Winter fuel allowance result

Dickens I think you speak for many of us.

Allira

^pensioners get £11,500 state pension^

BigBopper the full old state pension is actually £8,814.00 pa.

I know that I am on the old style pension I was just making a point between the train drivers 70,000 and a pensioners pension.

Where is the money coming from to look after all those prisoners let out who need homes, extra probation work by officers etc. The winter fuel allowance gathered from pensioners perhaps. Let's look after ex prisoners not pensioners.

I am on the old style pension as are so many others so we are worse off to start off with as our state pension is lower than the new and we now also lose the WFA. Plus I pay tax as I have a small private pension from my late husband.

When he retired 20 years ago we had savings, my husbands private pension plus his state pension and my state pension so we were very comfortably off. Two years after retiring he fell ill and for a few years I became his 24/7 carer. I could not claim carers allowance as I had a pension in my own right which was classed as a benefit. We could not get any medical aids because each time the NHS lent them to us they wanted them back after a few weeks so we bought everything, stairlift, special bed, backrests, wheelchair, even urinals you name it we bought it. Our energy bills were £500 per month. I applied for Attendance allowance 6 times and was refused as they said he was not ill enough to claim it, finally I told them I was going to complain to my loca MP and go to the newspapers. The benefits office rang me and went through the forms again and then told me I was entitled to the full Attendance Allowance amount. My husband died three months later.

When he died, his state pension stopped and I received a pro rata amount of his private pension plus my own which I pay tax on. Since then, during the gales two years ago Storm Dennis etc. my garage roof, extension roof and porch roof were ripped off but the insurance company refused to pay out as it was classed as wear and tear. That was a few thousand pounds to pay out. My savings have dwindled right down as the central heating system broke down so I had to have a new one installed, another few thousand pounds.

This is the life of many widowed people. I checked the IHT and my house at the moment is in the clear but at 82 I do not feel as though I have the energy to even start looking for a small home especially when I love my home and have been here since we married in the 60's.

So I will have to grin and bear it. Luckily I can pay all my bills, I will put the heating on during winter to protect myself and protect my home from internal damage such as burst pipes, damp and mould. I don't have my gas central heating on during summer and have started using an air fryer, microwave and toaster, the oven is now obsolete so with a bit of luck I will manage through the cold months and if my energy usage is more than my direct debit payments they will be adjusted by the companies themselves so I refuse to worry about it. My health comes first.

At 82 years of age and losing my husband I no longer worry about what will happen, I have lived a fantastic life with the man I loved from being a teenager so now I will take what comes.

Also, in practical terms, downsizing might not help anyway. DH and I moved from a 5 bedroom house in London to a bungalow on the coast, but this property is always freezing in comparison. Our bills have nearly doubled, because once retired you're at home all day. I guess also due to construction and sprawling layouts, heating can actually be less efficient in downsized places.
(Should've chosen a flat.)

biglouis

Glad to see so many MPs abstained. Two Tier has lost a lot of face over this,

Abstaining is the easy option. Still they were rather blackmailed into it weren't they. Vote with us or lose the whip.
Apparently huge cheers from the Labour benches when this was passed.
Think people will remember this when local council elections come round next year.
War veterans deprived of help this Winter. What a not caring load of chumps in our Gov.

You've fallen in the gap, BigBopper

You're far too wealthy to need the WFP 🤔 but in fact only just above the level to apply for Pension Credit and consequently retain the WFP.

This has been hasty and ill thought out.
If it wasn't scribbled on the back of an envelope, then Rachel Reeves is more callous than I thought.

I am sure our old Conservative MP (who did veer to the right and I disagreed with him over a lot of issues) would have voted to keep this allowance, but our new Labour MP has voted in favour of abolishing it and put out a statement trying to justify this decision.
We seem to have voted for a right wing Government by mistake.

escaped

Also, in practical terms, downsizing might not help anyway. DH and I moved from a 5 bedroom house in London to a bungalow on the coast, but this property is always freezing in comparison. Our bills have nearly doubled, because once retired you're at home all day. I guess also due to construction and sprawling layouts, heating can actually be less efficient in downsized places.
(Should've chosen a flat.)

Perhaps I'll stop searching for a bungalow and stay here, this house is at least well insulated!

The few available bungalows I've seen have been badly laid out or extended oddly, and one even had a single skin extension which can't have been well insulated.

