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?

Well it's Labour, what did you expect? Stuff anyone who's worked hard in low paying jobs all their lives and scrimped and saved, but if you're a lifelong benefits scrounger, you're made.

My father has paid all his taxes, employed many people in highly paid careers and gives to charity They're not mutually exclusive.

Did you even read what the poster put? Embarrassing.

My elderly mum now won’t get it. She is just over the pension credit limit due to her state pension and a widows pension from my dad’s company pension. She is by no means rolling in it. She has dementia, Alzheimer’s and bowel cancer and needs to be warm and comfortable in her home. Now she won’t get this, it’s her something else for her to have to fund. They worked hard to own their home. If it comes to it and she needs care we will have to sell the family home which is another issue. It’s really not fair for the people in the middle. It really boils my piss that it’s the elderly that suffer yet younger people that don’t work and probably never have qualify for loads and sit at home all day with loads of kids and get as much in benefits if not probably more than working families Yes I’m stereotyping but My parents worked all their life yet get no help. As usual it’s people that shouldn’t that suffer.

So much of our economic woes is because of the distorted housing market which has lead to huge inter generational inequality.

At which point it seems appropriate to point out that the vast wealth achieved by the boomer generation is gradually going to be inherited by their children. Surely this is the moment to stfu and wait for the pay day?

Off the top of my head, I think Labour (Gordon Brown?) introduced WFP because they'd once given pensioners 75p extra on their pensions and got a bit of flak. WFP increased under Labour. Tories/ Lib Dems came in, reduced WFP but continued to pay it as a universal benefit. Helen Mirren said she didn't need hers. Labour now in, zapping it completely from many, some of whom won't be so wonderfully well off. I'll go google. I wonder if Newsnight will interview Gordon Brown.

All these labour supporters who’s parent were on cruises when they received their winter fuel allowance. Hard to believe.

Yes, sorry, I see what you meant.

That is very much my experience, too.

i don’t necessarily think this was ever a good benefit but I do have to pass comment on a post like this. The quote ‘the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there’ was never truer. It matters not that there is NOW auto enrolment and employer obligations, it’s what the situation was like decades back that is relevant. You may find this hard to believe but in the late
50s, early 60’S my father served for 11 years in the military. His pension? Nothing. There was no pension. Yes. That’s correct. That plus how serving abroad made him ineligible for housing too when he quit. Women working part time? Often ineligible too. So don’t take 2024 norms and apply them to people who are now retired.

Yes and there must be a lot of pensioners who do. I would rather some who don't need it get it than those who genuinely need it don't get it.

I am emailing my (brand new) Labour MP to let her know how I feel about this. I vpted Labour, I feel cheated.

Yes, just give the non-workers, benefit scroungers more and the elderly, who have paid massive taxes all their lives and had bugger all back ... nothing whatsoever! And so say all of us (Not)!!

Well it's Labour, what did you expect? Stuff anyone who's worked hard in low paying jobs all their lives and scrimped and saved, but if you're a lifelong benefits scrounger, you're made.

I just dint understand this attitude. I don’t begrudge people in social housing or who get UC or pension credit. And the fact some people get benefits doesn’t deter me from working or saving.

Indeed…just as private sector pensions had started to recover from the Blair/Brown sabotage. We are truly on a road to a two tier system under this government…who would have thought that it would a Labour government that made the gap between the poor and better off bigger. And they’re only a quarter of the way through their first 100 days. Still, the rebuild trust and public service mantra have gone out of the window as quickly!

Yes, sorry - and apologies to the original poster. Got my facts the wrong way around !!

It really boils my piss that it’s the elderly that suffer yet younger people that don’t work and probably never have qualify for loads and sit at home all day with loads of kids and get as much in benefits if not probably more than working families Yes I’m stereotyping but My parents worked all their life yet get no help. As usual it’s people that shouldn’t that suffer.

Have you seen the birth rates? There really aren’t many people doing nothing popping out dc. Most people who receive benefits are working.

I think the late Frank Field was ok with a universal benefit, on those grounds. If he wasn't, I apologise.

Why do you feel cheated?

I think it's fair. My parents are a lot better off as pensioners than families with children. They really dont need that money. It should always have been for poorer pensioners only really.

Seems silly that pensioners with mortgages paid off and private and state pensions were getting this when single parents/low earning families can't afford to put heating on etc.

I didn't mean that he didn't. You could see the government stopping the payment to those who don't need it as a 'tax', as that money can then be used elsewhere. That's better imo than those people choosing to donate it to the worthy cause or deserving poor of their choice. I don't see the Salvation Army losing the payment being a problem. I want a society where charity is not necessary.

Quite. Also, why save when inflation is making your savings worth less? I know it's 2% at the moment,but I think that may be going north soon

At which point it seems appropriate to point out that the vast wealth achieved by the boomer generation is gradually going to be inherited by their children. Surely this is the moment to stfu and wait for the pay day?

@Papyrophile What a stupid comment.

Let’s just ignore that we have a distorted housing market, wage stagnation, ageing population, increased pressure on public services, etc. it’s all ok because some people will inherit loads. What about those that don’t inherit?

It’s far better for work to pay and allow some financial security rather than rely on an inheritance in your 50s/60s.

But presumably that’s why they will look at IHT.

Yes, @ObsidianTree , but almost all of them paid off their own mortgages from their own money. It is ridiculous to expect them to pay again to subsidise younger generations when their pensions are below the NMW x 40 hours.