WINTER FUEL PAYMENT

[cobden28]

A couple of days ago I received the official letter from the DWP telling me I'm not going to receive the Winter Fuel payment this year because, although I am within the required age group, I'm not in receipt of the listed benefits. I am 69 years of age.
On the same day I also received notifiication from my energy supplier of the amount of my next Direct Debit monthly payment and a request to submit my meter readings. I've contacted the energy supplier and arranged for them to send round a meter reader, so they can't be in a position to dispute the readings oobtained.
Then once I get my billing sorted i'm going to have to work out how to cut my energy bill. My proposed method is to turn off the central heating and only use the gas fire in the living room for heating - I feel uncomfortable if a room is too warm and the gas fire chucks out lots of heat anyway.

@EasternStandard If you read the full thread it seems that being "a pensioner with a disability" may not automatically mean dire straits.

I'll save my sympathy for those who really need it and stand by my assertion that the number of pensioners who will genuinely suffer and cannot claim help is relatively small

Pensioners have always received letters about the winter fuel payments. These letters provide information about eligibility and how to apply for Pension Credit and other benefits. These letters are providing useful information and there will always be older people who don't go online or on social media or watch the news.

Under one of the recent Tory governments I used to receive an annual statement of how much tax I'd paid and where it was spent. I didn't need this information and considered it a waste of money. I wouldn't call it a 'scandal' though.

The amount of a full state pension, ie £220 a week.

Well you can’t have looked at Age UK’s statement then so it’s really only fabricated rather than reality.

As for the op what a group to target, do people A/S other posters who have more than one benefit?

Definitely worth investing in a heated throw or 2 if you don’t already own one. I love mine!

Yes, they are well worth it.

How about this- there’s some sort of central point where pensioners who are well off can donate their winter fuel allowance, should they wish, to someone who is struggling.
Maybe it could be done via the food banks somehow and be converted into supermarket gift cards that could be put in with the food bank goods. It could be divided 3 ways maybe to help more people?

There are energy banks. I gave my first WFA to one.

There's not enough publicity around them though.

So you get pension credit if you're on less than £218 a week.

Does the credit take you up to £218 or the state pension of £222?

Because if it's £218 you get £3/4 a week less than those on state pension.

So the WFA doesn't take you much over the same as those on state pension are receiving in pension.

Before you add the rise!

The ones falling through the gap in the case I questioned above are those above £218 who don't get the full state pension.

Again, why should the government/tax payer give out money so that the affluent can donate it to charity?

Unfortunately many of those who don't need it and brag about it keeping them warm on their cruise or in Tenerife, etc would not donate it anyway.
I know some wealthy pensioners who brag about legal ways to avoid tax, etc and am sure that they would not donate even if a starving, freezing orphan was right in front of them!

It's still the minority who go to university. Currently it's around 35 percent but was more like 20-25 when I left school.

Some of the comments on here are horrible, and pretty much make out every pensioner is loaded and selfish and if they're not loaded well they didn't work hard enough or have got other benefits that mean they're not worthy of sympathy. As someone who's a hell of a long way from retirement but has family impacted by the loss of the winter fuel payment these comments make me feel really uncomfortable.

I'm 68. It was 5.5% of school leavers that went to uni when I left.

In the interests of accuracy, I just researched higher education access, so to include teacher training colleges and polytechnics (which later became unis) and it becomes a more respectable 14%.

I don't think there are horrible comments on here.

You can report to MNHQ if you believe any guidelines have been broken.

'Having a different opinion' from somebody is allowed in a discussion.

pretty much make out every pensioner is loaded

I'm not getting that vibe from this thread, tbh, but even if there are posts saying that, it only counter balances the very popular tabloid / facebook headline trying to create the impression that all pensioners are on the breadline, afraid to put their heating on.
Like people of all ages of life, there will be some who are incredibly wealthy, there will be some who are in debt, there will be some who are wealthy and some who are pretty broke and struggling, and overwhelmingly there will be the vast majority of any age group somewhere in the middle.

According to Martin Lewis it tops you up to £218

I'm pretty bored of hearing people of retirement age moaning about this. Benefits should be means tested for all age groups. I'm on just above minimum wage, I don't pay tax so that people more affluent than me get hand outs. More than happy to support the less well off.

Yep.
I am on UC, and on less than a pensioner that is on state pension alone. No WFA for me.
My dad has been moaning about his WFA being take from him. My mum still works, and they are not struggling.

These threads are getting incredibly annoying now. The same old people saying the same old shit! I want mumsnet back how it used to be without stupid political interference, AI generated threads and Reddit-esque, “me (f25) and my partner (m65) are in luuurve, is it weird?!” type nonsense. In the olden days this was a really good place for intelligent debate and parent- to- parent support, with some really funny, witty, knowledgeable posters.

Why are they sending letters out, what a waste of time and money

From what PP have said, letters were sent out every year for the people getting the WFA anyway.

Hope we don't get a letter every year.

@ilovesooty really? It seemed more like a silly freezing pensioner, I'm going to cope just fine with my one little gas fire.

Older voters are supposed to be traditionally blue so probably a good group for labour to punish