WTF? £600 winter fuel allowance for all pensioners!

[user1497207191]

No wonder the country has no money and the deficit/debt is getting bigger.

MIL just phoned up saying she'd got a letter telling her £600 was on the way to her and asking why, when she doesn't need it?

Just why??? She's not claiming means tested benefits. Her state and her husband's occupational pension are already far more than she needs to live on, meaning she saves a few hundred pounds a month into ISAs (which already stand at over £100k). Owns her own house, so no rent/mortgage.

Why the hell can't this money be directed at those who actually need it or more worthy causes? It's insane to keep throwing money at people who don't need it.

She doesn't need it, she doesn't want it. She wouldn't miss it if it wasn't paid to her.

If they can means test the child benefit and claw it back from those earning over £50k, why can't they come up with a way of ensuring winter fuel allowance is only paid to those who may need it? Why not only paid to those pensioners claiming pension credits, or rent allowance, or whatever?

I note OP is yet to say which charity her mother will give any money to...

The average age marking a turn to the right is 39. Not 65.

Some elderly people pay around £600 a month for a bedsit in sheltered accommodation from their state pension. Never owned a property, always rented.
Look up how much UK state pension is .
Who are all these Mn's with millionaire parents and grandparents?

Yabu there are a lot of people who are not on means tested benefits and are extremely poor. If someone doesn't want the money it can be donated.

I think maybe because most benefits are calculated when you apply for them and they look at your income/savings.

With the winter fuel payments they would have to contact every pensioner to asses their situation every year. Would take forever and cost ££££££.

Plus the £21bn fraudulent Covid payouts and the £15bn on unusable PPE.

This winter fuel payment is the least of our worries. But it's nice there is a way pensioners can now opt out of getting it.

Some pensioners aren't entitled to Pension Credit because their spouse is under pensionable age. Remember women used to be able to retire at 60, now they have to wait to 66. Both have to be 'pensioners' to qualify so couples like this would fall under a safety net.

Those who are wealthier and consider they don't need their allowance can always gift it to a family member or someone else who does.

Child benefit was NOT paid for every child when I was young so get your facts right. Surely child benefit is now paid for every single child though?

Also absolute bloody rubbish that one income bought a house and paid the bills. My parents both worked and did not manage to buy a house until they were in their 60's and me and my siblings helped them buy one.

My dad worked full time from 14 until he was 63 and mum worked from 14 until she was 67. She took hardly any time off when she had me and my siblings and worked evenings when we were young so she could be home with us during the day and then dad took over.

Still they struggled and often went without food in order to feed us.

A lot of pensioners do need it though. It is one of those benefits that everyone can get, like child benefit. It’s not why the government isn’t spending money on other services.

My parents are pensioners and pay tax due to income! They are getting it too. Those pensioners that pay tax should not receive it.

user1497207191 Is incorrect in saying ALL pensioners will receive £600, in a typically goady title. Only pensioners living alone, and born before the end of September 1943 will receive £600.
There can't be many of them left now, as thousands were killed off by Government policies during the Covid pandemic!

Nor is the payment Winter Fuel Payment, it's actually Winter Fuel Payment plus Cost of Living Payment. So the attention grabbing title is wrong on all counts.
But what does that matter, when it provides another opportunity to bash the poor old pensioners?

Oh Elodie! I know it's hard to imagine but there are a hell of a lot of wealthy pensioners out there. My next door neighbour always spends her winter fuel allowance on good champagne for Christmas dinner. Of course she votes Tory! My own mother had a couple of thousand a month disposable income, with substantial savings in her bank. The young have no idea how much they have been shafted.😣

I agree that there should be a fairer way to distribute this.
If you're in receipt of benefits you cannot have more than £16k savings yet pensioners with £10,000s in bank receive this.

Lots of pensioners, especially the very elderly miss out on benefits and help to which they are properly entitled. In Scotland there is a Warm Home Prescription project to help people with health conditions made worse by the cold.

Equally, you could ask why people living in expensive homes on high salaries benefit from 480.70 per annum per child for Universal Infant Free School Meals, which is not means tested, and this FY free lunches have been extended to all London primary children attending state schools in London.

Child benefit was NOT paid for every child when I was young so get your facts right.

Child benefit was only payable for second and subsequent children before the mid/late 70s.

Surely child benefit is now paid for every single child though?

Not if one of their parents earns over £50k.

Older people are generally more frail and less active and have the heating on during the day so their energy bills will be significantly higher. Even people with a generous pension would find it a lot with the rising fuel costs.

As has been repeatedly pointed out on average pensioners have higher disposable income and are much less likely to be in poverty than working families.

It is a blatant bribe that no government has the nerve to abolish because of the well-mobilised grey vote.

I’d much rather the money went on paying teachers and nurses a decent wage.

Your MiL could hand it out to family and friends who do need it.
Or she could send it back, politely telling them 'thank you but I have sufficient funds'!

Pension credit brings your income up to around £10,400 a year and minimum wage is around double that for working adults. Most pensioners have a private pension which brings them above pension credit eligibility but well below minimum wage. Pensioners are not all rich.
If the winter fuel allowance is to be means tested, it should be at the level of child benefit reduction, which would be fair to all ages, not pension credit level.

If she is that wealthy she must have had a good job and paid very high taxes over the years. So she deserves the payment as much as anyone else.

Thanks for this - I was trying to compose something similar.

Pension ages haven't simply been increased to steal from the young. Those of us in work now have a higher life expectancy due to improvements in healthcare, treatments, and even things like improvements in road and workplace safety.

The past wasn't some halcyon place where we all lazed around and got paid billions.

My dad actually needs this. He has no savings either . He has never voted Tory. He paid in the system and worked from being 15. I’ve no issues with people getting this maybe those that don’t need it donate to charity?

This bears repetition. Nice to see some facts here rather than blind prejudice and envy.

!!!???
Getting pregnant really is a choice.
Getting old really isn’t
Its biology

@AGovernmentOfLawsAndNotMen
If women didn't get pregnant and have babies there will be no workers to pay for your state pension when you get old.

I doubt it will be £600 next year. It's not normally that much but last year and this year a cost of living payment has been added.