Donating Winter fuel allowance to the young unemployed!

We see endless wealth -footballers,bankers,filmstars,in the papers and where do we see their donations to charity-nowhere-the multimillionaires in Victorian times used their wealth to enjoy themselves but also built art galleries,founded libraries, supported orphanages and endowed hospital beds and university halls. Apart from Bill Gates who is there?

We need our winter fuel allowance, we would not be able to pay our heating bills without it.
Why is it assumed only the young are struggling at this time, it is hard for most of us at the moment.
Take away the fuel allowance and we will go back to the elderly dying hyperthermia as they will not put the heating on because of the fear of not being able to pay the bills

I resent them even suggesting we should. We are propping up the younger generation more than ever before. I don't recall going to my parents to ask for money to pay the bills, we worked, we struggled and if we could not afford we did without. I never had central heating and if there was no money to buy coal we did without. The young are more able to withstand the cold than us pensioners.
The very sad thing is that some pensioners will actually believe they are less deserving and give up the allowance.

I think this would only encourage the feeling of entitlement which many (but not all) young people have.

Some time ago I was listening to a radio programme when a student came on and said, quite seriously, that all us oldies living in large houses should sell them and GIVE the money to students so they would not end their university years with a large debt. This, of course, is a more extreme version of Harriet Harmons idea that we should be taxed out of our homes in order for young families to move in - here's an idea, why don't young people limit the size of their families?

I would be willing to give up this years Winter Fuel Allowance if it was to go to an older person who was struggling with fuel bills. I am planning to be out of the country visiting family in warmer climes this winter so I won't need it as such, although I have just paid an arm and a leg to fill my oil tank which does all my heating, hot water and cooking!

I too was extremely annoyed at the new charity. While I hate the fact that young people are increasingly disadvantaged, there's a plethora of charities helping the young. The empoverished, lonely, desperate and chronically ill elderly continually go unrecognised, yet are most in need of help. This is a ticking timebomb.
Notice too the Mayfair address of the new charity.
If well to do older people want to donate their winter fuel allowance they should give it to their less well off contemporaries. So there!

Instead of suggesting the those in reciept of the winter allowance donate it to young families how about stopping the cash in benefits and instead have vouchers to cover heating , food etc , This would ensure that no matter how much prices go up the young familes would be protected and also ensure benefit money was being spent correctly and not on unnecessary items .

More and more I feel we are considered to be past it and not worthy of any help. Yes it is important to look after the young and disadvantaged, but there are many elderly who come into that category too. If we want to donate we should be the ones to choose .

I think if anybody feels they can do without their Winter Fuel Allowance, then, yes, donate it to charity. Any charity of their choice, it's their money.

But they should do it quietly because you don't want to put ideas in the government's heads!

Many old people still do need it and I wish the better off ones would BE QUIET!

I agree jingle too loud and those money bags of a government will start rubbing their hands together and thinking we can make another saving here!! There are a lots of people who depend on this benefit. But for anyone who does not need the allowance yes donate it to a worthy cause but leave it for them to choose.

Every time I try to type a response to the suggestion that we donate our winter fuel allowance to the young unemployed....it ends up with swear words in. So I'll stop trying.

No! - go on notso!

I do so agree with you all! I suggested last year that DH and I give our allowance to Age UK or where it would be used to help older people who need it more than we do. I am very conscious of how lucky we are, (but also of the hours we worked in the public sector to get here!) and of people of our age who desperately need help. We didn't get round to it, but we will this year. But not to this youth charity!

jingle you're a minx!

Seriously though, I wish some organisation would carry out research into the 'added value' that the older population - and particularly grandparents - bring to the overall economy.

For instance, free childminding so parents can work and pay income tax and NI contributions. By being enabled to work, those same parents will have more disposable income that can be subject to VAT when spent. They will be less reliable on the state for benefits.

How many of us regularly buy new coats/shoes/school uniform etc for our grandchildren? It's all money going back into the economy. It helps out the kids' parents so that again, they are less likely to need help from the state.

So I don't think any of us need to feel undeserving of our winter fuel allowance, or any other benefit to which we may be entitled.

To the charity suggesting the WF allowance is donated to the young unemployed I would say .....

'Come and look around my town's shopping centre. It's not the young unemployed who are chasing their tails juggling their younger sibs whilst their parents work. It's the grandparents! So maybe the young unemployed would like to donate a small part of their unemployment benefit to buy me a cup of coffee every now and then? So they can carry on having a lie-in in the mornings!'

That is so true notso!

By the way, when do we get the allowance. I'm 60 soon but won't get my pension till I'm 62..is that when I'll get my fuel allowance? If so, It's bad enough waiting an extra 2 years, without being asked to give it away!

If you're a woman, you can claim a Winter Fuel Payment when you reach state pension age. You must be state pension age in the qualifying week for the winter concerned. The qualifying week always begins on the third Monday of September. (plagiarised from www.adviceguide.org.uk)

Have got an awful feeling that means I've got to wait 3 years! This gets worse.....

Yes, it really doesn't pay to have a birthday late in the year.

Wow; get in by the skin of my teeth in 2013! Thanks Annobel [you watch them scrap it just as I'm entitled to it, though ]

crimson

I got mine the first winter after my 60th birthday. Hubby is a few months younger than me, so now they send us half each.

I dislike the patronising way this suggestion has been put forward. Obviously, there are older people who don't need their fuel allowance. Those who have a charitable frame of mind will donate it to a charity of their choosing or, perhaps, to their own family members. Those who are less charitable will keep it and spend it on whatever they choose. I don't need someone poking their nose in and suggesting that I should donate my winter fuel allowance to a particular charity as, apparently, I am so old, stupid, mean and unaware of people in need that I have to pointed in the right direction.

Well, the suggestion has raised the temperature here for sure!! Not to mention hackles and blood pressure!!

My DH receives a small private pension but still has to pay tax - tax which I presume goes to pay towards unemployment and other benefits, so if he gets WF surely he is entitled to keep it.
I have worked as a volunteer for a charity for years and know loads of retired people do likewise - we all give where we want to or where we see need but I don't want to be told!