Idiots

[BayBoy1]

So what is wrong with Idiot Duncan Smith? he wants to stop the Winter fuel allowance for ex pat pensioners, who have paid into the scheme all their working life, and now we have that prat Cable who wants to tax pensioners on their Bus passes .What planet are they from???

[VHG]

>>>What planet are they from???

The planet that says the country is heavily in debt, and people who live in Spain dont really need a winter fuel payment.

The planet which says benefits should be a safety net, not something we hand out to anyone and everyone, even if they are a millionaire.

For example is it right Richard Branson should get child benefit for his children or David Bowie gets a winter fuel payment (as examples)?

If we have so many prats running the country, and you obviously think it is easy, why dont you try to stand to be an MP, form a governemt, and then get into power.

Then you can make any rules you like.

Or is it easier to sit behind your computer screen and call eveyone else a prat.

[emmie]

zanussi, going round and round...

[emmie]

so happily give loads of benefits to people who haven't paid a penny into the system, but punish those who have, what a fecking joke

[friedgreentomato]

VHG has covered my thoughts

[hc4361]

Not all UK born pensioners have paid in to the system, much as we like to think all our over 65s have been industrious all their working lives.

I know a few older women who have never earned enough to pay income tax.

[Gromit]

The Winter Fuel Allowance was introduced by John Major as an election bribe and every Government since has been unable to take it away.

The grant was originally paid out if the winter temperature went below freezing for several consecutive days. Now it is paid out automatically.

The change meant that ex-pats living in warmer climates did not qualify previously, do now it is a universal benefit. Which means we are sending £13million to people who do not really need it.

This is probably just the start. At he moment pensioners get this benefit even if they are very wealthy. Means testing it would save a great deal of money whilst the people who really need it would be unaffected.

[pastafreak]

em10
zanussi, going round and round...

wasn't that Ariston? lol

and havn't many expats on here told us that it does get cold in the winter in Spain-so they do feel entitled to the payment. Anyway-would that really make a difference?

[cazzz1975]

Ariston.. and on..and on

[Sqad]

Gromit

\\The Winter Fuel Allowance was introduced by John Major as an election bribe and every Government since has been unable to take it away.\\\

Why has every Government since been unable to take it away?

Gordon Brown creamed the top of my Pension Plans, so why can't ANY Government stop Winter Fuel Payments?

[emmie]

so i pay a fortune in tax, NI contribution, spend whatever money here, then in my later years needs some R&R and go and live in France or Spain, so not entitled for what reason? if you are multi millionaires like Richard Branson, or Alan Sugar then you won't need it, but most people who retire to these places i am pretty sure don't have a fortune. So joe bloggs comes from wherever, lands here, no money, job, doesn't pay a penny into our system, yet will get help, someone has their priorities wrong. By the way if you have spent time in Spain as i did, it can be very cold at night, so i do not see why those who have paid and paid again get penalised for moving out of the country in their last years.
They keep on saying it should be means tested, won't that be an expensive way to work out who gets what. those rich folk who really don't need it can i am sure give it someone, say a charity..

[Prudie]

Because they don't want to be called prats.

[baza]

I would rather have £13 million sent abroad for people who have paid taxes etc than £1 spent on a house over here for some bird who cannot keep her knickers up and lives on hard earned taxes of other people.

[Prudie]

Seriously I'm not sure how you can argue that expats living in Spain deserve a winter fuel allowance?

[hc4361]

The cold weather payments are already means tested without problem.

Surely the rule should be that if you are in receipt of pension credit then you get help with fuel costs? Easy to work out who can get it.

[VHG]

>>but punish those who have, what a fecking joke

I hardly think stopping a winter fuel payment to a person living is say Spain or Australia is "punishing" them.

You only have to look back 50 or 60 or 70 years to see what REAL hardship was.

It should also be pointed out that these people who have "paid into the system" all their lives, and who now live abroad, are removing their spending power from the UK, meaning their pension is now spent in say Spain, in Spanish shops and with Spanish businesses, meaning less is spent in the UK, depriving the UK economy of their money.

But no doubt they will come back to the UK for free health service treatment if they feel ill.

[emmie]

will they come back here, why do you think that, if the health care system is better than ours, why would you.

[Sqad]

VHG

\\\But no doubt they will come back to the UK for free health service treatment if they feel ill. \\\\

Tell me that post was a joke.

[emmie]

i do not recall my mother having to be means tested to receive cold weather payments, nor winter allowance, she just got it.. and can't do without it.

[emmie]

sqad, perhaps VH didn't see the irony, that is not free treatment in the UK, one paid for it all the time whilst living, working in UK..

[hc4361]

I do know a couple who live abroad but show as living at their adult child's home so they can stay registered with a GP. They certainly have lots of 'holidays' in the UK when they need treatment, the last time for a hip replacement.

They were a feckless couple when they lived in the UK, more often living on the dole than not.