To think that with over 1million pensioners in poverty, removing the WFA makes Labour the nasty party, who tell blatant lies?

[TealTraybake]

And hypocritical lies at that. Just a few months ago Labour ‘vowed to be the party for pensioners’

‘Nearly 1 million people aged over 66 in the UK are living in deprivation, according to government statistics, the highest number since comparable records began.
Labour, which analysed figures from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) records, has vowed to be the party for pensioners, with plans to insulate millions of homes and reduce energy bills. It has also “committed to retaining” the triple lock which guarantees annual rises to the state pension’

I understand the WFA should be means tested - but the current threshold is far too low. Food prices have gone up. Energy prices have gone up. Some pensioners need that WFA 🥺.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/16/nearly-1m-uk-pensioners-deprivation-official-figures

Labour wanting to appeal to liberal woke … who want to punish “boomers” for having “ruined” everything. Stick it to the boomers! The generation who were told to scrimp & save for old age, & they are bad people for having done it.

Yup means tested so those that need it will get it. I was only reading yesterday how the over 65s are the most well off of all age groups at the moment. Many can afford to pay for their own fuel and those that can't will get supported. I am in Ireland and just checked our winter fuel allowance is means tested. My parents are in their 70s they don't get it, they can afford to heat their home so don't need it. There shouldn't be blanket benefits for anyone because of their age, they should be targeted to those most in need and that will mean there is more funding available

I haven’t seen one poster calling for blanket WFA though? All of the posters criticising Labour as criticising them for the low threshhold.

Labour wanting to appeal to liberal woke … who want to punish “boomers” for having “ruined” everything. Stick it to the boomers! The generation who were told to scrimp & save for old age, & they are bad people for having done it.

Such hyperbole. Just because you have scrimped and saved in the past doesn't mean you should get hand outs now that you don't need. That is no way to run any economy. No one is being punished if you can afford to pay for your fuel why shouldn't you?

Fair enough I hadn't read the whole thread and didn't see that nuance

You sound like a daily mail reader, that’s all they go on about.
The tories don’t care, they’d rather 'punish’ children, the disabled (who are elderly too)

Although, it is a job that is being increasingly automated, with many train and metro systems around the world doing away with drivers altogther. Because all of the route knowledge is easily replaces by systems. And ironically for the drivers, the higher their pay the faster automation will occur So this gravy train is likely to actually hit the buffers soon!

And yes, the training is difficult, but there are always multiples of people wanting to do the job than are actually trained...

their outgoings tend to be a lot less

What are you basing this on? Older people have similar outgoings to everyone else. They have their bills to pay, the same as you. In addition, they are at home all day and feel the cold more, so spend more on fuel. More elderly people die in the winter, than at other times of the year. Elderly people find themselves having to pay for a cleaner, a gardener and someone to do DIY. They often can no longer drive but are too frail for the bus, so they need a taxi. They struggle with cooking, so end up buying expensive ready meals.

How can their outgoings be less?

There HAS to be a threshold though. How would you implement it fairly and presume people are being honest when they claim it. It’s impossible.

Yes and even the left wing unions not in favour?

The people who moan about MPs getting expenses and subsidised food just sound like they’ve never worked in a proper job in their lives.
Any job requiring you to work away from your home will include expenses being covered and many places of work provide subsidised canteens. It’s completely irrelevant to the discussion.

I and most of my friends don't expect there to be a state pension by the time we retire (which is likely to be mid-70s by the time we get there), and we're all actively making plans for our own retirements.

We've gotten used to being treated like shit, see - for most of our working lives!

I’d argue that the training isn’t particularly difficult, in comparison to other jobs which aren’t as well paid and don’t have as good pensions.

But you’re quite right, the faster pay goes up, the more likely we are to get driverless trains 🙏🙏

Entirely true to form for Labour.

I am not the least bit surprised by their behaviour to date. Expect much more of the same to come.

My MP who is also the WECA mayor is drawing two full tax payer salaries voted to withdraw the paltry £300 from pensioners. He won’t be cold or hungry this winter. The labour snouts are deep in the trough.

I was one of those moaning about MPs expenses. I have 40 years of NI, most of it accrued working as a nurse in the NHS. Is that a proper job, according to you?

Totally agree. I can’t believe it really. At best why don’t people have respect for the older generation? At worst (if we must resort to but what about you if that is the only way they’d be able to conjure up any empathy 🙄), don’t people understand they too will be old one day. Reliant on healthcare, heating and other people.

And Liam Byrne claimed £18,400 in heating expenses!! Surely no one thinks that’s reasonable?!?!

I don’t understand people who think that young people should be taxed even more to pay for pensioners

Of course their outgoings tend to be less.

They have free prescriptions, free bus travel, free tv license.

Only 6% of pensioners are in the private rental sector which amounts to around 78,000
people compared to 4.4 million families.

Pensioners are also on uncapped housing benefit which is not the same for working families and they are therefore eligible for up to 100% of their rent.

Its simply farcical to claim “old people have similar bills as everyone else”

and if the Government had already put something put in place for anybody with more than say £35,000 a year income and more than £25,000 in savings to not get it

Why on earth should the taxpayer pay for someone with a £35k income? That is the average HOUSEHOLD income in the UK. A pensioner with no housing costs would be living extremely comfortably on £35k and shouldn’t need benefits. And as for £25k savings!!! A working aged person with £25k savings wouldn’t get any benefits. They’d be expected to live off their savings until they had only £6k. Why should it be different rules for pensioners?

This article is over four months old so pre-dates the new Labour Government. Poverty is a serious UK issue and I do not think we should fall into the trap of saying one group is more deserving than another. Rates of poverty though are higher for non pensioner groups and are particularly high for single parent mothers who have double the average rate of relative poverty for pensioners. The House of Commons library has a summary of UK poverty data.

@Mooneywoo
They have … free tv license.
No they don’t.

That was withdrawn from pensioners not in pension credit.

Those on PC now get free tv licence (£169.50) and WFA (£200-£300).

Cut off for PC is weekly income of £218.15. Get £220 and you can’t claim.

£218.15 for 52 weeks is £11,343, £220 for 52 weeks is £11,440.

Add in the WFA and free tv licence and those on PC get £312 more per year than those £1.85 a week over the pension credit cut-off.

And don’t forget pension credit also gives a council tax reduction. If Labour remove the single person discount then those pensioners just over the pension credit limit will be in real difficulties.

Now do you see?

Personally, l do respect the elderly.My mums elderly, who l help care for and l have close elderly relatives.
This isn’t about being disrespectful, it’s only about WFA being means tested.

You only get a free TV licence if you're 75 or over and receive pension credit

Oh yes, the training is nothing like that required for any of the professions - it's really just learnimg stuff by rote...which is why it's easy enough to automate.