To say the £35k winter fuel threshold is way too high!

[chocolateismyweakness4]

The threshold needed to be raised, but £35k?! I wish I earned that and I have a mortgage and commuting costs. It also doesn’t take into account savings (so they could have millions in the bank) or household income.

We all know it’s a bribe, but they still won’t get pensioners to vote for them.

Because I don’t have a high salary so my pension will be low as it stands. And there are penalties for taking it before state pension age, which will be so high by then that I’ll have no choice but to take it earlier. So it won’t be much per year.

Put some money into a private pension with tax relief and you will be able to draw down ten years earlier. An important part of pension planning to cover any bumps in the road.

Well during the Covid restrictions which many on here were all for, instead of running ONE bus an HOUR our bus ran ONCE every TWO HOURS, Really fucking helpful for essential and key workers that was. 🙄

Unless things change all you can hope for is that you have someone who you can trust who will look out for you. This will mean that they will have to take care of all your household admin, make sure that you're not being scammed by various people who may come knocking on your door, phoning you, emailing you etc. They will get hold of your phone number and enough details to convince you that they are your bank & scam you out of your life-time's savings.

You probably will become old and develop dementia - pray that you have someone who is willing to fight to get you a doctor appointment & get you there, fight to get you the benefits that you are entitled to, fight with social services to get you the care that you need and again to fight when they don't turn up or turn up when not expected, or fail to give you your meds when you should have them.

I'm dreading it. My only comfort is that my DD is a nurse & I know she will fight, not only that, she knows how to fight & who to fight with but she shouldn't have to.

Yes it does. It’s total income.

He can't win can he? He listens to the people and still gets it thrown back in his face.

I agree, 35K is way, way too high....and I'm a pensioner, on state pension, and would obviously benefit from this.

As I have stated on threads before which have been about the WFA, there are approx. 12 million pensioners in the UK, about 1.2 million live on state pension alone. I do think the WFA cut-off should be raised but it should still only be for those in great need. Possibly to 15K or even 20K?

The current 35K means it will be handed out to around 9 million pensioners, many of those really won't need it and will have assets and savings far in excess of many working people's.
All wrong!

The availability of buses, for one thing.

When my mother started work, there were regular buses from where she lived to five or six local towns, with sensible connections to several more. She still lives in the same town but now there are only direct buses to two local towns and they don’t connect with anything.

An example: DH had an email today supposedly from DVLA saying that he hadn't paid his car tax & they were about to prosecute him. Sent him into a spin. I reminded him that it was all paid for - went onto the official Govt website which confirmed this. He was all ready to go onto the link & pay some scammer.

Not on MN it isn't, in the real world though.

They do pay tax though, I do, and most of us paid into the system for many years before retirement.

This is the first I have heard of it, it is a huge jump.

It will be a one off payment of around £300, not a regular increase in income so not worth you worrying about.

Until the Government changes the rules. Again.

If you’re not struggling on £16k then you must be living very frugally!

In that case don’t vote for governments that don’t promise not to change the rules. The biggest rule change ever was the one that impacted waspi women in 2011. They got fuck all sympathy on MN.

did i hear that everyone will get it but if you earn more than £35,000 you will need to pay it back?
how confusing

Nice to have though.

Those rules impacted everyone under a certain age - not just WASPI women. My State pension age was increased by more than any WASPI woman had to face, yet few of them had any sympathy for anyone else!

If they’d increased it to, say, £20k, it would have dealt with the issue of ensuring those who needed it had it, and not been expensive.

But because they cocked up and took a year to change it, they probably felt they had to err on the side of safety and avoid any lingering charges they were still being miserly.

It's about 7k more than I earn working full time and they get it tax free!

Until recently i was a single mum on about 23k before tax. With my own mortgage bills etc.

I agree with @chocolateismyweakness4 the threshold needed raising but up to 35k is ridiculous

Really? How many years did your pension age increase and with what notice? The first increase was in 1996 when most waspi women were in their 40s. The youngest women impacted by that change were born around 1975.

Another stupid move by this clueless Labour government (and I voted for them but never will again because of the planned disability benefit cuts....)

The threshold was set too low before and now they have set it too high.

A pensioner who get 35k a year don't need help with their fuel bills, especially those who are mortgage free.

It does not make any sense for people who get the minimum wage for example to subside the bills of pensioners on 35K...

Many pensioners still have rent to pay and so e have a mortgage to finish paying too. It's weird the way some posters make sweeping asdu ptions every pensioner in the land neither has rent or mortgage to pay.

It's about 7k more than I earn working full time and they get it tax free!

It’s not tax free.

Pensioners pay tax over the threshold just like anyone else. They do t get £35k tax free.

Went up 8 years, and I’m not complaining about the notice - I fully expect it to go up again.

Please tell me which WASPI women had to wait 8 years?