Winter fuel allowance

marpau Do you mean the £25 cold weather payment?
I did read that people on universal credits got the cold weather payment, but one of my sons who gets UC and pip says he was told they didn't

Ellanvanin* David Cameron took it off us, the very first thing he did

With temps in north Scotland below freezing, it was nice to be able to turn up the heating because of the Winter Fuel Allowance. Thanks.

blodenana, my daughter gets pip and essa, they haven't gone on the UC yet, doesn't get a cold weather payment. I am going to look into it.

In most parts of England ( I can't speak for the other UK countries), I imagine it is rarely cold enough for long enough for cold weather payments to be made.

It has to be below zero - or forecast to be below zero - for seven consecutive days! While it isn't unusual for seven nights of below zero temperatures, it's a lot less common for it to stay so cold during the day for that length of time.

I haven't dared to out the heating on because of the cost. It's not doing my osteoporosis or brittle asthma good at all. The lights are switched off asap and nothing is wasted.
I honestly never thought I would be so poor.
I had a great a good career and was well and before my accident. It's a shame because my children are suffering too.
Christmas will be lean and miserable.

Merryweather

I'm really sorry that you are finding things so tough, and hope that they improve for you.

The year before last ,i got 2 cold weather payments, so did my sister who lives in Lancashire, i'm in Yorkshire, but nothing last year, but i think it has started out colder this year it has been down to - 4 a few days and nights already

Oh Merryweather I'm so sorry.

Thank you mama caz
I don't think it will. I have another little mouth to feed in march too. A long awaited first for (and many times over rainbow baby) my partner and I. He's my carer and as I've been told by two consultants I shouldn't be left alone it means he can no longer work. Hence our predicament.
We'll manage somehow I'm sure.
Thank you xx

Merryweather i really feel for you,i have been where you are now, and it is a terrible place to be
I hope things improve for you
Are you getting all the help you can?
Please try to keep warm, sometimes just a quick blast of the heating will keep things warm for a little while

I wish you all the very best for March.

Yeah, boast you don’t need it and make me feel even worse. Thanks

I don't need the fuel allowance, and I am not "boasting" when I say it - I am simply very fortunate in that I have a decent pension from my husband in addition to my own pension. I have to say, though, that I've just had to pay for a new central heating boiler, so the fuel allowance will be spent appropriately this year, by contributing to this.

Merryweather ,any spare money should be given to folk like you rather than to pensioners who don’t need it and to others with second homes in France or Spain who need it even less.
I hope everything goes well for you

Merryweather; apologies for going off at a tangent but I now feel the need to dig out my old Black Beauty book and read some of the bits about Merryweather…

..no; it's Merrylegs; I truly am going ga ga....

Unless you have a decent private/company pension, state pension does not give pensioners anywhere near the National Living Wage (pro-rata for a 37 hour week) - so how are we expected to manage? Every little helps and the WFA tops up what we do receive so we do not have to make such drastic cuts to everyday essentials such as food, to cover higher winter heating costs. if there is a National Living Wage, why are pensioners expected to live on less?

I assume pensioners are expected to stay in their boxes and keep quiet Nancat!

I suppose young people on NLW often have families, work travel costs and mortgages to support. Around here the average wage is supposed to be £27,000 pa (last time I looked) but very few manage to achieve it.

I shall say this very gently and couch it as kindly as I can.
If my children were suffering because of lack of money , there is no way I would bring another one into the world for it to also suffer.
That is not what having a family is about
I can appreciate that some of the children were born before the accident, that is so sad ,but to then deliberately bring another one into the family is unfair to it and the others.

sorry to hear things are so tough merry weather.
Our allowance arrived as well. I usually send a cheque to the Salvation Army, which works with people on the margins. I seem to recall being told off for this by a gransnet poster who disapproves of the organisation. Can't win can we.

Those of us fortunate enough to have private pensions that supplement our state pension, will also pay tax as we have all our lives. I suspect its simpler for the government to continue to WFA and for those us of who pay tax, to continue to do so. It's also clear from this thread and discussions with friends, that many of us donate the WFA to charity or someone who needs it more than we do.

I second Iam64's post. Hopefully fortunes will change for you*Merryweather*.

(I did just look up the average pay for Norfolk (UK), its gone down. Its now £25,000pa. Nationally its risen to around £36,611. Obviously Norfolk is not the place to work!)

If I was on my own, even with a small CS pension as well, I would have a struggle.
As it is the WFA does go towards our higher heating costs in the winter, we don't send a lump sum to charity but we do drip feed to various charities ad hoc throughout the hear and I always try to add a couple of items to the food bank each week so it is spread out. People aren't just hungry at Christmas.

I do take your point, though annsixty.
There was a young woman on the TV last week who was upset because she said had to go to the foodbank in order to feed her children. She had five children, looked to be under about 9 years old, sitting on the floor eating. Children are the reason I donate as it is not their fault, but I did wonder why when contraception is free. And yes, I know accidents can happen.

Merryweather I would think you are entitled to the heating allowance if you are receiving benefits?
It is worth a try particularly if you suffer from arthritis, you need to be warm.
Perhaps CAB can help you to make a claim.

I also agree with annsixty. You took the words out of my mouth.

I can appreciate it is not possible to heat the entire house but what about one room? This happened when I was a child, the living room was kept warm but the bedrooms were so cold but in those days we had no central heating and even when it was installed it was used sparingly.