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Original poster

WTF? £600 winter fuel allowance for all pensioners!

1000 replies

user1497207191 · 13/10/2023 13:34

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
24
Fightyouforthatpie · 13/10/2023 16:56

We are being taxed to the hilt to support pensioners,

What utter bollocks

Elodie09 · 13/10/2023 16:56

The UK Govt devotes a smaller percentage of its GDP to State pensions and pensioner benefits than most other advanced economies.
I don't see why anyone over the age of 66 would vote Tory .
Anyone at all actually .

butterpuffed · 13/10/2023 16:58

Iwantmyoldnameback · 13/10/2023 16:33

Strange that when her mum was surprised about it.

I think wealthy pensioners on the whole will make better use of it than the government would. I shall add some Christmas gifts to the food banks as well as my usual donations and buy some Christmas gifts on the Dunelm appeal.
The rest I will give to whichever of my children is hosting Christmas this year.

And I don't vote Tory, I think it's a very working class thing to do. 😂

Show quote history

Her mother is only getting £600 because she's over 80 . Plenty of PPs have mentioned this ~ OP needs to get the title of their thread altered .

Lifeomars · 13/10/2023 16:59

viques · 13/10/2023 16:53

Do you have a link for this research ?

Show quote history

That really made me laugh, thank you, It would seem that ageism is now the only blind prejudice that people can still get away with these days and I was feeling a bit put upon reading this thread so thank you for your comment

CharlotteBog · 13/10/2023 17:00

Did anyone give away their energy grant that all households received last year?

mydogisthebest · 13/10/2023 17:00

canwetalkaboutcake · 13/10/2023 16:27

Oh don't be so stupid, of course having offspring (as you so strangely call it) is a choice. It's not part of life for many many sensible people who choose not to have children

If everyone stopped having children the government would be introducing massive incentives to get people to have them. The country would be fucked if everyone literally stopped reproducing. Children are the workers and the taxpayers of tomorrow.

As if everyone would stop having children!

A poster argued that having children was not a life choice when it so clearly is. Nothing to do with whether or not children are going to be the workers and tax payers of the future.

BloodyHellKen · 13/10/2023 17:02

We are being taxed to the hilt to support pensioners

What a horrible, ageist and divisive thing to say. Many pensioners are amongst the most vulnerable in society. They experience increased ill health, reduced mobility and, from reading some of the comments in this thread and complete lack of respect.

Fionaville · 13/10/2023 17:02

MN is such a strange bubble with all this 'well off' pensioners.
Our town is a working class Northern town. Most of the pensioners spent their lives working in low paid manual jobs. They were encouraged to buy their homes. Homes, which now are worth well below the national average. They raised their families in times of recession and sky high interest rates, with no help from anybody. No childcare or wrap around clubs at school. Some of them (like my DM) managed to pay into a very small pension (as a school dinner lady) which now puts them over pension credits by a couple of pound. They've never taken any money from the government. But the government have shafted them, because they followed their advice by struggling to pay a mortgage and paying into worthless pensions.
These same pensioners come into the community centres here for their OAP lunches and a bit of warmth. They aren't well off. They paid in. Took nothing out and now people begrudge them a few hundred quid to heat their homes in their old age. Who's fault is it that energy prices have gotten completely out of hand? Not these pensioners.
These are the lives of most pensioners and certainly the vast majority of them who live in towns like ours! Yet they don't qualify for pensions credits and they wouldn't get this payment if it were based on PC entitlement.
Nobody on MN would benefit if they stopped these winter payments.

PurpleButterflyWings · 13/10/2023 17:02

Totally agree OP. Should absolutely be means tested. Of COURSE some pensioners are poor and don't have a pot to piss in, but some are clucking loaded. It's laughable to ever TRY to deny that!

As pps have said, this is to try and get the pensioner vote! They're deluded. Everyone I know from 18 to 98 is not voting Conservative in the next generation!

ruby1957 · 13/10/2023 17:05

Lifeomars · 13/10/2023 16:47

I recently retired so here is another take on this:

  1. To the best of my knowledge the Winter Fuel payment is £300 . I do not know if this is paid per pensioner, so if your MIL is married to someone who it also retired they are getting £300 each.
  2. I really need this money, I have my state pension and a small NHS pension as for many years as a single mum I could not afford to make any pension contributions due to really struggling as I did not get any child support and also worked in a few jobs where there were no pension schemes. Planning for retirement is tought now, during the many years I I worked it was even more fraught and complicated. I paid for everything while raising my child and often had no spare cash for anything. However I did pay in while I had my NHS job
  3. I still pay income tax, I pay full council tax and of course I pay VAT just like anybody else. The only thing I don't pay is NI
  4. I have a small amount of savings, again I could not begin to save until much later in my life due to the reasons explained in point 2.
  5. When I retired I had done all my calculations but like many people, young, middle aged, and old , I was blindsided by the COC and have had to radically cut back. My due fuel DD is now £240 a month, it used to be £80. Last winter, even with the govt help was wretched, I had to wear fingerless gloves and a hat in the house and spent most of my time huddled under a heated throw. I became very depressed. To run my heating for two hours a day, cook a meal, heat some water, wash clothes boil a kettle etc, averaged out at £10 a day, I dread to think what it would cost me to actually have a warm home that I felt comfortable in,
  6. When I get the £300 I will immediately pay it over to Octopus, I am grateful for it and use it for what it was intended for
  7. Should we means test it? I don't know, I think this complex and where would the cut off point be?
  8. I do not and never will vote Tory, I really object to the agesism that is behind this cliche, who do you think marched against the National Front, protested against apartheid, demonstrated against the Poll Tax and fought for women's rights? It was people from my generation, like all generations we are a real mix of views, attitudes and opinions, not some blob of wealthy right wing reactionaries.
  9. One day, impossible as it may seem now, you too will be old.
  10. If you have read this far, thank you

It is not paid per pensioner - it is paid per household where someone is a qualifying pensioner. It was £200 per household up until last year and this year. The extra £300 is a one-off not a regular thing.

