I Saw This

[curlyfries81]

And didn't know whether to laugh or cry...

https://ibb.co/fqdJfFR ;

[ToraToraTora]

try this one:

https://ibb.co/fqdJfFR

 

[ToraToraTora]

well it is one way of keeping pensioners warm I suppose.

[naomi24]

Ouch!

[curlyfries81]

Thank you, ToraToraTora. I don't know what happened there.

[Auntypoll]

Gosh Tories are really bad losers aren't they 😂 I suppose the millionaire pensioners get the gold package at the crem 😂

[New Judge]

The Prime Minister was moved today when he saw a lady pensioner struggling home with two heavy bags of shopping.

He related his tale when he got to The House and explained to members that his government's latest measures will help alleviate her plight. "We've cut her Winter Fuel Allowance so by the time the winter comes she'll only be able to afford one bag of shopping!"   🤣

 

[curlyfries81]

Ha ha! Very good. 

[newmodarmy]

Auntpolly- you've mentioned millionaire pensioners before. How many millionaires do you think will lose the WFA and how many pensioners earning less than minimum wage will lose it. I suggest the latter will significantly outweigh the former.

[Auntypoll]

That doesn't make it right that well off pensioners should have money they don't need. Anyone who is not eligible for pension credits has an extra income and savings. I'm all for giving people money when they really need it. I do think the payment should be means tested but to do that would be too expensive to administer as would lifting the threshold to say £20k. I'm not getting at pensioners, I'm one myself , and have the same opinion on universal child benefit for all parents regardless of income. 

[davebro3]

//That doesn't make it right that well off pensioners should have money they don't need. //

Wherever it comes from? Perhaps we should stop their OAP too.

[Auntypoll]

When I got my first pension payment  it was after 37 years of contributions. It's not a benefit to be taken away it's a pension that's been paid into. There are pensioners living on the poverty line and these should get help. People of pension age on comfortable incomes don't need it. I can't understand why people are jumping on this other than a political stab at the new government.

[Auntypoll]

To clarify, I meant people of pensionable age on comfortable incomes don't need the fuel allowance

[barry1010]

Auntypoll, you have got this so wrong: "Anyone who is not eligible for pension credits has an extra income and savings"

A person can have £10,000 in savings and get full pension credit. Every £500 above that limit is treated as an extra £1 a week income so they can have considerably more and still get pension credit and the benefits that come with it.  They only need to have an income 1p a week below the threshold.

The person living in an identical house next door with no savings will get no pension credit if his income is two pence a week more than his neighbour.

[Auntypoll]

Where do you get the two pence extra a week from? Is that the difference between the full new pension and the threshold for pension credit? It still doesn't change my mind about giving well off pensioners fuel allowance. The income threshold should be raised , I think a lot of people agree with that, but the logistics to process that would cost more than it would just to give everyone the allowance.

[barry1010]

So a person who has a tiny pension, or no pension, but owns a huge house (or rents) can claim full pension credit if they have £90,000 in savings 

[ladybirder]

Well you have to have a cut off at some point and wherever it is set it will upset someone who just misses out by 1p.

[barry1010]

No.  It is theoretical.  A pensioner's income can come from many sources.  A widow, for example, may have a small state pension of her own topped up with a very small work pension that puts her 1p a week over the limit.  Her neighbour might have a small state pension that puts her 1p a week under.

[barry1010]

lb, the pension credit should top up the pension to the full state pension that the government considers sufficient to live on, not the extras that can be worth thousands of pounds more.

[ladybirder]

I thought ^^ that's what I'd said.

[youngmafbog]

//Well you have to have a cut off at some point /

Well yes if you are going to stop it.  Previous investigtions though have show that to means test it will actually cost more than not.

The problem with Robber Reeves' proposal is that the cut off is too low.  If the cutoff was say national average wage the amount lost as a percentage would be less and so the pain not felt so much, if at all.

As proposed the very poor, who bothered to save rather than fritter it away on holidays and cars will suffer as pointed out above.