Below I said the money should go to the lowest income pensioners. Those on less than £12k a year.

I just think money should go to those who are most desperate.

I'm in a band g house and will get £400 as part of the blanket giveaway. I think that's wrong.

The poorest have the highest inflation rate (because it's on food and energy which makes up a much higher % of their spending). They are at around 10% already. By October it will be 15%. So we need to target them urgently.

The other worry is that people who are 'ok' off getting a handout will be spent on extras and actually fuel inflation for us all. It's very counterproductive

From the linked Guardian piece

Means tested benefits aren't actually fair. It has long been known that large numbers of needy people tend to miss out on such benefits. Either they don't know about them, they don't realise they are eligible for them, or perhaps, particularly important, they are reluctant to claim them.

This is because they have increasingly been encouraged to think of receiving benefits as meaning being dependent and "not standing on their own two feet". This is especially well known about older people and can result in them encountering health and other problems from under-claiming, which ultimately increases costs, as well as failing to ensure their access to entitlements.

Someone mentioned businesses. Spare a thought for the schools also....

I'm in a band g house and will get £400 as part of the blanket giveaway. I think that's wrong.

You donating that money to a fuel bank will be far more effective than employing many many people, and designing IT systems to work out who's deserving (and which will miss out people who won't apply because they're too proud, or they no longer have the cognitive stamina to fill in the forms)

@saraclara

I don't know the answer (despite my arrogantly insistent posting 😄).

I do feel that in this case giving so much extra to people who don't need it can't be right.

Surely with so many going to food banks they can be directed to apply for what they're entitled to?

Just because someone who needs it doesn't apply doesn't really make it right to give it to people who don't need it.

While we are talking about uneducated.
It's literally described as a windfall tax. Unless you are Shell or Exxon you aren't paying.
Its the headline.

@Zeus44 toure only going to get deleted of you keep posting in that I’ll-mannered vein. Waste of keystroke.

Argh. Can’t even type straight myself.

In words of one syllable...(okay, mostly)

WE ARE NOT PAYING FOR THIS. THE FUEL COMPANIES ARE.

I know I'm funding this @Zeus44 through the profit my utility company makes from me.
And the cost of living payments further on in the year through my taxes.
And I'm absolutely fine with that 👍

Ah @Zeus44 are you hoping no one noticed your incorrect grammar or is not at least putting it down as a sign of your intelligence 😂

Thanks for this, I will double check next time.