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?

A welcome bribe nevertheless. Unfortunately, Rishi, it's not enough to buy my vote and, hopefully, few others.

My parents decline it- pretty sure you can in the same way you can say 'no, don't pay the child benefit but please do keep doing my NI contributions (because it would be a ball ache to add that to DH tax return as well as everything else)'

Yep, just checked- you can ask them to cancel future payments.

These threads akways amuse me
Furst the state pension is one of the lowest in Europe. 2nd it has been paid for out of NI payments over a lifetime, in my case I paid NI for 48 years. 3rd, people of my age, 65+ were told for most of our working life that we would get our state pension at 60. This has been put back by 6 years, so we have lost £50,000+ of our pension. Yes, the new pension is £40 per week higher than the old pension, but that means only those who liive beyond 85ish will not lose out. Finally, and most importantly, time flies. It will not be long before those moaning about what pensioners get will be pensioners themselves. They are often the same ones who say that there will not be a state pension when they get to pension age. It is up to you to support it, and vote for parties who value and respect the older generation. Soon it will be you, so it is up to you to ensure the pension is still available. On heating, before we retired out heating was on for an hour in the morning, and 2 or 3 hours at night. Now we are at home all day it needs to be on for 10 hours + per day. With recent increases the cost is horrendous. Any help is appreciated. If your patents have a substantial private pension they will be paying tax on it, and they will have spent their working life paying into it. If they dont need it, as others have said they can donate it, alternatively, when they die and you inherit their estate, you can work out how much they have received, and you can donate it out of your inheritance.

What a load of rubbish you spout. Where on earth are you getting your statistics.

Why would you do that when you can donate it to a cause that will actually do something positive for people who need it?

It is often cheaper to have a universal benefit than to means-test, apparently.

My parents get it and they live in Spain!! I can't afford to put the heating on but they get a winter fuel allowance! 😄

Remind me, when was it introduced? Oh, 1997.

They do massive amounts to support others actually but thanks for completely missing the point.
How else will the system change if everyone just accepts and donates?

Of course it is, far less admin to do..... No confusing forms to invent and distribute

@Vinrouge4 it's not rubbish according to The Telegraph

www.telegraph.co.uk/money/pensions/news/number-millionaire-pensioners-quadruples/

If everyone who can afford it donates it the system doesn’t need to change. It’s a far more effective way of redistributing money than leaving it to the government to do it.

I know, that's why I said it is often cheaper to have a universal benefit

I can’t access the article as it’s behind a paywall but if it’s calculated in the same way as earlier statistics, it’s a bit misleading - the million pounds includes the assumed capital value of pension assets and benefits (which would include state pension, of course), as well as housing.

From that article:

More than three million people over the age of 65 live in households with property and pensions wealth worth more than £1m, analysis of Office for National Statistics data by the Intergenerational Foundation has found.

As you say, more than a bit misleading.

Because it takes a significant amount of resources and administration to means test benefits.
Pensioner recipients who pay tax will return either 20% or 40% in tax and then 5% fuel VAT back to the Exchequer so a large proportion will just go back to government.

Because most pensioners vote Tory?

It’s tax free.

Winter fuel allowance isn’t taxable, so no, they won’t pay any of it back in tax.

Lots of pensioners do not have final salary pensions or Pension Credit

My final salary pension is the grand sum of £ 2,500 a year.

But 1 in every 4 pensioners in this country is a millionaire. Handing out benefits to millionaires is absurd

So three out of four aren't.

What's this £600 you speak of, that all pensioners get, all pensioners don't get it, I won't

Well this is the argument for a universal income.

https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/eligibility

This article breaks down the millionaire pensioners claim:

https://fullfact.org/economy/millionaire-pensioners/

And here's the ONS:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/pensionwealthintheuk

To all. the begrudgers, you'll get to pension age soon enough and believe me, you'll be glad of it. (It's £500 for many pensioners, not £600.)
As for the millions we're all sitting on - sure, but it's tied up in the roof over our heads. Which you're hoping to inherit.