Every household?????

[Trainfromredhill]

So, the chancellor is going to give every household £400 for heating. Surely there should be a cut off of household income? The Beckhams, Elton John, james Dyson, Harry styles…….they all get the money too? . I say this as someone in the fortunate position of not needing the £400- I’d much rather it went to someone who does need it.Just seems a huge waste of public money to give it to everyone

Yes I thought exactly the same

People with second homes get it twice.

I agree with you

I think it's usually because the admin costs of working out who is entitled and figuring out a cut off that is fair to everyone is more than the money they save.

@PurpleDaisies Really??!! FFS that's mental

Presumably the admin of it otherwise was unfeasible given it's most likely going directly to the energy companies, not to individual bank accounts.

It's probably cheaper to just give it to everyone than it is to figure out a cut-off and administrate it manually to certain people.

it would probably cost more money than it would save to set up such a system that would work out which households had income above a certain threshold.

YANBU, but the people you've referenced either vote Tory or don't vote 🤦🏼‍♀️ I def won't be voting for them either way. Wish yuu could defer your payment to nhs/ education etc

Isn’t it nice that sometimes those paying the most tax get something back very occasionally?

I personally am very happy to pay tax, I think the country runs better when there is more in the general purse but it’s also frustrating to be constantly hit with the biggest rises in taxes, bills, hits to NI etc. It’s nice to have a little something back and doesn’t take anything away from anyone else.

Note - this almost never ever happens so I really don’t begrudge it happening as a one off

figuring out a cut off that is fair to everyone

I don’t think anyone with a household income of over £200k could say they ‘needed’ £400. Some might even say £100k.
nothing in life is fair, but I’m not sure anyone with a household income of £100k is choosing between eating or heating….unless they are living way outside their means.

If you genuinely don't need the payment you can always give it to a charity such as a local food bank or somewhere else that will benefit households in need.

Means testing takes money and manpower. The admin required for the child benefit charge for example is massive.

Maybe there can be encouragement for the rich to donate it to food banks, homeless charities etc.

I hope the central govt distributes the money and not the local councils. We really don’t have the staffing resources.

It's not really about need, it's about sharing out a windfall. I don't need it. I'll donate it to charity.

Really? Excellent. It’s costing a fortune running two homes at the moment.

It's cheaper to give everyone £400 than it is to figure out a sensible cut-off, figure out who earns above it (especially when it comes to people who are self employed or have fluctuating incomes) and then pay them.

Rather than do something about the energy companies, they'd rather throw money at the problem.

For a party that is against socialism, they've spend they past few years doing nothing but spend other people's money.

It's the same of winter fuel allowance which is a blanket payment to pensioners regardless of means. If you don't need it then contributing to a food bank would be a really great thing to do.

@ShirleyPhallus . I don’t share your view. DH and I are both very high earners. £400 makes absolutely zero difference to our day to day living…….so no, I don’t view it as ‘getting something back’ I just see it as misspent money. And I don’t agree that it isn’t taking anything away from anyone else……this will all have to be recouped to pay the growing national debt……so someone somewhere will be paying it back(and you can bet if the tories are still in power it won’t be the high earners paying it back).

Donate it back then. You can choose to pay more tax than you’re charged as standard. If you don’t need it then that’s fine.

But some people may appreciate it

Johnson is trying to buy the country off (to distract from the report that shows he runs No 10 as a house of debauchery) by using the public's own money!

Just like eat out to help out it's an ill-conceived squandering of public money. Absolutely take money from the energy companies and help those in need but it's a nonsense paying it to high-earning households.

I’m probably in the bracket that misses out on everything but still has to penny pinch. My husband and I earn about £100k per year between us. We don’t get child benefit and are not eligible for the council tax refund.

We are struggling at the moment. After all bills paid we used to have about £400 left each month for non necessities (clothes, eating out, adding to savings, entertainment etc.) Our council tax has gone up by £60 a month, energy by £120 a month (will be more in winter) and food by about £150 a month. Other bills have risen too (childcare, insurance, fuel). We have nothing left at the end of each month anymore.

I’m grateful that I’ve not been left out of this benefit.

There’s also a huge difference in “high earners” which MN often defines as £60k+ and “very high” earners which could be £1m+ salaries. Of course those in lower brackets would appreciate the funds

They are desperate to buy us off.