Winter Fuel Allowance

[sir.prize]

So there has been a call for the wealthy to forgo their winter fuel allowance so that it may be distributed to the more needy. Sounds great in principle but . . . the needy will already be getting their own allowance. So to whom will any donations be distributed?

[arieswoman]

Winter Fuel Allowance has been given by various Governments to try to ensure that no-one dies or suffers from cold through winter. BUT it is still not reaching the people who really need it. It was decided not to means-test so all pensioners receive WFA of either £200 or £300 depending on age, irregardless of financial situation which is ridiculous and surely needs to be addressed.

I feel strongly that this is going to the wrong people - please let me explain why ... I'm 62, a divorced woman and receive £200 WFA. When I was 56 I suffered from severe clinical depression, was unable to work and lived off my savings, not wanting to claim benefits! When my savings ran out 2 years later I had to claim as I still wasn't well. I was told that I couldn't get Jobseekers allowance as I wasn't fit to work; hadn't paid enough contributions to receive Disability Living Allowance (as I'd paid a reduced stamp when I got married) so I was given Income Support of £52 per week for 6 months - through the winter months.

I lived in a 1 bed flat with storage heaters and fed the electric meter like it was a fruit machine. When people talk about 'fuel poverty' (i.e. more than 10% of income is used for fuel) I have to laugh. It cost me £20-£25 a week to cook, bathe and keep warm, and not very successfully. Weekly I spent £8 for water, £5 for a phone and £3 for tv licence. I was in receipt of Housing/Counci Tax Benefit and truly grateful to all the tax payers for giving this to me, but I was left with £14-19 a week for food, travel (to doctor's appointments) and clothing.

After 6 months my Income Support was raised to £80 a week for no given reason but thankfully I could now eat and put on, occasionally, 1 bar of an electric fire through the winter months. However I still spent an entire Winter laying on my couch under a blanket - only going out to get food, see the doctor and standing next to the lovely warm radiator in the Age Concern charity shop!

Eventually I became 60 and a pensioner! I got a paltry State Pension of about £56 per week because I'd paid the married woman's stamp. The Government however states that Pension Credit must boost this to a level which is considered the minimum it is possible to live on - currently around £138 a week (plus housing benefit and council tax allowance). So overnight I got a £58 a week 'pay-rise' and also became entitled to WFA!! Wow... felt like I'd won the lottery.

I lead a modest lifestyle and don't do drugs, alcohol daily or party!! and manage to save money after paying my bills. I am able to eat what I want, keep really warm, buy my family birthday and xmas presents and have an occasional nice evening out to the theatre with a bottle of wine and am saving for a foreign holiday - which I should be able to afford about once every 3 years.

As you can tell I really do not NEED the winter fuel allowance. I am truly grateful for what I receive - BUT I really worry for the people who, as I did, live on Income Support, usually in down-trodden accommodation with key meters (which are absurdly higher-rated than pre-payment meters). THEY truly are the people who should be receiving the Winter Fuel Allowance.

Many pensioners interviewed on tv who state they cannot keep warm through the winter are people living in their own houses. I know it's difficult for them as often their private pensions put them into a category above Pension Credit but maybe not by that much! They may also be paying tax which provides for me (and is truly appreciated)! Their houses cost money to maintain and require a lot of heating and they have to pay council tax. The only way they can improve their 'lot' is to down-size which is difficult as their house may have been their home for a long time. But they do still have a means to improve their situation which those on Income Support do not.

I would be happy to relinquish my WFA for it to go to someone who really needs it. It's truly miserable being cold!

[fairycakes69]

I think it should be paid in vouchers to the people who really need it. I know some one who is using the money to put towards a holiday, now to me that is wrong, if it was means tested the people who really need it would be able to get more and not worry about keeping warm, isn't that what its for.

[fairycakes69]

Yeah your right eddie, didn't think of that, there must be a better way to make sure it went to the people who need it, and for it to get used for paying for fuel.

[seadogg]

Many better off pensioners pay a deal of tax and this tends to balance out the WFA and other benefits. If the stinking rich wish to donate their allowance presumably they should be able to decide where the money goes.