Peace of Mind

I agree Doodledog. I don’t see anyone mentioning the handouts given to the cronies of the last Government for useless and bogus PPE. Upwards of £16bn has been identified.
Maybe that could have filled the chasm.

Yes. I would love to see that clawed back with interest, and criminal charges made.

I think it is cynical of the LP to equate keeping the Triple Lock with cancelling WFA.

The pension increase only comes into effect in April and is based on price rises that have already happened.

The WFA was in addition to the pension rise not instead of it.

I think the fact that the WFP wasn't taxed is important too, but that is rarely mentioned.

For every £250 paid out, those with a low enough income not to pay tax got the straight £250, those on 20% tax got the equivalent of £300, and those with enough to pay 40% tax got the equivalent of £350. Is that fair?

Not all cruises are hellishly expensive. Many cruisers are, like us, people who have not spent lavishly during their working lives, never smoked, drink little, don't pay £100 a time for shoes or dresses, don't replace their kitchens more than a couple of times in 50 years, do their own DIY and so on. Clearly they aren't poor but nor are they necessarily wealthy.

As one of the lucky ones and (though we've worked very hard) I do know of pensioners almost on the breadline who've worked just as hard. A friend of mine remortgaged her home to pay for cruises and due to her extra outgoings was able to claim benefits. She used her credit card to its maximum and then downsized twice to repay them - and go on another cruise! Yes, sadly, she was divorced quite young, but only ever had a part-time clerical job (with no occupational pension cos she said she couldn't afford the contributions) and claimed benefits.

All that said, my heart goes out to those of you who are genuinely struggling to manage and I hope the government will have something up their sleeves to compensate for their loss of WFA and whatever else transpires.

But I don't think the Tories would have been averse to doing this either.

No, we didn't "need" the WFA ourselves and gave half to charity.

Oh, and we aren't higher-rate taxp'ayers and never have been.

I hope there is something up the government's sleeve too, Madmeg.

I also don't think anyone needs to apologise for spending their own money how they wish. Nor do I care if people have smoked, drank and danced the night away . Party animals can have good retirements, too, and there is no reason why anyone shouldn't make improvements to their homes.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that cruisers are necessarily wealthy - just that if someone can afford to go on a cruise the chances are that they can afford to put the heating on. I'm no advocate of means-tests, and absolutely agree that everyone should be able to spend their money as they wish older age. It is annoying when you (generic) have saved for something only to find that you could have had it free if you had less in the back, and I'm in no way making a case for that.

I don't think that pensioners are a special case though. Younger people are struggling too. I think that pensions should rise, that tax thresholds should also rise, and that the cut-off for receiving WFP should be above the threshold for Pension Credit. But not that everyone over 66 should get money that nobody under that age gets.

I may not be too concerned about the loss of the WFA I am though about tge 20% vat on school fees. My GS attends an independent school not because the family is well off but due to tge state school completely igniring his issues abd trying to pass the buck onto his parents. The whole family saw the issues and that my GS was suffering. As a result including his parents and another 3 family members contribute to pay the fees. Another 20% will put another strain on the budget. The Government has stated the 20% will be to recruit 6,500 new teachers. Why is there a shortage in the first place and how will schools cope with all the defaulters of the VAT needing places. Couldn't the WFA be reduced gradually even 50% as well as the VAT on school fees.
As a note my GS is flourishing at his school.

We should stop giving to other countries first and look after our own people first!!
All these 'refugees', that are no such thing, that come over and are placed in hotels etc because old army camps are not good enough for them - they were good enough for our military, so why not them? They should accept what they're offered and if they don't like it they can go back to France, or wherever, and live in a makeshift shelter, give that money to our pensioners!!!
Sorry, I don't mean to sound racist, but enough is enough!!
I lost a bloody good job because the hotel I was working in had to accept 'refugees', and once that happens the alcohol licence is taken away!
This country is too busy giving to everyone else so we look good!!

Rant over.

It looks as though the thread is running out of steam! Thanks for all your comments, it's much appreciated. I won't say I feel better but it's good to know that we all have a view on this controversial subject and can all sympathise with those who will suffer this winter.

Marg, at the age of nearly eighty you should be happy that Starmer is helping the NHS by increasing social care so that NHS beds are not blocked by elderly patients who can't be discharged as they lack any care at home.

Nobody is going to make you cold in your own house or flat! There will still be fuel allowance for those who need it.

I don't understand why people are jumping to conclusions and saying they read/heard/saw that Labour is considering this and that - it make no sense until changes are announced.

We have a budget coming in just two months for goodness sake.

Also, re the Winter fuel allowance, they obviously had to announce that early so that people would save up (if they could). There would have been even more alarm if it had not been announced till November.

4allweknow

I may not be too concerned about the loss of the WFA I am though about tge 20% vat on school fees. My GS attends an independent school not because the family is well off but due to tge state school completely igniring his issues abd trying to pass the buck onto his parents. The whole family saw the issues and that my GS was suffering. As a result including his parents and another 3 family members contribute to pay the fees. Another 20% will put another strain on the budget. The Government has stated the 20% will be to recruit 6,500 new teachers. Why is there a shortage in the first place and how will schools cope with all the defaulters of the VAT needing places. Couldn't the WFA be reduced gradually even 50% as well as the VAT on school fees.
As a note my GS is flourishing at his school.

Your post could have been mine. My 11 year old granddaughter is at a specialist private school as she has dyslexia and autism. Thankfully she has an EHCP so the local authority pay her fees but Starmer has not thought this through. By all means tax the wealthy who won't lose sleep over an increase in the fees but please do not send those children who could not get their educational needs from a mainstream school back into mainstream. A very cruel plan.

Ali08

We should stop giving to other countries first and look after our own people first!!
All these 'refugees', that are no such thing, that come over and are placed in hotels etc because old army camps are not good enough for them - they were good enough for our military, so why not them? They should accept what they're offered and if they don't like it they can go back to France, or wherever, and live in a makeshift shelter, give that money to our pensioners!!!
Sorry, I don't mean to sound racist, but enough is enough!!
I lost a bloody good job because the hotel I was working in had to accept 'refugees', and once that happens the alcohol licence is taken away!
This country is too busy giving to everyone else so we look good!!

Rant over.

I agree completely with you Ali08.

That poor old 99 year old ex military man on TV a few days ago. Served this country during the war and now struggling as his WFP has been stopped.

He is a hero whereas those arriving on boats have contributed nothing to our country. All they do is take.

Sarnia

There has been no growth in the economy for 2 months in a row now and the £22bn black hole which Reeves and Starmer blame for all their decisions has not been helped by their rush to pay the junior doctors and train workers their wage demands. I reluctantly stuck with the Tories at the last election because I couldn't bring myself to vote for Labour. As a pensioner born in 1948 I get the lower State pension only and I am concerned what is next for people like me. Reeves needs to insist that the likes of Amazon pay their full tax bill and not be patting herself on the back because they have given £8b for apprenticeships. A sop to Cerberus if ever I saw one.

I think that Reeves and Starmer owe it to us to give a specific breakdown of the composition of the "Black Hole", which departments have spent what and where, how many handouts for various vanity projects have been dispensed with no prospect of any return, etc, etc.
They have a duty to hand over precise information of the state of the country's "books." Making cavalier references to "the Black Hole" is a pretty slipshod way of running an economy.

I'm not holding my breath.