I see today that Rachel Reeves has claimed £3,700 over the past five years towards paying her energy bills; in January RR claimed 'the cost of living had left her increasingly short and she winced at her mortgage, energy and shopping bills each month.'(DT 11.9.24.). just some MPs like Liam Byrne, Liz , Naz Shah, Yasmin Qureshi, and oh, Angela Rayner. Reeves' salary was then £86.584. Obviously these problems do not affect pensioners.
Rank hypocrites.

All the discussion on WFA seems to be a divide between politicians and the Pensioners.
However, no-one on here has mentioned the fact that the energy companies are making vast profits = handed out to their shareholders. Surely, any real discussion on heating, etc. should start with that.
These companies need to be nationalised, and YES< without further compensation. Then fuel prices for both domestic and business users reduced.
If people feel this is too socialistic for their liking, then I would suggest that at least the fuel companies are told they have to cancel their obscene Standing Charges. Then all who need to use energy can benefit.

Whilst everyone has been discussing WFA Allowance, no-one seems at all concerned at thee thousands of children living in homes with inadequate heating. Seems that it is okay for millionaire pensioners to receive WF, but not poor families.

However, no-one on here has mentioned the fact that the energy companies are making vast profits = handed out to their shareholders. Surely, any real discussion on heating, etc. should start with that.

Yes, I did but it might not have been on this thread.

no-one seems at all concerned at the thousands of children living in homes with inadequate heating and often damp and mould.

Another concern Franbern. Inadequate but often expensive housing.

escaped

Also, in practical terms, downsizing might not help anyway. DH and I moved from a 5 bedroom house in London to a bungalow on the coast, but this property is always freezing in comparison. Our bills have nearly doubled, because once retired you're at home all day. I guess also due to construction and sprawling layouts, heating can actually be less efficient in downsized places.
(Should've chosen a flat.)

😞😞

Franbern

All the discussion on WFA seems to be a divide between politicians and the Pensioners.
However, no-one on here has mentioned the fact that the energy companies are making vast profits = handed out to their shareholders. Surely, any real discussion on heating, etc. should start with that.
These companies need to be nationalised, and YES< without further compensation. Then fuel prices for both domestic and business users reduced.
If people feel this is too socialistic for their liking, then I would suggest that at least the fuel companies are told they have to cancel their obscene Standing Charges. Then all who need to use energy can benefit.

Whilst everyone has been discussing WFA Allowance, no-one seems at all concerned at thee thousands of children living in homes with inadequate heating. Seems that it is okay for millionaire pensioners to receive WF, but not poor families.

I agree entirely!

Casdon

87 years old. Mild cognitive issues. Poor sighted. Deaf. No family.

Are you honestly suggesting that she should move? How do you suggest she does this? No Internet access. No smart phone. Inability to do very much apart from feeding the birds.

You'd need to be pretty heartless to suggest she needs to move. And the state isn't keeping her either. She manages on her pension.

And as has been mentioned flats and bungalows are incredibly expensive, especially in this area.

It wouldn't be a hassle for her to move. It would probably finish her off.

Like I have said previously, I refuse to move from my home, it has been well insulated and I, at 82, even climbed the ladder to have a look to see just how much loft insulation had been laid and to my surprise it was so deep I could not see over it.

I will use my central heating to keep myself and my home warm and the energy companies will amend the direct debits accordingly and when summer comes around again they will drop to a lower level so in a way it is swings and roundabouts. By that time we will have received the new rise in pension, but there will be increases in outgoings as there usually are.

I am treating this next 6 months as an experiement without the £300 winter fuel allowance and will use my electric and gas as I normally would to keep warm so will then see how much worse off I am at the end of March. Then and only then will I see what precautions I will have to take for the coming winter in 2025.

DD bought some fine wool underwear last winter.
There are always good old Damart thermals too.

Other outlets available.

I need to clarify. I wasn't discussing the WFA as such. It was the panellist saying pensioners living in million pound houses should move. I was merely saying that's easier said than done and very unfair.

As for my neighbour, she is unaware of all this due to cognitive difficulties. But she'll be fine. She only got central heating about 5 years ago and never puts it on.

Rekarie

I need to clarify. I wasn't discussing the WFA as such. It was the panellist saying pensioners living in million pound houses should move. I was merely saying that's easier said than done and very unfair.

As for my neighbour, she is unaware of all this due to cognitive difficulties. But she'll be fine. She only got central heating about 5 years ago and never puts it on.

