Winter fuel payments

[dearydeary]

I have just heard on the news that this is being discussed again and they are considering reinstating them.

While I think that people who are on a lower income (pension credit for example) may need additional help I do not think this should be a universal benefit any more.

It appears the government is still looking for votes. What about everyone else in society? Younger people at universities or just starting out? Individuals with disabilities?

Surely we need to be moving to a more means tested approach as the finances need rebalancing?

Where pensioner need help, I am happy to support but many older folk have benefited from good pensions, valuable house price increases and a stable employment market. This is not the situation for many of us any more.

Have I lost the plot?

Yes, easier than the generations to follow.

I worry for my children, because it’s almost impossible to get secure housing now and that’s probably the single most important ‘need’ that should be available in a civilised society, yet here we are…..

In 1975 average house price in London was £12,000 and £10,000 outside, average salary for a manual worker was £48 a week for men and £27 a week for women - that works out at £2496 pa for men and £1404 for women.

Interest rates were around 13% in 1975.

Is 13% of 12k very different to 5% with today's house prices?

They would have been paying throughout the uncertainty of the late 1970s, the high interest of the 1980s and the recession in the 1990s.

But don't forget huge wage growth in the 70s and MIRAS...

How does everyone know how much is in their MILs bank account

Some families are open about money

In 1975, per individual, there were 0.33 homes available.
In 2024/5, per individual, there are 0.42 homes avaialble.

The government have committed to building an extra 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament in 2029. The projected population then will be 71 million. 31 million homes for 71 million people is 0.43 homes available per person. That’s better than the situation now and much better than that in 1975!

How, with fewer people chasing each home than at present, can you believe that your children will find it harder to obtain secure accommodation than previous generations?

How, with fewer people chasing each home than at present, can you believe that your children will find it harder to obtain secure accommodation than previous generations?

Is this a serious question?

Oh yes because all governments have come good and kept to their promises haven’t they? Christ you don’t honestly believe that they’ll build that many houses do you?

I hope you’re right and I’m wrong but experience tells me none of them can be trusted

With our MIL, we had to over-see her finances as she had lost capability of understanding money years ago. She didn't like it, but she started burning through cash and we never knew where it went - but she'd lost the ability to even realise that coins were worth less than "paper", so I suspect she started paying for things like a paper or a pint of milk with a "big" note and was being taken advantage of by the shop worker with not giving the right amount of change! Likewise, she'd just hand over all her unopened post to deal with, which obviously would include bank statements, letters to say her fixed term ISAs etc were coming to maturity, etc.

Labour aren’t the Tories, they do what they say.

And they’re championing working people.

They all give the big “I’ll do this that and the other” and it’s all BS to keep the electorate sweet.

I’m not sure my husband knows what is in my bank account and I don’t know what is in his. We both know what is in the joint account. Neither of us knew what was in our parents bank accounts.

More people are living separately, i.e. two homes for a divorced/separated couple.

More university students meaning, again, a second "home" needed when they already have a bedroom at their family home, now unused for most of the year.

More holiday lets, Air BNBs, etc. taking "homes" out of the residential property market.

More second homes and holiday homes, more homes left empty as investments, etc. More "empty" homes where the resident has moved into residential care or during probate.

That’s a stretch given policies, especially NI

So funny that you actually believe that. Or maybe you're being sarcastic??

Christ you don’t honestly believe that they’ll build that many houses do you?

Even if they did it isn't just a question of supply and demand. Affordability & lending matter.

Why? But on this I recall posters asking for speculation to stop as Labour wouldn’t do cuts. But they are.

Even those impacted seem to care more about Labour than the cuts.

I thought the industry experts had already ridiculed the targets as being unachievable due to lack of skilled tradesmen, lack of building supplies, delays in planning, building regulations, surveyors, architects, etc., - we're simply not set up for such an acceleration in home building in such a short period of time.

All the people disability benefit bashing are usually in a Venn diagram with the Starmer haters, so they can't be seen to approve of anything he does. Even when they do.

@Badbadbunny don't bring logic into it!

They can’t do right for doing wrong - take it away, people are moaning that OAPs are freezing in their homes and it’s a disgraceful way to treat our elderly citizens who have worked all their lives and paid taxes. Bring it back and people moan they don’t need it. I think they did the right thing the first time around but the threshold needed to be adjusted higher.

Who are you referring to exactly? A poster on this thread?

And doesn’t it work the same way but the other way round. The pro Starmer / Labour posters still back welfare cuts even though it impacts them.

@Teanbiscuits33

I think they did the right thing the first time around but the threshold needed to be adjusted higher.

Same story as so many times with our current crop of crap politicians and crap civil servants advising them. They need to start getting things right the first time, rather than flip-flopping to correct mistakes they've made. We've had 20-30 years of it and it's not acceptable.

Rachel should have applied some common sense and not just rubber stamped what her permanent secretary put on her desk. If she didn't know what it meant or the entirely foreseeable consequences, she should have done some research, asked some questions etc.

Phil Hammond, as short term chancellor, was cruelly dubbed "spreadsheet phil" because he wanted to check things out himself- that's exactly the type of chancellor we need, not lazy ones who rubber stamp what's put on their desk. Alastair Darling was another short term chancellor who tried to understand what he was doing and refused to rubber stamp things until he properly understood it.

The bus pass is genuinely useful. We need to encourage the elderly to give up driving before they do something unsafe.

I am grateful every day for the free bus pass, it got my dad off the roads before he deteriorated further. Now he has a folding e-bike and his bus pass. He's happy as Larry.

This is completely false, and offensive. You have no idea what other posters personal circumstances are.

But it is true. Have a look through the many disability benefit bashing threads and you will see.

To be clear: I said most of the disability benefit bashers are in a Venn diagram with Starmer haters.

What I didn't say is most of the Starmer haters are in a Venn diagram with benefit bashers. Subtle difference. There are plenty of left wingers who hate Starmer who aren't benefit bashers, for example.

If you think my post offensive, do feel free to report to MNHQ.