At 76 I am already retired and my basic state pension (earned by paying 40 years of NI) plus a small annuity (paid for by myself )comes to £16k gross - on which I pay tax.

You should get a discount of 25% on your council tax if you live alone.

FMLWTF · 13/10/2023 17:06

It’s been explained over and over that it’s cheaper to give it to everyone than go through a means testing process.

MalvernHillbilly · 13/10/2023 17:08

AutumIsOrange · 13/10/2023 13:35

Because Tories need the pensioners vote to win the next election.

This!

Daydreamer123456 · 13/10/2023 17:09

JudgeJ · 13/10/2023 16:35

You can write your last, true, sentence as often as you like but it doesn't fit the MN mantra so will be rubbished, the same thickos think that all pensioners voted for Brexit when I knew of only one who did, and we gave him hell!

Show quote history

I don’t think anyone has said ‘all’ pensioners vote Tory - just more likely

WTF? £600 winter fuel allowance for all pensioners!
BIossomtoes · 13/10/2023 17:09

FMLWTF · 13/10/2023 17:06

It’s been explained over and over that it’s cheaper to give it to everyone than go through a means testing process.

It’s explained every time. Just like it’s constantly explained that wealth is as unevenly spread over the pensioner population as it is over younger generations but it’s far easier to keep posting ageist crap.

Excellent post by the way @Lifeomars. 👏🏻

NoNeedToHurry · 13/10/2023 17:10

I'm hoping my parents might give theirs to me 😂 their combined pensions are more than mine and DHs combined household income

DilemmaDelilah · 13/10/2023 17:10

I haven't read the full thread , so I am sure if here must be lots of people who have told you that not all pensioners will be getting £600. My husband will be getting £250, which doesn't go far in an all electric house, especially as I have cancer and we both need to keep warm.
Please check your facts before posting this kind of sensationalism.

Zebedee55 · 13/10/2023 17:12

user1497207191 · 13/10/2023 13:34

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?

£600 would only be for households where one is over 80 years old.

The rest will be £500 pounds. Why would you begrudge a family member anything?

Besides which, fuel prices are predicted to rise again with this latest conflict:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12627379/Jeremy-Hunt-tax-cuts-Autumn-Statement-public-finances-Spring-Bank-England-rates.html

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-prices-jump-middle-east-violence-roils-markets-2023-10-08/

samupnorth · 13/10/2023 17:15

AutumIsOrange · 13/10/2023 13:35

Because Tories need the pensioners vote to win the next election.

This and only this.

Mistressanne · 13/10/2023 17:18

Well I’m pleased for my dm as she really struggles.
She doesn’t get full state pension and a tiny work pension.
My df doesn’t need it though.

cheezncrackers · 13/10/2023 17:22

margotrose · 13/10/2023 13:38

Because it's cheaper to give it to everyone than it is to means test it.

That's what they always said about child benefit ... until it wasn't.

rwalker · 13/10/2023 17:22

I can see both arguments for this but my mum and dad’s friends way way way out earned my parents pissed away every penny ( cruises ,cars ,plasma tv ) which Is up to them and took equity release burnt through that as well get every benefit going

My parents earned a fraction of what there friend’s did
worked multiple jobs very frugal lifestyle have savings would get nothing

Mistressanne · 13/10/2023 17:23

Perhaps it’s cheaper than having old people clogging up A&E because of cold related illness. We all know the NHS struggles in winter.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 13/10/2023 17:24

BIossomtoes · 13/10/2023 17:09

It’s explained every time. Just like it’s constantly explained that wealth is as unevenly spread over the pensioner population as it is over younger generations but it’s far easier to keep posting ageist crap.

Excellent post by the way @Lifeomars. 👏🏻

Show quote history

Agreed on all points. Depressing how little attention some are paying, though.

Has anybody answered whether Labour would means test the winter fuel payment, which they introduced? If they don't have a policy to do that, is that also because they want the pensioner vote?

Lilyburnspotts · 13/10/2023 17:25

As above, the Tories want to be seen to be lovely generous type to get the oldies vote.
It is also more expensive to means test it but it means that there are people like my parents who are a year off pension age, having to deplete what little savings they have while my dad recovers from a brain hemorrhage and obviously won't be able to work now. My mum can't work because she's got to visit my very ill dad every day so she's having to cancel shifts when she really needs the money. They dont qualify for benefits somehow or winter fuel payments. I totally grudge very wealthy people a payment they won't even notice when I see people like my parents who have long been that forgotten middle ground who are just working hard to get by.

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