I remember visiting my MIL in winter and feeling chilled to the bone in her house which had no central heating even though I'd been brought up in a house without it.
Her landlady finally put in central heating when MIL was about 84 so at least her last few years were spent in a warmer house.

BigBopper

I am on the old style pension as are so many others so we are worse off to start off with as our state pension is lower than the new and we now also lose the WFA. Plus I pay tax as I have a small private pension from my late husband.

When he retired 20 years ago we had savings, my husbands private pension plus his state pension and my state pension so we were very comfortably off. Two years after retiring he fell ill and for a few years I became his 24/7 carer. I could not claim carers allowance as I had a pension in my own right which was classed as a benefit. We could not get any medical aids because each time the NHS lent them to us they wanted them back after a few weeks so we bought everything, stairlift, special bed, backrests, wheelchair, even urinals you name it we bought it. Our energy bills were £500 per month. I applied for Attendance allowance 6 times and was refused as they said he was not ill enough to claim it, finally I told them I was going to complain to my loca MP and go to the newspapers. The benefits office rang me and went through the forms again and then told me I was entitled to the full Attendance Allowance amount. My husband died three months later.

When he died, his state pension stopped and I received a pro rata amount of his private pension plus my own which I pay tax on. Since then, during the gales two years ago Storm Dennis etc. my garage roof, extension roof and porch roof were ripped off but the insurance company refused to pay out as it was classed as wear and tear. That was a few thousand pounds to pay out. My savings have dwindled right down as the central heating system broke down so I had to have a new one installed, another few thousand pounds.

This is the life of many widowed people. I checked the IHT and my house at the moment is in the clear but at 82 I do not feel as though I have the energy to even start looking for a small home especially when I love my home and have been here since we married in the 60's.

So I will have to grin and bear it. Luckily I can pay all my bills, I will put the heating on during winter to protect myself and protect my home from internal damage such as burst pipes, damp and mould. I don't have my gas central heating on during summer and have started using an air fryer, microwave and toaster, the oven is now obsolete so with a bit of luck I will manage through the cold months and if my energy usage is more than my direct debit payments they will be adjusted by the companies themselves so I refuse to worry about it. My health comes first.

At 82 years of age and losing my husband I no longer worry about what will happen, I have lived a fantastic life with the man I loved from being a teenager so now I will take what comes.

I love your posts Big Bopper, keep them coming, to me they are full of insight and common sense!

MissAdventure

Lots of people are cash poor, not just pensioners.

From The Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
8.1 mil working age people are in poverty.
2.1 mil pensioners are in poverty.

Allira

You've fallen in the gap, BigBopper

You're far too wealthy to need the WFP 🤔 but in fact only just above the level to apply for Pension Credit and consequently retain the WFP.

This has been hasty and ill thought out.
If it wasn't scribbled on the back of an envelope, then Rachel Reeves is more callous than I thought.

I am sure our old Conservative MP (who did veer to the right and I disagreed with him over a lot of issues) would have voted to keep this allowance, but our new Labour MP has voted in favour of abolishing it and put out a statement trying to justify this decision.
We seem to have voted for a right wing Government by mistake.

Sad times.

I agree, ill thought out and badly implemented.

If this had to be done, at least announce it this year and implement next winter!

Seniors who say "well we do not deserve X, Y or Z just because we survived are doing themselves and their contemporaries a great injustice. I know the extent of what I have contributed so society and am still contributing running a small business at 80. And I do not under value my contribution or achievements compared with that of some other groups upon whom my taxes are presently lavished.

To those who say they will "manage" with sweaters, blankets and hot drinks I ask why SHOULD you have to manage if you dont choose to?

Are we going back to Dickensian Britain? This is 2024 not 1824.

When I have checked how my local MP voted it says “ no vote recorded” does that mean we will never know if or how they voted 🤔

escaped

Also, in practical terms, downsizing might not help anyway. DH and I moved from a 5 bedroom house in London to a bungalow on the coast, but this property is always freezing in comparison. Our bills have nearly doubled, because once retired you're at home all day. I guess also due to construction and sprawling layouts, heating can actually be less efficient in downsized places.
(Should've chosen a flat.)

Yes it hits hard when one half dies. Not just the grief but the loss of income as well. I would be completely screwed if anything happened to OH! I'd just have the basic state pension and nothing else.

BigBopper I love your posts too, please keep on posting!