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?

Got it in one.

Im quite in favour of universal benefits but what grates is the double standard. No CB if you earn over a fairly modest threshold even if that’s the sole household income, and hasn’t gone up in over a decade, but all pensioners can have benefits, even if billionaires?

That doesn’t seem fair to me!

My mum passed away in May and recently I received a cost of living payment for her. When I called to enquire, the DWP said that as she should have been paid it before she died, the money was due to her estate. It just made no sense. Had she received the money when alive, it would have been received with thanks but to pay it months after her passing seems pointless and such a waste of resource.

A single pensioner with no housing costs, no childcare costs, no commuting costs, no need to pay for food, clothes, etc for children clearly does not need the same amount of income as a working family.
Surely this is obvious?

So your MiL is 80+? Important that the very elderly are enabled to keep warm over winter. Hospital admission for hypothermia costs a lot more than £600.

That’s ridiculous- surely a better way would be for pensioners to apply for it if really needed? That approach failed with pension credit. Pensioners in desperate need of it failing to apply.

Ok dear. You just run along like a nice little tory and fail to accept that opinions other than yours exist.

61 is barely a boomer though. It’s the cusp of Gen X, and not really the group people mean when they complain re boomers.

Agreed, but they are also at home more so have higher heating costs.

I just don’t think pension credit would be a sensible cut off for winter fuel allowance. It’s too low.

I do think it should be given as a credit on bills, however, not a cash sum.

This issue has been done to death on MN. Always brings the ageists running to have a froth.

Other way around. It’s £600 because there’s only her. If there were two of them, it’d be £300 each.

Older people are far more likely to vote Tory. They also have a far greater turnout. So yes, the Tory base is definitely predominantly older people. This doesn’t mean all OAPs vote Tory, but it does mean that the conservatives try to satisfy them. Hence, also, the triple lock on pensions.

In the lowest age group, only about 14% vote Tory.

The reality is that these things are choices, admittedly difficult choices.
The UK is in a huge amount of deb. At present, pensioners are favoured (as a group) over children and working families. I am very much in favour of supporting the elderly in need but also the disabled and young families in need. There are many in these groups too.

Sounds very much like May's 'No magic money tree' stance.
We have a bad government who choose to waste billions on vanity projects and decisions that benefit the rich.
I'd sooner see that money going to heat pensioners homes personally.
I'd also like to see struggling families get more help, it really doesn't have to be either or!

Why did the Tories oppose the Winter fuel payment when Labour introduced it?

That should maybe be a reason not to generalise about any group.

So which age group do you hate mean?

It is NOT £500 per person (or £600 if over 80) it is per household. It is a one off annual payment - works out at < £10 per week. - when it reverts back to £200 it will be < £4 per week. How begrudging you all are when you think this should be removed from some of the poorest in society.

Older people are far more likely to vote Tory

True. Anyone over 40 is more likely to vote Tory.

Oh do shut up, you nasty individual.

The elderly are less likely to be able to work and many are living solely on the state pension. They deserve to be warm.

Take a long hard look at yourself. Spiteful cunts on this thread.

Exactly - amazing how fast the Magic Tree appeared when she needed DUP support, wasn't it?

More likely is not the same as "always does" or "they all do" for the hard of thinking.

It’s not normally £500 or £600, it’s normally half of that per household depending on the age of the oldest resident. The amount has been doubled this year, as it was last year, because of the cost of utilities.

It is not worth means testing for £300 max per year, and since the government have never done so, they have no means of changing it for these short-term changes.

What this shows though, apart from the ever present ageism on Mumsnet, is how politically motivated the changes to other benefits were - it was never about the money, it was about the bastard Tories creating an ‘us and them’ narrative. They did the same in the 80s, as those of us unfortunate enough to be on benefits, and especially single parents, then, remember all too well.

Totally agree about the appalling levels of waste and corruption.
I am not against pensioners getting help if needed, not at all. I am against pensioners, as a group, being prioritised over other groups. Pensioners are now the most wealthy group in society, remember, a far cry from previous generations. I appreciate that not all pensioners are in this position at all but, equally, there are more children living in poverty than pensioners. Young children are the future of the UK and need much better support which they are not getting.

Pensioners have lower costs Are you sure of that? They have greater heating costs as they can’t move around so well to raise metabolic rate, if they no longer driving they have taxis for basic journeys, hiring in people for things that younger people would do themselves (eg getting toenails cut, climbing a stepladder to change a lightbulb).

Don't worry, there's no way the country will be able to bung £600 a person The £600 is purely temporary. It’s unlikely to last until next winter.

Indeed. So why all the hate for pensioners?

My dad used to feel the same so he'd donate his to Age UK. He was a good man.

Perhaps your MIL could do the same?