Winter fuel payments for pensioners scrapped

[MidnightPatrol]

Unless they are in receipt of pension credit or other benefits.

I suspect this will be the first of many benefits which will be restricted as part of cost-cutting measures.

What else might we see / should we see?

You don’t get the £218.15 per week pension credit on top of state pension, if your pension income is less than £218.15 per week then pension credit tops up to that amount, so the maximum total income including pension credit would be £218.15 per week so it’s still an extremely minimal amount to live off

That’s because a lot of posters on mumsnet resent pensioners because they are seen as more likely to vote Tory and for Brexit. It’s like a little bit of revenge for them.

Yes, there’s a nasty whiff of smugness on here!

I agreed with the family allowance changes and we were affected by it. I was very grateful for it for years, but i think many agreed it should be means tested and although that isn't perfect , it seems to work.
This feels a lot more personal.

Trouble is, the only people on pension credit are those who haven't worked or saved for retirement.

It doesn't incentivise people to work and save which is really what any policies should be aiming at.

Did they donate it to charity?

Exactly this - my DPs don’t qualify for any benefits but hardly put heating on at all in winter until I pointed out they winter fuel payment was designed to keep them warm and well. (And even then the daytime temp indoors was 15-18C - still needed jumpers, thick socks etc)

Not all retired people who aren’t on benefits go on holiday (at all) or can afford to dip more into their savings but aren’t entitled to benefits.

This will end up being a “tax” on children, as I’d rather give my DPs extra money so they actually feel like they can put the heating on and have some comfort in retirement, rather than cold and miserable.

Yes, I'm 61+ gave up work to look after a 99 year old relative- who passed away - and now have to try and get back into employment. I could just cope - but now I won't be able to.

I know you're not asking me but I think the solution is to look at taxation, and specifically asset taxation.

Mostly when governments mess with benefits it's fiscal tinkering that doesn't generate a lot of spare cash and causes a lot of stress and hardship, disproportionately so.

Better to focus on increasing money coming in. Not through taxing income - income is already heavily taxed via various means, not least council tax which is now a substantial levy. There's not much left to squeeze there. Assets however, absolutely there's a lot of room to get a fair whack out of.

The value of money has decreased over the past 14 years, and the value of assets has risen. Tax them. That'll give us a lot more than mithering at people, stressing them out, making them uncomfortable and potentially unwell, for the sake of £200.

If there are any pensioners here who voted Labour in, and are now complaining about this, may I ask what on earth you expected? There were plenty of warnings despite the lies about not touching pensioners.

Actually, yes, Sarcasm Queen. My father’s sister died of cancer and was superbly supported by the Marie Curie charity, to which they donated above the winter fuel payment. Yes, they were fortunate to be able to afford to do so, both working until over 70 in the same career that they began as youngsters.

Exactly, so anyone getting the new style full state pension won’t get pension credit unless there’s something like a disability element.

Good question

Poorest ? if they get pension credits which open the gate to a raft of other benefits, they are often not the poorest pensioners, who are the ones getting a little too much to qualify, plus they are prudent enough to have savings

I will be fine without it, but there are many people who really rely on it, and I would feel better about it if they had also announced that they are going to vigorously target finding the many hundreds of thousands of people who are eligible for pension credit but who don’t claim it for one reason or another.

I will however go to the streets if they try to take away the bus pass, or freedom pass as it is in London. I really rely on that , and I would argue very strenuously that removing it would cause huge problems for many. I use mine to get out and about, to visit friends, go to cinemas, shops, hospitals, classes, swimming,theatres,cafes, libraries, museums, galleries etc. Without it I would be quite isolated, I think my mental and my physical health would deteriorate. Not to mention that when I am out and about I am spending money on entry fees, lunches, coffees, cinema and theatre seats etc etc , I am supporting small businesses, I am making sure that libraries, galleries, museums and other public services have footfall which aids their funding, I am thereby contributing to the overall wealth and well being of the nation.

I am sure the same is true of many pensioners, the grey pound ( the silver highlights pound in my case) would soon be missed by the exchequer if we all stayed at home and didn’t get out there spending our money.

Remember news footage of old people being bundled into ambulances, suffering from hypothermia? Missed it? Never mind, you'll get another chance in the winter 😔

Thanks @Polythene I think you’d then get people saying “I worked hard for this asset. Why should I be penalised…!”

Yeah, on balance, I’d rather people got it who didn’t need it than someone sit in the cold.

So Labour has identified a £22m gap. Well I’ve found £11.6bn for them here.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/26/ed-miliband-labour-honour-pledge-11bn-overseas-climate-aid

Absolutely the right decision. Ridiculous that all this money is being funnelled to the richest generation, while workers struggle to keep their heads above water with high mortgage rates and high taxes

Most young people can't even afford their own home, and yet they are expected to fund heating bills for the generation that is largely mortgage free.

It will save schools a fortune as it isn't fully funded.

Yes, we do start to get into dangerous territory with this thinking. In theory people shouldn’t be having children unless they can afford to without needing help from the state however most people in reality can’t really afford to have children but this is part of a wider issue I think. Why is childcare so ridiculously expensive for example?! But we could think if we know it’s so expensive then why do we have children we can’t afford, ultimately the ones making things so unaffordable are not having to take responsibility and that’s the same with the policy that’s being introduced today.

Were we not told that allowances like this were too expensive to make means tested?

I would expect that any other universal / non means tested allowances will follow suit…

Energy firms should not be recording record profits when people are struggling to make ends meet

I don't suppose it costs much to administer the £10 Christmas Bonus. Once the boys in the back room have told the computer to pay all the State Pension recipients a £10 one day what else is involved? It plops into bank accounts, like the RP. Maybe I am missing something. Tell me, if I am.

What do you mean by 'assets'?
Homes?
'Get a fair whack'?