Can’t just be me who is sick of the moaning about the private school VAT and winter fuel payments

[TruthorDie]

The moaning about them seems to be never ending. So tone death and indulgent on both counts. Not sure which is worse. A friends mum was ranting on social media earlier about winter fuel payments being stopped and how “worried about being cold” she was. Bad news is Lynn you haven’t needed to work since 1989, married to an oil exec and have had lots of the good life. I’m sure all of your Florida holidays keep you warm enough!

Bright children can get on anywhere, my siblings and l went to a comprehensive. We all have a couple of degrees, one of us has a PhD so it didn’t hold us back too much in life. Before anyone comes at it from the neurodiversity angle then l am and l wouldn’t be surprised if my younger sibling isn’t

@StarDolphins don’t think it is. In real life everyone l have spoken to thinks it’s fair enough. Both people of my generation and the pensioners. Plus other contributors to this thread. It’s on the internet plus rags like the Telegraph and Daily Fail the violins are being dragged out. There isn’t a bottomless pit of money and there never has been. The government need to cut back on spending, in the same way the general population need to

How is winter fuel a ridiculous premise? You can choose to not have kids, but you can’t survive without heat in the winter…..

https://www.endfuelpoverty.org.uk/pensioners-face-surge-in-winter-energy-bills/

Indeed they need to cut back. However, there are other things that, imo, should be cut back on first. Our elderly, no.

Cost of living and spike in power bills have definitely affected me. I’m dreading the next power bill like a lot of people. That’s why in the winter months l heat the room lm in with an oil filled radiator and sit there with my dressing gown on over my clothes. Putting the heating on more than an hour or so a day is the most we can do.

Agree OP - moan, moan, moan about shite that doesn't apply to many, I dare say, even most people.

you can’t survive without heat in the winter…..

This doesn't only apply to old people yet only the elderly got wfa.

It was always brought in as a vote winner because the elderly vote & there are many of them. It was a poorly designed policy.

How's your view from your privileged high horse? Your post is damn right arrogant and offensive, how dare you! The loss of the winter fuel allowance is going to severely impact a lot of people, in particular my dad who is in a Housing Association property and getting by on a pension and housing benefit and losing this funding means he has had to approach a charity for fuel vouchers. Many pensioners may literally have to choose between heating their homes and eating properly this winter. I'm sorry it's so annoying for you to hear people complaining about it though, how do you survive in the real world?!

People who, like you, bitch and moan about people worried about the loss of the WFA, and base it on the fact that you know lots of wealthy pensioners, and on the attitude that if one group of people are living in poverty so should others.

You’re sick of people being worried an out losing WFA, I’m sick of bitter, uninformed people moaning about people who are worried. I don’t need to know you to be sick of rants like your OP.

No objection to WFA being means tested but the threshold is too low.

They should not be paid for from general taxation but from fossil fuel windfall taxes - otherwise they’re a subsidy for massive oil company shareholders dividends

Oh, l dare! Oil filled radiators and dressing gown over clothes is super privileged right. I find the whining of people having incomes of £2,500 a month and wanting winter fuel payments to be entitled. I can find what ever l like annoying

My dad worked all of his life from 13 to 70, he's 75 this year and won't get WHP as he doesn't get pension credit. He needs it. He's talking about getting a calor gas fire to keep him warm as he will be scared he can't afford his heating bills.
Glad you've pals who winter in Florida, I'm afraid Scotland is a mighty sight colder!!! Cruel post

@SugarandSpiceandAllThingsNaice handing out money to people who often don’t need it is ridiculous and not right in my world. Means tested fine and there had to be a cut off -there are always moans about cut offs

No one is saying they aren't allowed heat....just that if they are over a certain threshold they won't get money from the government towards it.

No one can survive without food but we don't have universal benefits from the government to help us buy it

The issue is a lot of older people are housebound, they can't always go and sit in a warm space/ library etc if they can't get out. They also often can't move around freely which puts them at additional risk. It's a real worry. And people who have to pay for oil in rural areas, I guess the wfp helped a lot for many with that initial outlay.

Well if you had bothered to look into this cut off threshold, you would see it is ridiculously low and will cost lives. That is why people are “moaning”.

Yep. It was a poorly executed policy the conservatives continued as a vote winner. It costs over £2bn a year which is eye watering. Some of the money could be better re-directed to NHS, education etc

The threshold is too low is the problem.

Exactly. Older People Feel the Cold More.

I can't believe it can be that much of a money saver. People are now flocking to claim pension credit, there will be more hospital admissions with hyothermia and pneumonia, that will mean pensioners getting generally frailer, delayed discharges , increased pressure on the Nhs.

Because the elderly lose their ability to regulate body temperature and so are prone to dying of hypothermia at much higher temperatures than a younger person.

Its got nothing to do with being a vote winner and everything to do with biology.

The HRT prescription card costs the government more than the WFA…do you think that is buying the votes of women or do you think there is a biological reason for HRT to be available cheaply?

I'll be 62 in a few days, a knackered, toothless family carer for a young adult autistic ds and I have actually done a super fantastic job at single-handedly raising him to be a productive member of society.

The VAT on private school fees is very irrelevant to me.

Maybe in 5 years when I can claim my full state pension the WFA may still exist and I may or may not be able to claim it.

Meanwhile, I could not give a shiny shit about either issue as obviously tryng to find ways of earning for the next 5 years a as a toothless, yet educated and experienced hag somewhat trumps the OP's difficulties. Methinks.

Not really my difficulty as not a pensioner and don’t intend to privately educate my children

It's not just the OP. Sorry for people whose family members will be worse off, but as a number of posts here have shown, lots affected are not doing too badly, just think they are. Don't get me started on VAT on private schools. The entitlement on that has been awful.

One day you will be a pensioner.

My Dad worked full time from age 15 to 65 and gets £218.15 a week. He has never smoked, barely drinks and lives frugally. His only comment (lifelong Labour voter) was, “That wasn’t in the manifesto.” I’m transferring him the winter fuel allowance, he’s in his late 70s.