warm places for the elderly to go to because they are not getting the winter fuel payment

MissAdventure

I don't think this winter is even so cold.
Certainly we've had some really cold days, but winter has always featured cold weather.

Agreed.

Sun is in and out, it's chilly. I wear layers, warm clothes.

Bake breads, make soup.

Warm spaces have been available for over three years now as I volunteer in the library and we offer it! WFA is not the issue but high fuel costs across the board regardless of age or income! Yes if you are above a certain financial threshold you can put on your heating but not everybody is in that position! Children are not at school this week due to closures, families must be struggling as well
Layers, warm drinks hot water bottles, throws, hats, thermals are all necessary! Blowvthe fashion look and keep moving if possible !

Totally agree with you, unsympathetic to say the least

they did start doing warm spaces like libraries for people. i think if your friend can she should persuade to leave one room heated safely of course much cheaper than heating whole house.
before she goes maybe make a small meal ready to take to the warm room such as sandwich cover it in cling wrap or wax wrap ready then some wrapped snack things like muesli bars etc so she has some thing to eat.
maybe keep a hot drink in a flask so she does not have to hang around in a cold kitchen brewing up or soup. it is important to have lots to drink. '
i would second a heated throw they are wonderful mine was just under £20 and its a lifesaver. i have mine round me in the day and if a cold night pop it on the bed.
i do feel very sorry for your friends neighbour its disgusting the way people especially the elderly are treated they need better than this

petra

valdali

Ilovecheese

They need to have a bit more common sense than to let themselves get so cold.

Isn't the danger with hypothermia, that if someone's sitting in the cold in one postion for a long time, they don't realise how cold they're getting and then once their body temperature starts falling, it makes them sleepy?

I don't think people conciously let themselves get cold, it's important to make sure you get up & make a drink or have a snack regularly ( or just change position) because that's when you realise you need to put the heating or a fire on.

I’ve had hyperthermia. Once it kicks in you feel lovely and warm and sleepy. At the time I was physically working.
I was fortunate to be with someone who recognised what was happening.

That's hypothermia - hyperthermia is the exact opposite, it's overheating of the body.

I don't think this winter is even so cold.
Certainly we've had some really cold days, but winter has always featured cold weather.

I have a friend that says he won’t allow himself to be cold and will deal with the debt later. Not being coldest in the graveyard mentality. Not an easy situation, especially with this winter being so cold .

Our Quaker Meeting House in central Edinburgh is open as a warm space. But in the past nobody came other than Quakers who had come to help out. Maybe not a lot of housing round about.
I am chronically ill with ME and find my electric throw brilliant for warming me up. My daughter gave it to me as a present. I think it might have been about forty to sixty pounds.

surfingsal

Some good news , the elderly lady has admitted that everything is getting too much for her and was very upset , I think she has been quite stubborn over the last couple of years , she has a daughter who has wanted her mother to move in with them but she refused to and she also has a sister who also wants her to move in with her as she is lonely and they have always been close, so she has agreed to move in with her sister for a trial run , if it works out she will sell her house and invest the money in case she ever needs a care home. My friend still cannot understand how none of the family never realised how cold the house is and the fact there is no double glazing , the daughter does live about 200 miles away but even so she must have has some idea !

Appreciate the update. It would seem common sense has prevailed and I can relax now. Thank you.

MaiBea

Do you think the media uproar has worried older people so much that they fear putting the heating on. I have mine on a timer for an hour early morning and 2 in the evening and am finding it affordable, I also have a heated cushion which is rather cosy if I’m reading and a throw on my chair. I have many friends who are all of pension age and none are freezing although are being cautious. Warming the body rather than the building seems to work well

Yes I do think that.
I’m reminded of an elderly lady I was supporting when covid first hit.
I went to see her and she was wearing a mask inside her home because she believed that’s what she had to do.

MrsMatt

It's a shame that this post can't be shared with Starmer and his cronies 🤬. They have absolutely no idea what living in the real world is like.

Have you completely forgotten that for the previous 14 years people of all ages couldn’t afford heating??

Starmer didn’t cause this, I think it was a mistake to remove it so suddenly and without warning, and it’s certainly made a bad situation worse for some people, please can we put this in perspective.

valdali

Ilovecheese

They need to have a bit more common sense than to let themselves get so cold.

Isn't the danger with hypothermia, that if someone's sitting in the cold in one postion for a long time, they don't realise how cold they're getting and then once their body temperature starts falling, it makes them sleepy?

I don't think people conciously let themselves get cold, it's important to make sure you get up & make a drink or have a snack regularly ( or just change position) because that's when you realise you need to put the heating or a fire on.

I’ve had hyperthermia. Once it kicks in you feel lovely and warm and sleepy. At the time I was physically working.
I was fortunate to be with someone who recognised what was happening.

