Thoughts please ...

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

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.

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

mixed up

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

@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.

@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!

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.

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

It’s still jolly cold at night in most of Europe.

MissAdventure. It was hard enough applying for the lower end. If I have to have more help will attempt to do so.

JaneJudge

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

Yes, ESA qualifies, but only the income related (means tested) allowance - the means tested ESA component of UC also counts. Interesting that Scotland pay a fuel allowance to people on PIP/DLA/AA if they have children, and are planning to expand on this. The rest of the UK have no plans at present to follow suit.

Bijou

MissAdventure. It was hard enough applying for the lower end. If I have to have more help will attempt to do so.

I do hope so, and age concern could help you with your application.

There are many who really need the WFP and given the debacle with fuel price increases now some will need it even more so. There are thosr who don't need it, those who live in well insulated accommodation and those who don't usually experience cold winter months. I think it should remain. The £10 Christmas bonus though could be withdrawn but as it is unlike the WFP,an actual law this is more difficult to change. It's like the bus pass if you can afford to sure you pay your full fare!

There wasn't a UC debacle. It was made quite clear at the start that the £20 uplift was temporary during the Covid-19 crisis. People conveniently forgot that fact. It was always a temporary thing. It lasted a lot longer than was originally thought.

The winter fuel payment was introduced to offset a lower state pension increase it has not increased annually with state pension therefore more cost effective than adding to pension payments.