NOW CLOSED: Survey on universal benefits - tell us what you think

No wonder you are angry, Peter. So would I be in your shoes. I feel that the government has broken the implied contract we all thought we had entered into when we started paying our taxes and contributions. I don't buy the 'we are all in it together' line. Quite clearly, nobody in the cabinet, and probably nobody in the rest of the House is suffering financial hardship.

MOGGSY77

I have heard of this situation before and I think something needs to be done about it.
I do think a person who has paid for a private pension should always be better off than a person who has not.
I also think it is wrong that a person who has saved and then has to go in to care could end their life in the same position as somebody who has never bothered to save.
That is why we use all legal methods in our family to stop the council taking the money for care fees.
Oddly enough I don't think anybody has got to a care home in our family but there was one case where we were about to see the social worker and the person passed away about 5 minutes before the appointment.

Frank

Peter we could have a long debate about means tested benefits and the rights and wrongs but this won't help your present situation. I hope you don't mind my suggesting this but I note your long army service - have you applied to any of the various military charities for help with, for example, the stair lift? Your local CAB could help you with identifying relevant ones I think. Good luck - if I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

British Legion would be very happy to provide stair lifts etc, and they'll visit you at home, so no worries about travel. They do an excellent job helping ex service personnel and don't patronise anyone looking for help. Please contact them MOGGSY77

MOGGSY77 as an ex-probation officer receiving a pension, why not contact the Edridge Fund. If they can't assist, they will try to put you in touch with an agency that can, if you are suffering hardship. That's what Edridge is for.

Do you still get NAPO newsletters or the journal? Edridge contacts are in there. There will be a local officer who would get in touch with you. Otherwise, phone the local office and ask for the person who does Edridge. There's at least one in each service. Good luck!

Frank,I know I might as well save my breath to cool my porridge, but let's have one more try.
Not everybody is lucky enough to have had the education, strength, health or family circumstances to be able to save for their old age.You are obviously in no financial difficulties, so why not just be glad about that and stop having a go at people less fortunate. It makes you seem very lacking in humanity and compassion and I am sure you would not want to give that impression.

Not every female over 60 receives a state pension. I am nearly 61 but won't receive my state pension until January 2015.

Survey done!

Well I got all the way down to the end and found there wasn't a box for people living abroad. Or did I miss something? If not, why not? I have a pension, pay UK tax and stand to lose my WFA even though the winters here are much colder than where we lived in the UK.
I call it taxation without representation. Revolutions have started because of that, you know.

Why would anyone be paid or receive the Winter fuel allowance,

(1)they live in a cold climate and need heating on

and

(2) they don't have enough money to pay for fuel.

If that's the case it should only be paid based on that definition of need.

You can't argue with that surely.

The country is in a bad way and if there are cuts to be made this is certainly one that should be looked at.

Jeannie - means testing is very expensive, which is why we have universal benefits.
The lumping together of all areas of huge countries like France and Spain is ludicrous - you can hardly compare the climate of Brittany with that of the Riviera.
I would be quite happy for the WFA to be added to my income for tax purposes.
Taking away WFA from some expats will save a pittance and is just an act of spite and plays into the hands of those who are envious of what they see as the luxury lifestyle of all expats. Perhaps they have forgotten that many of us till have a postal vote, and pay taxes on our UK government pensions.

Many thanks for those who have made helpful and kind suggestions as to the various Charity's that can help.
I try very hard not to be a serial complainer BUT, because past history, training and inclination I decided to fight the local Arriva Bus Companies staff room culture of being anti elderly/disabled. I formed a modest group to engage with the local depot manager, a very charming man with more faces than a town hall clock. The result was i was left virtually house bound by drivers who went out of their way to make sure my " free" disabled bus pass was virtually useless, tho shalt not complain!. I approached Merseyside Probation to ask for help. Human Resources said not our problem, NAPO,s . Spoke to NAPO Chairperson who virtually said the same, but would find someone who could help and would get back within 24 hours, still waiting 18 months later.
I approached a well known services charity for help with an appropriate chair,on the advice of the Community Nursing Matron and the LA OT. not to put too fine a point on it the reaction I got was so appalling had I not been desperate for an appropriate chair I would have put the phone down . At the end of the day they asked, quite rightly in my opinion, for a letter from the Local Authority Occupational Therapist confirming the need and for two quotes. It took LA OT from early May to Thursday just gone ( 4th July ) to provide said letters and quotes. Her line Manager is not an OT and is based in Preston County Hall. Chances are the charity will look askance at the request after all this time, despite many attempts by myself to bring about a quicker solution. The line manager says she has every confidence in her employee, I suppose a 50% satisfaction rate is ok by today's so called caring agencies.
I,m delighted to say British Legion are making a home visit to discus my needs. The lady I spoke to at BLs head office, purely to inquire about a respite holiday left me in tears, not for the same reason as the unnamed charity, quite the opposite . For the first time ever I found myself talking to a person that cared.
in spite of me stating quite clearly my request was simply to inquire about said, possible holiday in a BL holiday home she drew out all my problems that will be looked by CAB Liverpool who,it appears act on BLs behalf.
Greatnan, I thank you for your input. A quarter of a century helping people to understand they have not only Rights but Responsibilities.leads me to understand you must never make assumptions about others means or circumstances. I can assure you as a person who has has himself ran a charity for seven and a half years that I am only too aware that cats and dogs are easy to raise money for, parents who require baby monitors having lost a child through Cot Death for some reason not as appealing as said kittens and pups. You say I am clearly better of not so, in spite of the modest works pension I find being disabled and in spite of receiving DLA at the middle rate it is incredibly expensive to pay tradesmen to do jobs I would normally have done myself in a quarter of the time. I live in dread of the day the Eton Mafia finally withdraw all DLA.
Sorry for such a long post, not I can assure you self pity I,m far to independent and proud for that but hopefully just a few people who make assumptions all is well with the world may just start to accept we are not all in this together, service to country and community essentially mean nothing at the end of the day, Veterans badges, bestowed by a grateful?, Labour Government are worthless baubles and in most cases the day you walk out of an office in a caring agency you become a so what, my wife retains many friends and offers of help from her ex colleagues in various industrial environments she has worked in
. In spite of contacting 3 government agencies and receiving bad advice my wife took redundancy to make way for a younger person to take her job. A week before she received her pension she received a letter she could have either her £49 Carers Allowance or her £50.10 State Pension, not both. The greedy so and so opted for the £50.10p. seems I became able bodied overnight.
Cheers
Moggsy77
aka Peter

