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.

Yes this is far too high! Most will have no mortgage costs, no commuting or work costs. No expensive childcare!

Very bad decision.

I think it’s high, but I also think it’ll stay there for years.
I probably would’ve set it at £25k myself.

No it isn't, you get housing element of universal credit, housing benefit doesn't exist as a separate entity anymore

It would unless it was in an Isa

This ^

Starmer needs to sack Rachel. She's not got a clue. She caused the damage by bringing in the WFA changes and now backtracking on that for most pensioners, but the damage to the Labour party is huge. She's a liability. Heaven help us with what foul ups she's going to make with the public spending review and then we've got the Autumn Budget which will no doubt be another fiasco. We've had some incompetent Chancellors over the past 20-30 years but Rachel takes the prize for the most hopeless one!

You realise it is a one off payment of £200, hardly generous or life changing, however poor you are.

Zero. Already paid off the mortgage

@Cel77 I can't see anything that says it's after tax?

The gov website says "Approximately 2 million individuals in England and Wales over State Pension age have taxable incomes above £35,000" which suggests it's £35k before tax to me

Just for comparison, my friend's parents (early 70s) live in Ireland and get a utility allowance of €35 per month ALL YEAR ROUND + free TV licence and Driving Licence together with free travel throughout the country and Northern Ireland, and it is not means tested at all Applies to all over 70. The utility and TV apply per household and obv. the driving licence per person. Free Travel applies at age 66.

I think that's very generous myself.

But more people could live on a single income back then so they didn’t need childcare as they could afford for one parent to give up work or work part time at the most.

Yes I feel this too. And I’m older Gen X

Perhaps they'll spend it on Christmas presents for you then or donate it to the food bank like so many parents/in laws of mumsnetters seem to do.

They can't really win can they. Do the right thing and remove it from all but the poorest and they were lambasted, now giving it to all but the richest people criticise.

Who could live on a single income, we certainly couldn't have.

What I don’t understand about all this is that they must have an idea of how many pensioners fall into each income bracket. Therefore when they announce things like stopping or restarting anything they can put the figures out and clearly show their decision making process, this makes it clear and enables them to justify it. They either aren’t doing it scientifically, don’t know what income brackets people are in or don’t want to disclose the data. It all looks pretty incompetent, what are all
these civil servants doing?

The initial taking away was clearly knee jerk. It also almost certainly meant that pensioners on pension credit ended up better off, when you include all the other benefits you get, than those just on state pension. All those on full state pension will have worked for the majority of their lives.

IMO the whole thing should be scrapped but that’s another conversation as I believe all these handouts are just ridiculous. Just pay people properly.

My parents were boomers I think. Born 39 and 46. Both worked full time when married and continued to do so when divorced and both ended up single parents

But as for " greedy boomers" screwing everyone one else over I really don't see it. Wasn't the ordinary person in the street that came up with this, it was the govt

This, 100 times over!
Utterly sick of it.

I am a Boomer. How am I shafting you?

Unfortunately my parents and older relatives most definitely fall into this category. Own homes, final salary pensions but nothing but complaints about young people today.

We’re 61 and 66. Would much rather more assistance was given to young people struggling to find a home, let alone heat one.

Very little done to help them, whilst my parents spend their WFP on wine and an NT membership. (Yes, really)

What I struggled to understand from the beginning is why pensioners need and deserve warm homes but the rest of us apparently don’t?

A lot of elderly people are renting.

It’s to do with lowered mobility and more time spent at home. Most working people don’t need any heating during the day.

x 9 million

All this venom over a one off payment of £200 to some pensioners, quite unbelievable. How much do you think £200 buys these days?