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?

It should go to people on pension credit only

Excuse you? My mum is widowed after my dad passed away and although she thankfully owns her home, she survives on £600pm state pension despite working all her life. She gets a tiny little pension (£19pm) from a bank from the 60s & 70s which puts her £2.53 over the pension credit threshold. She cannot use her heating. At all. She uses battery lights and watches tv on her old iPad. Breaks my heart. But you don't think she deserves £300 winter fuel allowance?

It's ridiculous but the Tory party favour pensioners because they tend to vote for them.
Agree with @GasPanic's post.

@margotrose I used to believe that, but it's difficult to reconcile with child benefit now being means tested

It should be means tested.
There are 12m pensioners in the UK.

My grandma gets take home pension payments equivalent to a £70k per annum job and is mortgage free (as you'd expect). She does NOT need this winter fuel payment. She is happily smashing cash up the wall on any old thing she wants to as it is and as is her right. I'd rather the money was used on community services for poorer elderly (eg the gym social schemes to provide improved mobility and social life's for older folks)

if a third of the 12m didn't need it that would look be 1.8bn per year. I cant believe it wouldn't be cheaper to means test it.

Alot of pensioner's will greatly benefit from £600 fuel allowance and this may prevent them from getting a nasty chesty infection. Which may led to hospital admission at a cost £418 per day.

It would be lovely if those that didn't; canelled or donated.

Quite a few examples of if being passed on to others on here. Better off pensioners will pay tax on it as a PP pointed out

The Government should just put the state pension up by X% for all pensioners

Saying £600 for winter fuel payment is just head line grabbing

They means test child benefit with no problems and no regard to cost.

The reason is that pensioners are far more likely to vote for the Tory party. It's a bribe.

As many others have said OP, your MIL can pay it to a charity or even tell the Govt she doesn't want it and cancel the payment - there is a number you can call on the gov.org website and I suspect on the letter/email she will have received so it's not exactly difficult to do.

The winter fuel allowance has been around for donkeys years. When Labour paid it to pensioners were they also trying curry favour, or was that different because it was Labour?

It really wouldn't be that difficult to claw back the winter fuel from higher rate taxpayers in the same way as for child benefit if the SAHP claims it. Wouldn't need much of a change to the system as could add the narrative to the same box.

BTW I don't think MN is ageist - it is a forum primarily for parents and therefore the majority of its users will be from the tranche of society that is most economically squeezed - trying to bring up children in a cost of living crisis and strggling with either the insecurity of renting or the mortgage on an extortionately priced house and in many cases struggling with childcare too. It's not surprising they see red sometimes when they look at an older generation where one income bought a house and paid the bills, where occupational pensions are final salary and often index linked and child benefit was paid for every child.

I had this conversation with my DPs last year as they had always donated their winter fuel payment to Age Concern. They switched to giving it to the local food bank instead.

Which is really odd when you consider Labour introduced it.

Surely your mum is eligible for pension credits. That's a very low income.
Why is she not eligible for the full pension if she worked all her life?

So it's gone up slightly but they still do not ALL get £600! Only if they were born before 25th September 1943. Otherwise it's £500. Which to be honest, is less than one month's energy for my household so I'm glad they're getting it!

Perhaps we should be angry about all the masses of money being spent elsewhere by the government!

We give ours to Shelter.

It's £300 per person so it's only £600 because there's 2 of them That’s not how it used to work. DH’s fuel allowance halved when I reached retirement age, because they gave half to me.

There are only around 4%of pensioners with an income of 50k a year or more - and only 5% getting above the uk average salary off 38k

Compared to 25% of the population make more than 50k a year

And yes the pensioner income is taxed

And child benefit in a year is about twice what the pension fuel allowance is

So if you means test the pensioners you save a lot less than if you means test child benefit but the costs would be similar

You think it's absolutely ridiculous to help 80yr olds+ stay warm? Wow

Unfortunately, it is a myth that the Full State Pension is a lot, lot more than £600 per month and everyone retired now gets it. For many, it is not. The headline figures scream the maximum on the New State Pension - many many thousands are on the old State Pension which pays out a lot less.

Looks like it’s still the same - £250/300 if you’re in a couple, £500/600 if you live alone.

It's not surprising they see red sometimes when they look at an older generation where one income bought a house and paid the bills, where occupational pensions are final salary and often index linked and child benefit was paid for every child.

But it IS fucking unreasonable heap blame for these things onto pensioners as if EVERY SINGLE ONE engineering these things out of person greed.

I only wish I had the influence I'm (as a boomer) being credited with - let me tell you things would be fucking significantly different if I did.

signed, 61 y/o boomer, still working, paying tax and wondering if my hoover is broken (ref a PP who said we'd hoovered up all the resources) FFS.

My parents missed out on pension credit by a couple of pound (my mum had a tiny dinner ladies pension)
They get none of of the means tested benefits. They own their home and worked hard all their lives and raised their children, never took a penny from anybody, only paid into the system, like lots of pensioners.
They survive on their state pension and live frugally. Why should they miss out on being able to heat their homes, because of a couple of pounds?

You're the same age as my DH - he gets it shame you don't.

Yep I understand this. My parents friend always brags about using his winter fuel allowance as his drinking money for his cruise holidays! Crazy. Meanwhile we are monitoring every bit of gas and electricity used so we can afford to get through each month.

£600 over 6 months Is about £23 pound a week , you not going to get a lot of heating for that. Better than nothing though.