Winter Fuel Payments To Go Except For The Poorest.

[Jackdaw33]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39956541

[naomi24]

//winter fuel payments - currently paid to pensioners irrespective of income - will be means-tested in future, with the proceeds going directly to care for the elderly.//

Excellent!

[mazie]

As it should be.

[douglas9401]

I suppose they'll be able to prove this is what's happening to the cash and it doesn't all go on bunting for royal shindigs and statues of babbling lunatics.

[naomi24]

Ohhhh Douglas, ye of little faith. ;o)

[Cloverjo]

That's good. It was ridiculous that all people of a certain age got the payments.

[anneasquith]

The government should start by not paying the benefit to ex pats.

[Old_Geezer]

What's most ridiculous is that pensions are sufficiently ungenerous that extras are handed out at all.

[sunny-dave]

So - one of the last non-means-tested benefits goes ... yet again (in a mean spirited and pettifoggingly small way) people who have provided for themselves are being penalised.

This now leaves the basic Old Age Pension looking a bit exposed.

Who'd bet on that being means tested by (say) 2020 - after all, just because you've paid in for 40 years doesn't mean that you should feel any entitlement, does it?

[jno]

anne, as you probably know, some expats don't get their pensions increased with inflation. I gather they do if they live in Niagara Falls, USA, but not in Niagara Falls, Canada. I've always thought that was pretty shabby.

Agree, SD.

[Georgiesmum]

Every cold winter they say a certain amount of pensioners die from the cold. Regardless of how much they have in the bank, I believe even more will die as they will be reluctant to turn their heating on. without their winter fuel payment.

[Georgiesmum]

I wonder how much they consider you have to have to be considered "only the poorest" to qualify for winter fuel payments in the future.?

[Mamyalynne]

'Means testing' always sounds fair doesn't it?

But for those just the wrong side of the £ sign it can make a huge difference.

Only a few of the well off took advantage of the chance to return their unwanted Winter Fuel Payments when it was made possible to do so.


Sure others may have donated to Charity.

[sunny-dave]

I seem to remember reading that they'd save 80% of the cost by means testing it - but then over half of that saving would be wasted in the process of doing the assessment.

As I said, a mean spirited and rather meaningless bit of gesture politics.

[Cloverjo]

Good point, Georgiesmum. My dad is not poor but he would miss his winter payment, and lots of other middling income pensioners would also.
I thought it ridiculous that people like Cliff Richard, Cilla Black and a few well-off people of my acquaintance had £200 sent to them every winter. We should stop those payments, but be careful about who else might be hurt by the cuts.

[sunny-dave]

Or ... it could be a Machiavellian plan to freeze loads of OAPs to death and save on the pensions payments ...

[Rosetta]

How about making Child Benefit means tested as well to give some parity?

[douglas9401]

I suppose they're testing the water, checking reaction to the once unthinkable. Who'd have believed that even that bunch of forkers would remove payments from their own while doling it out to, as someone once said, Bongo-Bongo Land?
They must be very confident of their majority, what larks if this gave Corbyn the edge. Looks like we're in for a bumpy ride though.

[naomi24]

anneasquith, //The government should start by not paying the benefit to ex pats.//

Why? As sunny-dave says pensioners have ‘paid in’ for forty years so why automatically penalise people just because they choose to live elsewhere after retirement? Other countries are cold in winter too, and contrary to popular belief the only income for many who choose to live abroad is their State pension.

Rosetta, //How about making Child Benefit means tested as well to give some parity? //

People on high salaries (well, £50,000, if you call that high) are already penalised on child benefit payments. This from the Citizens Advice Bureau.

//Child Benefit still continues to be paid to everyone, but if you're a higher-income family, you'll have to pay extra tax if you choose to keep getting it. The extra tax you pay will effectively cancel out some or all of your Child Benefit. You'll have to pay more tax if either you or your partner have an income over £50,000 a year depending on how much income you've got, but you'll still continue to receive the same amount of Child Benefit. If your income is over £60,000 a year, you'll pay so much more in tax that it will cancel out all of the Child benefit you get.//

[Old_Geezer]

Ex pats that don't move to warmer climes would still have winter fuel to buy. Those that do move to warmer climes should get air cond fuel payments in the summer, but since those aren't offered they at least can save winter payments until they're needed. But as implied above, it's easier to stop all the additional handouts and pay a level of pension that the government doesn't feel so guilty about that they add things to.

[mikey4444]

I don't have a problem with winter fuel payments being means tested, although whenever this has been mentioned in the past, we have been told that it will cost more to implement. Lets see how it goes.

But does anybody know for sure if the pension triple lock will survive the Election ? I have looked on line and can't be sure.