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.

That's because it isn't after tax. But that's not sensationalist enough for some, presumably.

umm no the basic rate of tax goes up to 50,270 plus of course your tax free allowance of 12, 570

I didn’t say all families could live on a single income - I said it was easier then.

To quote IFS stats:

• In 1975, 50% of working-age mothers were in paid work. That compares to 72% in 2015.
• In 1975, 48% of couples with children both worked. In 2015 it was 68%.

Once again the greedy boomers are shafting the younger generations. I’m so sick of it

Is pretty venomous. Why isn't the Silent Generation also lambasted? Or the Greatest Generation, there will still be a few of them left.

I am a Boomer. I am not shafting anyone.

75% of them own at least one property outright though, so a lot are pretty comfortable in terms of assets.

£35k income with no housing or childcare costs, no No NI…. About £2.3k to cover their outgoings.

It’s an awful lot more than a payment of up to £300 for the year, for people who mostly have no way of boosting their income. 😆

Well if someone gave you £200 it would be nice and if they said they would give you £200 next year and they didn't you'd be a bit peeved. I think a lot of the actual outrage was from charities and other organisations on behalf of pensioners, most pensioners are pretty stoic and know the value of money and that £200 is not life changing, but nice to have and in a way nice that the government is concerned about you potentially being cold. Although it's probably just a cynical way of winning votes, do they think pensioners are that dumb?

Me too. I want this Government to succeed but this has been handled badly.

Yes, state pension is included in this £35k.

Talk of ‘greedy boomers…shafting’ younger people is pretty venomous to be fair.

Well if you're earning £50k you also do not need child benefit.

It is also stated that ALL pensioners will get it, and then anyone receiving over £35,000, the government will claim the allowance back.

How much in admin will that cost? This government really shoots itself in the foot, time after time.

The government could stop the derisory £10 Christmas 'bonus', what a joke that is, barely buys bread and milk these days.

It’s not a stretch to see this could be the case if you’re a single parent with a high mortgage, tied to living in London (genuinely tied for the foreseeable, not just “tied” by preference). That might be a small proportion of people though!

Many pensioners don't have anything approaching 35K a year.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023#:~:text=Average%20weekly%20income%20(%20AHC%20)%20of,of%20%C2%A3272%20per%20week.

That’s true of course, and one of the reasons I don’t think disability payments should be messed about with. But I was answering a question about why pensioners. That’s why.

It is if you don’t have a mortgage and have savings.

Yes

and will be for an individual.
If a couple are living together, just like the wfa before, the payment will reflect that as it’s based on per household.
So if the household income of two individuals is less than £35k they will receive it.
That includes the state pension.
That’s £23,600 ( approx) in sp and joint private pensions or investment income of £11,400 ( approx)

Some will still have mortgage or rent.

There was never a generation so jealous of the generation above it.

I think every fucker on Universal Credit should have to pay it back as it wasn't around when my parents were young.

One day, the youth of today will be calling us greedy, shafting bastards and they might not be wrong.

Well it's not the 'greedy boomers' decision is it!

I'm a married pensioner and neither of us have a private pension although we do have savings from an inheritance and we are house owners. Of course it was the right decision to take away the WFA it was only brought in by Gordon Brown as an election bribe in the first place , but since then with the triple lock it could easily be argued that pensioners have done well since then. Once you make a decision you stick with it and defend it, Reeves has just made herself look foolish by trying to insist that it was the right decision to withdraw it whilst simultaneously saying it is the right decision to bring it back. They won't get any electoral credit for it either.
It is easy enough to find people who are miffed in not getting a free handout, especially when you embellish it with tales of 'heating or eating' but don't believe all pensioners think the same.

Not sure if I will get the next years fuel allowance as on the edge and depends on the calculations - I don't need it, nice to have and will split between my adult children who are in more need.

Isn't it just.

Now we can only hope they remember disabled people can vote too.

Absolutely ridiculous amount, I earn £25,000, I’m on my own and what do I get, nothing and I have a mortgage to pay. I don’t know a single poor pensioner infact my Mum saves off hers and hasn’t paid a jot in as hadn’t worked a day in her life!

Do you think it was charities who voted in the local elections? Because that's what's brought this about, depressing as it is, so yes, I do think pensioners are willing to vote on the basis of £200 and so does the government.