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’m well under 80 and won’t be getting £500, I’m entitled to the extra winter allowance of £200 and that’s it as I don’t get any pension credits or other benefits. I suspect that is the case for the majority of pensioners who have worked long enough to get a reasonable pension on top of the state pension.

Oh it's madness. Pensioners are among the richest in the country. 1 in 4 are millionaires

Source? I hope it's not the badly flawed study mentioned many times on this long thread which put a value on the state pension as if it was an asset that could be cashed in or left to family.

Not everyone is as lucky as her. You sound so disrespectful and obnoxious

Do check - that as so far as I know (I am 76) I will receive the normal £200 plus the COL £300 (this year only) as I live on my own. My sister who is 82 will receive the £600.

WFA is nothing to do with pension credits - recipients of that and other benefits like UC have already received a COL payment of £900 this year.

This claim has been de-bunked several times on here (if you bother to read the full thread). It takes into account 'value ' of property and pension pots.

I don't begrudge anyone who needs that money at all. I watched both parents struggle on a small pension.
But people like my in laws with several houses, luxury cars etc don't need it.

Full facts looked at this claim
https://fullfact.org/economy/millionaire-pensioners/

75% of pensioners are NOT by any criteria millionaires.

Exactly what I said then, 1 in 4 IS

This is fucking ridiculous op and you're absolutely right about the child benefit!

If this is still going when I’m a pensioner (and assuming I don’t need the money by then), I really hope I’ll donate it to charity.

Yes, but I expect those same sons and daughters will be beating the door down to see the Will when their parents shuffle off.🙄

A couple on just under £100k per year can still get it, so hardly scraping by.

The unfairness with CB is that a single person on £50k per year can't get it, but a couple on nearly double that can get it.

Worst part about these threads are the sons and daughters coming on here slagging their parents off for their entitlement.

Why? It's disgusting that my parents who own houses and have decent pensions should get this while others are cold and hungry

There's a £300 top-up this year for WFA. If you normally get £200, as an under-80, you will, for just this year get £300 on top.

Next year, it's anticipated to return to normal rates of £200 or £300, based on age.

It's not linked to benefits directly.

Jeez... well, I hope they know how you feel, so they can avoid offending you further by leaving you any inheritance from these homes.

Hoprfully, they'll leave the funds to the poor and hungry.😗

The really unpleasant thing about this thread is that instead of blaming a system that gives a universal benefit, very many posters are blaming the recipients of it.

There was universal government help for virtually everyone who pays for energy last year. I don't recall threads where mumsnetters blamed themselves for receiving and accepting it. How many of you gave an equivalent amount to charity?

The Energy Bill Support Scheme gave every household a £400 discount on their energy bills for winter 2022 to 2023

Did you give your £400 government help with energy bills, to charity last year?

Did anyone on this thread?

Did you read their findings? It is not the overwhelming - what on earth are so many pensioners doing with being millionaires.
**
Your disgust that 25% of pensioners are assessed as millionaires due to property values and pension pots ignores the fact that 75% of pensioners are far from being millionaires (most not even close to that magic figure).

I was trying to provide some perspective on your whole-hearted embrace of a very suspect statistic, - I obviously failed to do so.

It’s always that way. It’s quite incredible how much people are vilified on the basis of the year they were born.

Exactly. They've already wasted enough money means testing Child Benefit.

Totally ignoring the fact that pensioners are taxpayers too if they have a high enough income, so the pensioners who have the gall to be comfortably off are still contributing to the cost of public services. There seems to be a subset of humanity that reacts with fury to the idea of a group getting any sort of handout if they don't belong to that group. Dispiriting.

No theyre not more than £600.
UC isnt. Esa isnt. Etc.
If you are eligible for warm home discount (equiv to this payment of £600 to pensioners) in these benefits its only i think around £150, certainly not £600.

It's to buy pensioner votes.

Means testing Child Benefit was a bad idea and has made life complicated, plus the income levels have been frozen for years. But, younger people are less likely to vote Tory

Well, yes. The government have managed to set group against group, with people missing the point that the chaos in this country is down to the government.🙄