Do you think the media uproar has worried older people so much that they fear putting the heating on. I have mine on a timer for an hour early morning and 2 in the evening and am finding it affordable, I also have a heated cushion which is rather cosy if I’m reading and a throw on my chair. I have many friends who are all of pension age and none are freezing although are being cautious. Warming the body rather than the building seems to work well

Some good news , the elderly lady has admitted that everything is getting too much for her and was very upset , I think she has been quite stubborn over the last couple of years , she has a daughter who has wanted her mother to move in with them but she refused to and she also has a sister who also wants her to move in with her as she is lonely and they have always been close, so she has agreed to move in with her sister for a trial run , if it works out she will sell her house and invest the money in case she ever needs a care home. My friend still cannot understand how none of the family never realised how cold the house is and the fact there is no double glazing , the daughter does live about 200 miles away but even so she must have has some idea !

It's a shame that this post can't be shared with Starmer and his cronies 🤬. They have absolutely no idea what living in the real world is like.

"my friend has insisted she stays with her tonight". What did the woman want to do? Yes, offer friendly advice about using a timer etc, yes suggest a heated throw, but kidnap the woman because you think her house is too cold? I am not 80, but am in my 70s, and live in Scotland where it's currently -5 (daytime). If anyone came round to see me and tried to kidnap me I'd tell them to bog off, and would call the police if they wouldn't leave. And yes I turn the heating off if I'm going to be out, and yes it's icy cold when I get back, but it warms up quickly.

Quite so, they cold get hypothermia and end up in A&E.

I’m sorry if I was in that situation I’d sod the worry of the cost. I’d deal with energy companies in the summer and offer them £5 a month to clear the debt. At the end of the day the cold could kill these people so they won’t have to worry about the cost then. So angry hearing some folk are suffering like this. 😡

It's all very well saying people can go out to warm places, e.g. Asda, libraries etc but, when the weather is snow and ice, this can present it's own problems. Not everyone lives near enough to walk to such places, and, even if they have a car, the roads could be dangerous. I still think the withdrawal of the WFA was a criminal action when Starmer and his ilk are safely warm in a choice of houses, supported by the constituents!

For the first time, yesterday, I had a taste of the difference that being older makes.

I went for a walk, a bit further than was wise and got chilled. I couldn’t get warm all day. I had the heating on at 20. I sat with the electric throw. I even had a hot water bottle on my lap.

My body would just not respond. It really made me think about the physiological changes that happen as you age and how maybe “putting the heating on” isn’t always the answer if you’ve let yourself get cold before.

I agree with you theworriedwell.

I think reporting of the energy price cap can also mislead people who don't really understand what it is.

I have encountered many people who hear the latest number and assume that is what they are going to pay when in fact it's just a number based on average usage for a dual-fuel 2-3 person household based on using 2700 kWh of electricity and 11500 kWh of gas in a year.

I recall someone contacted MSE complaining that their annual bill was higher than the cap. They thought their overall bill was capped not the prices.

If used as a general guide, the cap can be helpful c/f this from Ofgem:

From 1 January to 31 March 2025 the price for energy for a typical household who use electricity and gas and pay by Direct Debit will go up by 1.2% to £1,738 per year. This is because wholesale prices remain high due to global factors.

This is 10% (£190) per year lower than the price cap set from 1 January to 31 March 2024 (£1,928).

In other words, someone still on the price cap and using to these kWh levels will now pay £190 less a year - which should lessen the blow of losing the WFP. Those using less will save less and those using more will save more.

I know Martin Lewis did a piece on MSE about leaving heating on all day. I'm pretty sure he said it was a myth that this was cheaper than turning it on when you need it but I'd have to try and find the article.

Right found it, www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/energy-saving-myths/

Looks like there isn't a one size fits all answer to this. His suggestion is to experiment and find out what works for you, your home and your heating system.

theworriedwell

I think all the reporting about the WFA is frightening people. At the end of the day if you make monthly payments to spread the cost over the year a couple of very cold weeks won't be that much on a monthly basis. We've also had some mild weeks so that will also help.

When I posted the above I thought I'd get a lot of criticism but several people have agreed. I do think some TV and newspapers need to be more responsible and without a doubt some who couldn't give a damn about the elderly or poor are using them for political reasons.

Cossy. On a historical note.

The 2019 House of Commons Briefing paper shows how making early Winter Fuel payments for “off-grid” households - so they could buy in oil when it was less expensive - was proposed but rejected on the grounds of the cost of identifying those who heated by oil and having a separate payment system for them, That was about 12 years ago. Section 6 of this for anyone interested:

researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06019/SN06019.pdf

Pensions Minister Steve Webb said:

^To get this scheme up and running, we would have to identify
which of the 12 million households were eligible for it and we
would have to invent a claims process—I assume that the hon.
Gentleman [Mr Weir] would suggest that people should be able
to make a claim to us—and advertise that. We would then have
manually to separate the potentially hundreds of thousands of
cases, if not more, and process them differently. We estimate that the running costs to the Department would be several million pounds. It is not a trivial task.^

Echoes of the WASPI debacle when the Government deemed it to expensive to identify and tell women individually what their new SP date would be.

We shut doors on bedrooms we're not using.
Every radiator is fitted with a thermostat so, if the temperature does drop considerably, they would click in just to take the chill off those rooms.