How cold is it where you are?

[Icanthinkformyselfthanks]

Are you worried about the old people who are too concerned about paying their bills because they’ve lost their WFA to put their heating on/up?

Why is your brother living like that? Is he living in an area he cannot afford on his salary?

this thread is so odd people ranting that oap’s should have savings, should be prepared, then saying anyone else who is poor is helpless, having absolutely no control over their own circumstances. How does that make any sense?

If any energy companies were not so greedy , people would have their heating on more. So they would probably make more money . As alot of people are scared to even turn it on

this thread is so odd people ranting that oap’s should have savings, should be prepared, then saying anyone else who is poor is helpless, having absolutely no control over their own circumstances. How does that make any sense?

I suppose that some people would see it as they have had a lot longer to accrue savings, against a different Social climate, where as with the cost of living, housing etc, it may be harder for some people to survive month to month, with anything left over, at the end of it.

This. This is the real issue imo, the energy companies having cart blanch to keep raising their prices, and the Government doing nothing to protect its citizens against the unjust increases, which always happen in time for each Winter. We would all benefit from fairer energy prices.

What an unfeeling and horrible response. "They" have not all had the opportunity to save. I see it as a societal problem if the vulnerable elderly are dying of hypothermia because they can't afford to put the heating on. Everybody's problem. Presumably, you don't know anybody in that position - or maybe you do because you've stated that you just don't care. Let's hope you're not sitting there freezing in years to come with younger people shrugging and saying "Not my problem".

But those same working age adults who dont have enough to save at the end of a month will soon be pensioners. Where will their pensioner savings come from? Pensioners have also had recessions, low wages, one income due to lack of childcare options. The 80’s recession was terrible and some families wouldn't have recovered enough ever.

If you are struggling at around 40 to save, why assume everyone older than you had it easy and should have hundreds of thousands for your pension years in the bank?

why is our pension in the UK one of the lowest in europe? Why not ask that? Our pensions are poor.

The UK devotes a smaller percentage of its GDP to state pensions and pensioner benefits than most other advanced economies. A comparison of state pension alone shows the UK providing a lower level of pension than most other advanced economies relative to average earnings. The UK has an overall net replacement rate of 54.4%from mandatory pensions for an average earner, below the OECD average of 61.4%.

Source: OECD: Pensions At A Glance 2023, Table 4.2 and 4.5_

OECD estimated that 14.5% of people aged 66 and over in the UK were living in relative income poverty in 2022. This was the 14thhighest rate among 34 OECD countries for which data was available for 2019-2022.

-4 with extremely thick black ice & snow on the back roads. It's a nightmare.

-6 outside this morning. We are lucky enough to not have to worry about the cost of heating but even with running it almost all the time it's really hard to get the house above 16 - Edwardian House so no cavity wall insulation, huge single glazed sash windows etc.

Its not so much the OAPs I'm worried about but the young families, or those with life limiting conditions, who don't qualify for extra help.

Was -7 when I got up. North Hampshire. Now -3 but beautiful sunshine, crystal clear blue skies.

this thread is so odd people ranting that oap’s should have savings, should be prepared, then saying anyone else who is poor is helpless, having absolutely no control over their own circumstances. How does that make any sense?

@DorothyStorm Because the older generation benefited from cheap housing, high wages, low taxes, and good pensions - relative to today. In those days, you could work hard and work paid. These days the situation is almost completely hopeless unless you benefit from generational wealth. Work no longer pays. Wealth is inherited, not earned.

For the past couple of decades, wealth has been directed away from younger people, and towards the older generation, who are not only the wealthiest generation in history, but who have also taken more from the state (relative to what they've paid in), than any other generation. People have had enough of the generational inequality.

Of course, not every single person in that generation is well off, but in general, they had a lot more opportunity than today's younger people. Also policies made are based on averages. You can't make country-wide decisions based on the fact that Maureen down the road is worse off than average for her generation. There's always going to be a certain proportion of people who have fallen behind the rest of their generation, for whatever reason, but on average, older people are much better off than most.

you must be in or near the Arctic Circle - your heart should feel at home

In the article circle.

no my heart is fine. Just sick of the issues caused by this elder generation who’ve had everything handed to them on a plate and still they can’t save for a pensions. Thier choices have destroyed our economy and country over the last 40 years putting us where we are. So I’ve no sympathy for those that have failed to plan. How many of them fucked us voting fro thatcher or Brexit?

Well my home has drafty external doors and windows so any heat gets taken right back out again

Well I'm sure you must be completely sure it's Every Single One of us. Definitely was!! We're all loaded miserable, bitching, benefiting from buying houses for threepence hapenny or automatically having been given 8 bedroom council houses, all worked in hugely pensioned jobs, hating everyone under 40, arseholes.

None of us have one iota of compassion for any other struggling demographics - in fact, we despise single parents and 'benefits cheats' ( because we all know they are lazy work shy youngsters pretending to be ill), and we want to die sitting on our hoarded wealth

Yes. You're absolutely correct. Every last friend of mine over 60 is exactly this stereotype .

Went from -5c to 1c now, it's going to feel like a heat wave on Tuesday when it hits 11c.

Door curtains and sausage dogs , thick window curtains and cling film like secondary glazing can all help and much can be found cheaply in charity shops

There is clearly a hard cut off between the deserving young and the profligate elderly - I'd love to know which side I am on please - could someone specify an age

Blooming freezing where I am. lakes completely frozen over etc.
I work with the elderly and do loads of home visits to them so go in a lot of homes. Over the past few weeks whilst it's been so cold I've been asking them if they are keeping warm and every one of them has said yes and their homes have felt warm. I'm not disputing that there are some struggling or they could be lying and just put the heating on because I was going round !. The charity I work for has food, blankets and small heathers to give out to people if we come across people who need them. We have also been able to make household support fund applications for some older people who are struggling and have lost the WFP but that fund did run out pretty quickly in our area. I think many on Pension credit are still getting the WFP, many are on disability benefits so get extra money that way. I do worry for the group just above the pension credit threshold who have lost wfp.

The cut off point is ridiculous not sure if the politicians are even aware that pension is £221 a week and pension credit cut off is £218.

There are lots of circumstances that make the threshold higher like if someone is on a disability benefit or a carer etc.

-5 icy and foggy here atm. Got down to -10 last night 🥶🥶

My heating is on but it's barely taking the chill off...I'm wearing my sexy Oodie 😂

Minus 3, south coast.
Dmums flat is always hotter than the Sahara. She has money to keep it like that.
I do worry about fuel poverty generally though. No one should go cold.

That doesn’t go far when gas and electric is over £200 a month, council tax, water rates, food, rent, insurances, taxi if they can’t drive and not on bus route and when widowed it’s a pittance coming into the home. Why should the elderly, many of whom are on blood thinners that mean they feel the cold far more, suffer when they have been through hard post war times only to end up being thought of as a burden on the countries financial situation.
Hopefully, we will get to old age but to be old and cold is not something to look forward to.

Parents of ‘young families’ get child benefit…it’s a hell of a lot more than a pensioner who’s £10 over for pension credit.

But it’s alright for wealthy parents to get child benefit?