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.

23% of social housing tenants are pensioners.

Stop dividing the population up into generations and pitting them against each other. Fight for good services and support for all generations.

Proper means testing is expensive, which is why child benefit is based on a. Crude salary measure too. Proper means testing can cost more tha; the actual service/benefit. It’s higher than I’d have put it, but did you complain like this when it went to all pensioners?

Proper means testing is expensive, which is why child benefit is based on a. Crude salary measure too. Proper means testing can cost more tha; the actual service/benefit. It’s higher than I’d have put it, but did you complain like this when it went to all pensioners?

Well yes of course but the fact of the matter is that by giving extra to one generation over and above the others - which is what's happening here - you ARE taking it from the other generations. Whether you like that fact or not

I think this whole thing has highlighted how much more pensioners are looked after rather than those younger and in desperate need. Yes some definitely need it but as a cohort they are the wealthiest.

We very clearly need to get more young people to vote.

You’re quite rude, aren’t you?
I am not complaining, I’m sharing my opinion.
Yes, that’s the only disadvantage of proper means-testing; it’s costly. It’s a really difficult one. We are economically squeezed, and we need to ensure funds are going to those truly in need.

My Mum and late Dad were/are Silent Generation. My mum worked FULL TIME in poultry factories till she was two months shy of 80 She didnt retire until Christmas 2015. Dad was a building site foreman then a taxi driver and didnt retire till 2018. They were both born in 1936. When i was a kid school wasnt childcare plus the time both before and after school was considered to be my parents responsibility to find childcare/babysitters because they worked. They didnt get money paid back to them from the Government to reimburse them for paying for babysitting either. Now my mum has many of the ailments that are an obvious result of a life of manual work. And i have to see posts saying she never worked. Ever heard of New Hall boarding school. DM was a live in dinner lady there along with several other females in the 1960s. Catholic boarding school would not have had men doing this job So where is this crap that they didnt work/didnt work till the 70s and 80s coming from. Are y"all assuming it was the same for the working classes as the middle I guess if you assume the same for both it makes it more palatable to slag pensioners off for recieving the WFP

This is what I believe too. Again, not tarring all with the same brush as some pensioners are in need too - but as a cohort, I think they’re definitely better off than other generations. It’s interesting because we ought not to pit generations against each other, but equality can sometimes mean looking at overall trends can help if we are to combat inequality…

Until they want those older women to provide free childcare.

It should be an easy search for a government department to ascertain how many people over a certain age get means tested benefits. But the level of income was too low. Likewise how many are on the basic tax rate. Now some say that's too high.
Is there an easy way to get details of those earning more than the absolute bottom.level, but not near the top that is not costly in manpower? It seems not.

For the winter fuel discount done power companies offer application has to be online, within a certain time window sending in copies of evidence. Vest numbers ere missed out due to computer illiteracy, a limited amount of money in the pot. It was manpower I tense and only a proportion of applications were checked. Some of the money went to the undeserving rich.

So if you are critising, have you any better ideas?

Agreed. Dd was born about that time. I went back to work. Absolutely the norm.

I’ll just keep repeating this. 1 in 4 pensioners lives in poverty.

The thing is, I don’t think we are squeezed. I think a very small number of people have a ridiculous amount of money. We live in a very unequal society.

I’m sorry if you think I was rude. It wasn’t my intention, and honestly I still can’t see it. I asked a question. I’ll rephrase. Did you share your opinion when all pensioners were getting it?

You can change priorities. You can close tax loopholes and get more income. There are lots of options which don’t mean giving a quid to a pensioner can on,y happen if you take it off a family.

I agree… hence why the majority of us are squeezed! X

So address that maybe? Rather than pitting everyone else against each other?

Ok, sorry. I think I read it with a certain tone, so I apologise too!

The thing is, I’ve only just started forming my opinion on politics in recent years as I’ve gotten older and more independent so I don’t know how I felt then, so I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at with your question. My opinion right now is that it should be means-tested and not go to those who don’t need it, as I’d rather that money went elsewhere - NHS for example, or childcare support for families (I have no children, yet).

Yeah but that’s what I’m saying - how can we do this in a way that’s not seen as pitting against each other as I think that’s what is causing some people to become quite emotional? All generations, cohorts and populations require support and in different ways. I don’t have access to all of the stats that someone in government or other industries might have - so I appreciate I may have some bias?

It's a tiny amount per person. £200 a year. Works our at less than £4 a week when you think of other benefits it's miniscule.

Essentially, overall, I’m being critical of government spending - not necessarily targeting older people!

But how much is that per year for the gov?

This is a good perspective

Misunderstandings happen - text doesn’t convey tone well.
What I was getting at is that lots of people criticised Labour for cutting the WFA, now lots are criticising them for restoring some of it. Very few ever commented when a different party was in charge and it was paid to everyone. It feels politically motivated rather than socially.

Good for you for getting interested in politics (and that’s genuine, it looks a bit sarcastic written doen! Or patronising. Not meant to be either). Have a look at this bloke for why being an increasingly unequal society is damaging us all.
This is a very pertinent video but he’s got lots of others. He’s a millionaire himself, incidentally. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIjZX9IS22X/?igsh=MTN3dXVzbXZoZXNsdw==