Winter Fuel Allowance
Quote from jkwebster06 on August 1, 2024, 9:19 pmI for one am very disappointed in our new Labour Chancellors' policy that the Winter Fuel Allowance (WFA) is stopped for ALL State pensioners NOT on benefits. That £200 we would have received (in our case) was a big help towards the obviously extra heating costs incurred in winter - it certainly made USING the heating more palatable, not worrying about the incoming bills depleting savings ! Let me explain ; we are not hard up, we lead a reasonably comfortable life, a life in which we've worked very hard to ensure we could have a retirement without owing money or getting into debt. Utility bills are a necessity of course, but over recent years have sky rocketed meaning that £200 was a very welcome "gift" from the Tory government which helped many thousands over the Winter. As I said, it helped those who could pay the bill without worrying too much about the extra cost they inevitably incur in winter. We are certainly NOT in the "Eat or Heat" element of society, but would find that £200 very welcome knowing it would cover the extra costs associated with Winter living.
As a footnote, Chancellor Rachel Reeves last year claimed almost £1300 for utilities for her London MPs home, including almost £1200 for energy, while receiving her £90k salary (source ; IPSA website, parliamentary expenses 2023/24) - this is the same woman who, at a stroke, made one of her main policy decisions to axe the WFA for those pensioners who have kept their heads above water, not claimed any benefits and now face a winter of uncertainty - oh thank you Rachel. Surely a fairer system would be to stop the WFA for those earning say, £60 pa, NOT a blanket axe on those on a lowly £12k & above . HMRC have the details of earnings, so working with the Chancellors Dept could make the task easier.
I know if her policy had been made public prior to the Election, many thousands of pensioners would have voted anywhere but Labour ! John (JKW)
I for one am very disappointed in our new Labour Chancellors' policy that the Winter Fuel Allowance (WFA) is stopped for ALL State pensioners NOT on benefits. That £200 we would have received (in our case) was a big help towards the obviously extra heating costs incurred in winter - it certainly made USING the heating more palatable, not worrying about the incoming bills depleting savings ! Let me explain ; we are not hard up, we lead a reasonably comfortable life, a life in which we've worked very hard to ensure we could have a retirement without owing money or getting into debt. Utility bills are a necessity of course, but over recent years have sky rocketed meaning that £200 was a very welcome "gift" from the Tory government which helped many thousands over the Winter. As I said, it helped those who could pay the bill without worrying too much about the extra cost they inevitably incur in winter. We are certainly NOT in the "Eat or Heat" element of society, but would find that £200 very welcome knowing it would cover the extra costs associated with Winter living.
As a footnote, Chancellor Rachel Reeves last year claimed almost £1300 for utilities for her London MPs home, including almost £1200 for energy, while receiving her £90k salary (source ; IPSA website, parliamentary expenses 2023/24) - this is the same woman who, at a stroke, made one of her main policy decisions to axe the WFA for those pensioners who have kept their heads above water, not claimed any benefits and now face a winter of uncertainty - oh thank you Rachel. Surely a fairer system would be to stop the WFA for those earning say, £60 pa, NOT a blanket axe on those on a lowly £12k & above . HMRC have the details of earnings, so working with the Chancellors Dept could make the task easier.
I know if her policy had been made public prior to the Election, many thousands of pensioners would have voted anywhere but Labour ! John (JKW)
Quote from DavidFullard on August 2, 2024, 8:31 pmI don’t believe that many OAPs voted Labour John. I believe Labour know that. I believe it’s because of that they feel safe attacking the oldies. A group with no voice, no platform, no power. I DO believe your point that had the oldies who did vote Labour knew what Labour planned they might have voted otherwise.
Labour have also ditched the cap on care home fees that can be clawed back through property liens etc. It was to be capped at £89k. pp. if you own a property with equal 100% ownership look up Land Registry Severance Docs. It can protect half of your property value if one of you goes into a care home. Then there is the triple lock. It too is almost certainly in danger. But the 5 year cap on personal tax allowances will continue.
No winter fuel allowance for most.Triple lock almost certainly to go
Personal tax allowance capped for a further 2-3 years.
Care home fees cap scrapped.
i guess we are lucky. None of it bothers us at all. HMRC scam me for 40% tax already. We have split our house ownership to 50/50% ownership and had mirror wills drawn up.. We have savings in ISAs at 5:25% interest for another 2 years. I saw this coming. We spend 7 months of the year at our holiday home which is far cheaper in energy costs than our large house.
In all of this I think Reeves was targeting the comfortable oldies. And there are lots of us it must be said. Losing the £200 John won’t impact on your lifestyle one bit I am sure. It was a welcome freebie but not having it won’t change one thing in your lives. There are however, a couple of million folk for whom it WILL change something in their lives. Those just above the benefits line, those who survive rather than live in relative comfort. The loss of the WFA will hurt them.
Anyway John, in a couple of days you will have a comfy NHS bed for a night..maybe 2. Good luck with you hip op old friend, we will be thinking of you.
I don’t believe that many OAPs voted Labour John. I believe Labour know that. I believe it’s because of that they feel safe attacking the oldies. A group with no voice, no platform, no power. I DO believe your point that had the oldies who did vote Labour knew what Labour planned they might have voted otherwise.
