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?

unhappy about that

Yes we are skint. Because our public finances have been completely and utterly mismanaged, hand outs of billions to cronies, spaffed up a wall fighting wars we don’t need to stick our noses in to and countless other wasteful endeavours by governments of every colour.

Everyone is being, or is about to be, shafted in one way or another

What do 50 year olds (with 18 years left before state pension age!) have to do with this thread?

They won't scrap them how could they as so many are now dependent on them. But they will very likely make them harder to get because the current number claiming them is completely unsustainable.

In Scotland we're very well used to hearing the "those with the broadest shoulders" rhetoric from the SNP government. Broadest shoulders is essentially anyone not on benefits (and we all know that 'not on benefits' doesn't equate to well off!).

i think this sounds terrible
my dm was so careful with her heating.
what on earth will she do this year?

So, we also have lower living costs? Haven't noticed special prices for pensioners at the supermarket, petrol, clothes, energy, services etc. Some might have paid off mortgages, but they have 'paid' (and at VERY high rates at times).
If pensioners have good incomes, they have paid for those pensions and made the effort to save

Oh, I know where you thought it would be paid... tell me you didn't think "tax the rich". Except the "rich" are the normal forward thinking savers who have put away some money in good years. We have a small business, and share profit twice a year, in July and December, for summer holidays and Christmas. This year there is no profit to share in July because we are losing money with every month's trading, and projections suggest there won't be much more than scraps for Christmas either. Do you want people working, or not?

it is still on the gov.uk website

Don’t talk shite. Where was the money coming from for the tax cuts Truss was planning ?

This thread shows this to be true and I hate the venom directed at the elderly.
Nevertheless as a pensioner (just, I've not yet had a winter fuel payment), I support it. I don't need that money and would rather it went to fund teachers and doctors.

I would add that I would support national insurance contributions on pensions so that people like me who are more likely to use health services contribute.

DA is £5 a month over the limit to entitle her to pension credit. She gets no other benefits. Cheers labour!

I topped up my mums state pension so that she would be warm, safe, have the odd cup of coffee when out with friends. It gave her dignity I think.

Has she checked for council tax support as many will be eligible for this even if not for Pension credit. That is unless she has in excess of 16k savings.

The delusion of Liz Truss’s warped mind that’s where it was coming from.

LOL .. If private education is a luxury then cruises certainly are. I reckon the government should tax them to the hilt and use the money to fund the coast guard service

Sounds a sensible thing to do .We have to accept that there are changes coming but we do need to sort out so many aspects of our society. Somethings will have to give

DM is outraged obviously but I think it’s fair.

a previous poster stated that baby boomers owned 78% of the property wealth in this country as an example of why this is a good move by RR.
I'm guessing she googled because the first find I found to support this claim was that baby boomers aged over 50 etc.
So I simply pointed out that 50 year olds are not boomers etc

I would expect forever, especially since it's mainly Labour councils which introduced this in many areas eg the Mayor of London.

I love my parents very much. But they're loaded, and never needed the Winter Fuel Payment. Luckily they saw it for what it was- a bribe from the Tories for dare I say (upper) middle-class pensioners like them to vote for them.
Far better for money to go where it's needed, given the extent the Tories fucked up the economy.

Unlikely. Labour like to help the poorer members of society so will take away from the rich.

I fear that by Christmas our tiny business will have shut the doors, paid everyone their redundancy and we'll be cleaning up the mess. We certainly won't be contributing any VAT or corporation tax next year. Well played politicians.

I think it’s a good decision, although I would like the payment to be a little more generous than currently for those who are still eligible.

This is just the start. They won’t want to announce all their plans in one go in order to stem the backlash. Watch this space, I guarantee there will be more announcements in the coming days and weeks ahead. They could have increased tax on the super rich but instead have gone for the pensioners again. Why?

this cannot be a surprise after the tax increases during the last government and given the state of our public services and our ageing population.

the super rich can’t be targeted unless it’s a global initiative.

you think you should get benefits so you can live in a nice house?