Thoughts please ...

Is it worth you applying for the higher rate of attendance allowance, Bijou?

I believe t.hat not all pensioners claim all that to which they all entitled. I am 98 widowed, housebound with mobility problems because of arthritis. I am on Pension Credit Guarantee and the lower end of Attendance Allowance. I get £140 minus VAT taken off my electricity bill and £300 Winter Fuel Allowance. I do not pay Council Tax something not all claim.
I do have to pay for help with housework and showering.
I know this because my mother never claimed all to which she was entitled.

@Hetty58

I do think the Christmas bonus should be dropped, though. £10 is irrelevant, really - and somewhat insulting.

As much as there is very little one can purchase for this £10, there are still so many of us who actually NEED it. In my opinion, it needs to be increased, not taken away!

@JaneJudge

The cold weather payment is only paid off the external temperature during daylight hours is 0⁰C or lower for 7 consecutive days.

We could have 6 days that would qualify then 1 day at 1⁰C and they would start counting again the next time the daytime temperature is 0⁰C or lower.

It's a bit of a cop-out because the government will try any way they can to get out of paying it, especially by using a 1⁰C temperature from somewhere close by instead of your own town/city.

There are some of us who are disabled and existing on government benefits who are not yet of pensionable age and not on UC, so we didn't get the UC £20/week uplift and we don't get the WFA.
I got a 67p/week increase in my benefits in April and there was nothing in the recent budget for people like me, yet prices are increasing everywhere. Even a bag of apples short up from £1.60 to £2.00 a few weeks ago and that's only one item in the shipping basket, where are we meant to find the cash for all these prices rises from when we're already on the breadline?

I NEED my fuel allowance as I only have a small private pension. If you do not need it give it to charity but do NOT write to the government stating that ALL pensioners are well off and not in need of their heating allowance cause I am living in dire poverty. I am sick of this smug "I'm alright Jack" attitude. Some of us NEED the heating allowance and since we have worked all our lives we are entitled to it.

every year the camden new journal make a collection and deliver xmas hampers to those in need.
it brings much good cheer, even seeing someone at the door.
so if anyone has any spare cash perhaps consider something like this.
camdennewjournal.com/article/hamper-time-your-gifts-help-make-christmas

Caro57

I have a British friend who lives he Portugal and they get it!! - the system really needs sorting

I’ve just read this in the finance pages if the Mail on Sunday
“The Winter a fuel Allowance is not paid to pensioners who have moved to warm countries such as Portugal.” What is unclear is whether you get it if you only spend the winter abroad or if you have to be living there permanently. The case illustrated in the Mail was because a woman had bought her house from a chap living in Portugal and then found that he was getting half her allowance! He hadn’t informed the DWP that he’d sold the house and they assumed that the woman who bought his house was cohabiting with him!
She eventually got her full allowance refunded but the article doesn’t say whether he had to pay it back.

No I don’t. It might tip someone into taxation and make them worse off. I wouldn’t say someone just below the tax threshold was very well off, though better off than some obviously.

Don’t you think it would be fairer if winter fuel payment were added to other income then the better off would be taxed on it?

Well, I am a pensioner and receive £200 a year .
I believe it’s called the Winter Fuel Allowance .
I won’t be donating mine to charity as it’s very much needed.

There are an awful lot of pensioners who do genuinely need this money. Let’s hope this government don’t decide to do away with it. It really wouldn’t surprise me if they did though.

You need to be over pensionable age to receive the winter fuel payment. I deferred my state pension but still getting the winter fuel payment. I intend to donate it to charity.

magshard20 I think the logic of £200 for one, £200 for two is that when you heat a room for one person, a second could also sit in it without using any more heat. It isn't like a meal for one having to be stretched to feed two.

I think the best for all concerned is if you don’t want the fuel allowance you donate it to a worthwhile cause, then everyone’s happy.

mixed up

Pammie1, you are right. I am getting mised up. It was for ESA It is listed here it is apparently £25 per 7 days of cold weather between 1st Nov and end of March

I think a lot of people are getting confused . There are two separate payments . Fuel allowance is paid to pensioners with a low income and pension credit , and Winter Fuel Payment which is paid to all pensioners.

I receive £200 Winter Fuel payments each year and do NOT have any Pension Credits.

@JaneJudge. It depends on when you were born and how many other people in the household qualify. There are two rates - £200 for those born between 1941 and 1955 and £300 for those born before 1941. If you qualify and live alone you will get the full payment for your age group and if you live with someone else who qualifies, payment will be split between you according to your circumstances. Some people who are in full time care also qualify according to circumstances. However, your point about PIP/DLA is incorrect - I think you may be thinking of the Christmas bonus of £10. In Scotland there is a child winter heating payment of £202 available to people who claim the enhanced daily living rate of either PIP or DLA. They’re looking to introduce legislation to expand this to help more families, but not sure how it works. Currently in England PIP/DLA alone does not qualify you for the winter fuel payment.

JaneJudge,
My husband got his State Pension before I did, in the interim he received £200 for a couple of years for the Winter payment, but as soon as I reached State Pension age, it miraculously went down to £200 split between us.... £100 each !! I think this is ridiculous.....I do know that when you reach 80 you get £300 if you are living on your own ( not sure if you are still a couple, probably halves to £150 each)
We all like to think we can manage, but with prices for everything going up it is increasingly difficult to keep up with bills especially during the winter months when heating is really needed.
We as a couple really appreciate this money, but would welcome more if the government wanted to increase it!!

this is from the gov uk website

i get a payment of £140 each year because i am on certain benefits, i use a key card meter and it is paid onto the key, when i put the key in the meter it comes up with the money from the goverment, mine is always paid around march which seems silly as we will have past the coldest time of the year. i have radiators in my house that are to expensive for me to run so i try to keep a bit each month from march to put extra on my key for later on in the year.

Born between 27 September 1941 and 26 September 1955Born on or before 26 September 1941
You qualify and live alone (or none of the people you live with qualify)£200£300
You qualify and live with someone under 80 who also qualifies£100£200
You qualify and live with someone 80 or over who also qualifies£100£150
You qualify, live in a care home and do not get certain benefits£100£150

Why did OP not return? Weird.

People on PIP do get a payment if it goes below a certain temperature I think but iirc it's about £10!

How does it work? does each pensioner get £100 each? or do couples get £200
I am really confused by it