Labour have also ditched the cap on care home fees that can be clawed back through property liens etc. It was to be capped at £89k. pp. if you own a property with equal 100% ownership look up Land Registry Severance Docs. It can protect half of your property value if one of you goes into a care home. Then there is the triple lock. It too is almost certainly in danger. But the 5 year cap on personal tax allowances will continue.
No winter fuel allowance for most.
Triple lock almost certainly to go
Personal tax allowance capped for a further 2-3 years.
Care home fees cap scrapped.
i guess we are lucky. None of it bothers us at all. HMRC scam me for 40% tax already. We have split our house ownership to 50/50% ownership and had mirror wills drawn up.. We have savings in ISAs at 5:25% interest for another 2 years. I saw this coming. We spend 7 months of the year at our holiday home which is far cheaper in energy costs than our large house.
In all of this I think Reeves was targeting the comfortable oldies. And there are lots of us it must be said. Losing the £200 John won’t impact on your lifestyle one bit I am sure. It was a welcome freebie but not having it won’t change one thing in your lives. There are however, a couple of million folk for whom it WILL change something in their lives. Those just above the benefits line, those who survive rather than live in relative comfort. The loss of the WFA will hurt them.
Anyway John, in a couple of days you will have a comfy NHS bed for a night..maybe 2. Good luck with you hip op old friend, we will be thinking of you.
Quote from jkwebster06 on September 24, 2024, 8:52 pm"Anyway John, in a couple of days you will have a comfy NHS bed for a night..maybe 2." Well, it turned out much longer than a night, maybe 2, because I was in intensive care ( now called Critical Care Unit I found out !) for nearly a week and then onto a medical ward. Despite being back in for a brief spell since then (long story !) I'm now OUT and recovering slowly, in fact if my knees hadn't really been a pain I'd be walking normally because the hip op has been a complete success.
I digress ; my original post concerned the axing of the Winter Fuel Allowance, and despite there being 99 viewings only 1 (ONE) actually posted a reply, although Ron & Micky S did give the posts a Thumbs Up.
Surely some of the remainder had a thought on the subject, something to get your teeth into I imagined ? Don't let the site wither & die through apathy, your opinion is more than welcome and here we had the ideal subject to discuss - for me, I cannot agree with Governments' decision to cut the Winter Fuel Allowance for all pensioners, made worse by the short notice given. The actual monetary saving to the Government is minimal in the grand scheme of things yet the damage to their reputation is huge, and will not be forgotten even in 4 years time. They didn't have the guts to include it in their manifesto which proves they just cannot be trusted.
C'mon guys, join in & help keep this great site alive. John (JKW)
"Anyway John, in a couple of days you will have a comfy NHS bed for a night..maybe 2." Well, it turned out much longer than a night, maybe 2, because I was in intensive care ( now called Critical Care Unit I found out !) for nearly a week and then onto a medical ward. Despite being back in for a brief spell since then (long story !) I'm now OUT and recovering slowly, in fact if my knees hadn't really been a pain I'd be walking normally because the hip op has been a complete success.
I digress ; my original post concerned the axing of the Winter Fuel Allowance, and despite there being 99 viewings only 1 (ONE) actually posted a reply, although Ron & Micky S did give the posts a Thumbs Up.
Surely some of the remainder had a thought on the subject, something to get your teeth into I imagined ? Don't let the site wither & die through apathy, your opinion is more than welcome and here we had the ideal subject to discuss - for me, I cannot agree with Governments' decision to cut the Winter Fuel Allowance for all pensioners, made worse by the short notice given. The actual monetary saving to the Government is minimal in the grand scheme of things yet the damage to their reputation is huge, and will not be forgotten even in 4 years time. They didn't have the guts to include it in their manifesto which proves they just cannot be trusted.
C'mon guys, join in & help keep this great site alive. John (JKW)
Quote from Cliff_C on September 28, 2024, 5:03 pmGood to hear that you are well John.
I am not a pensioner yet (next year) but I live 13 miles north of Aberdeen and can assure you that its freezing just now. I am quite sure that here will be many pensioners up here that will suffer because of the cost of fuel and the little they received in the allowance would have helped. I wonder how many pensioners voted for labour? I have only ever voted once for labour. It has always been conservative because of the big pay rise I received from Maggie many years ago. I then got sick and tired of all the countries assets being privatised so I once voted for labour, only once. New labour just carried on what the Tories started, privatisation just continued. I now refer to Blair as "The murderer Tony Blair" because of the lies which led to the second Gulf war.
All the best, Cliff
Good to hear that you are well John.
I am not a pensioner yet (next year) but I live 13 miles north of Aberdeen and can assure you that its freezing just now. I am quite sure that here will be many pensioners up here that will suffer because of the cost of fuel and the little they received in the allowance would have helped. I wonder how many pensioners voted for labour? I have only ever voted once for labour. It has always been conservative because of the big pay rise I received from Maggie many years ago. I then got sick and tired of all the countries assets being privatised so I once voted for labour, only once. New labour just carried on what the Tories started, privatisation just continued. I now refer to Blair as "The murderer Tony Blair" because of the lies which led to the second Gulf war.
All the best, Cliff