I always think about someone I know who moved here to northern France whose husband left her after a couple of years. She lives on a small pension, in a freezing cold house that she can't sell and heats it, in our very cold winters, with one paraffin stove. She will loose her WFA under the new rules.
Actually, though, what I am objecting to here is not being able to fill in the survey. It seems that UK residents can have an opinion about WFA abroad, but I can't. Yet my taxes go to pay for WFA, bus passes etc in the UK. Does it need another box for pensioners abroad GNHQ?

Although I did not offer any solutions , may I wish you well and hope that you can go some way to sorting things out .

Best wishes .

Above message for MOGGSY by the by

Good luck, Peter, I hope the British Legion will be able to help you.
I have strong views on the poor treatment of ex-service personnel.

Thank you Ann. Survey completed.

As a preface to the hopefully brief remarks I make no apology, in fact I,m proud to have absorbed my mums socialist and republican views. Socialism is a way of life, a belief that all are born equal and should therefore be treated with the respect they have earned. I think it was the Franciscans who said give me a child by the age of seven and I will give you a man for life. Etonians, given the above, were indeed brought up to believe they have an absolute right to not only rule but also take the lions share of the countries wealth. They are even doctored at their prep schools to look down on their Eton tutors. It therefore comes as no surprise that Mr Browns gift to the undeserving poor of bus passes, WFA, DLA etc has so infuriated the cabinet the changes being made are being done in such a way they can never be changed, hence the oppositions stance the will not ( cant ) reverse the modest crumbs given off the rich mans table. Mrs Saxe Coberg Hapsburg Windsor has openly and honestly declared she and her husband are going into semi retirement, who can blame them at their great age, it does not stop them receiving a massive £5,000,000 rise to a massive £36,000,000 wage, plus of course the massive Common Market subsidies paid to her, her son and the likes of the duke of westminster for massive areas of worthless scrub land used to " farm " game birds. Do any of them care for the lass who will continue to freeze in an area the Eton Mafia consider, like inner London too good for any but Bankers, The Monarchy, the Arisocrats. Rather like the voters for joining the EU no one will admit to making that vote in the same way no one admits to voting in the "all in it together, the NHS is safe in our hands etc etc. Tell it to the folk walking out of Remploy factories after working for their living in a protected environment and will never work again. Tell it to the abandoned mothers, quite wrongly derided by IDS as having their children to gain non existent housing and not gaining a none exitant job. As Grandparents do we envy our granchildrens future. Do we sit back and watch the rich benefit enormously from the " unaffordable" welfare state. The bail out for 45 billion pounds to save just one bank turns out to have been a farce, they seem to have " found " 20 billion pounds from somewhere. Will it pay for Your grandchilds university education?. I think not
Moggsy
ps
being a socialist does not mean automatically voting Labour, my local labour MP will not be getting my vote

It was the Jesuits, Peter.

Thank you Molly, always pleased to have accurate info on line
Cheers
Peter

Done.

Completed!

Done!

Some very interesting comments here and I guess all our views may change as our personal circumstances change, I am almost 62 and am able to claim my state pension from next month I think, my husband will be 60 next month. At the moment we are fortunate to have good health and be working full time so financially OK but I see some of the younger members of the family really struggling - and they're very lucky as they're all in work. One of my sons and his partner both work and have 2 gorgeous young children but as they're on low incomes they can't afford to buy a house, even though we could help towards a deposit they couldn't afford the repayments. So they rent a small house in the private sector, no garden for the children to play in only a tiny back yard, and I try & help with some food each week, BOGOFs etc.
I fear we may be the most fortunate generation and having come from a poor childhood to a more comfortable and secure older life myself I don't see them ever achieving that, I hope I'm wrong.
I'm also really interested to know how we build a recovery that is not based on consuming the earth's scarce resources, I'd love to hear any suggestions on that.
Cagsy