The DWP's £10 Christmas "Bonus"

Aveline

Gosh. Well done Katek! Interesting project. Now repeat it at Waitrose?

I don't drink alcohol, but even with just my £10, I reckon I could knock up a Christmas dinner for myself for £10 - even from Waitrose.

Freya5

PoliticsNerd

argymargy

Winter fuel allowance has not been axed.

No, it hasn't. It is still being paid to those on Pension Credit.

To balance that those receiving Pension Credit - those rcognised as the poorest retirees - lost around £1,000 Cost of Living payment they had been getting annually for the last couple of years.

It is also still being paid to very well off MPs. Lets not forget that.
Wonder if they have to fill in a 233 page document to claim it.
Of course not, don't be silly!!!

Ggggrrr! The application for Pension Credit isn't a 233 page document, nor do the vast majority of the 233 questions need to be answered. If people have problems filling in forms, there's help available.

Mollygo

^On the other hand, fuel costs have dropped (although they're creeping up again). Even with the loss of WFA, my income is higher than it was this time last year because my direct debit for fuel has gone down.^
I wish!
Mine has just gone up by around £18 pm.

I currently pay 24p per KWh for electricity and 5.86p per KWh for gas.

During the same month last year, I was paying 26.6p per KWh for electricity and 6.46p per KWh for gas.

Even though there has been a recent increase, I (and I would imagine everybody else) am still paying less per unit for fuel than I was this time last year.

Gosh. Well done Katek! Interesting project. Now repeat it at Waitrose?

*ought not to

I did a little online exercise yesterday (Asda/Tesco/Sainsburys) and taking both mine and dh's Xmas bonus together we could afford a Christmas dinner. Admittedly it was using chicken breasts not turkey, but it included some treats like mince pies, Xmas cake a chocolate orange and a cheap bottle of plonk. I assume the £10 provides a few treats for some so perhaps not to be so heavily criticised although I do agree it needs to be increased.,

And who brought in that little ruse Jackiest?

Don't worry as they as not raising the tax thresholds we will all soon be paying tax even we only get the standard basic government pension.

LaCrepescule Anything you receive from the DWP will have your NI number followed by letters in the description column. In this case it will be XB - for Xmas Bonus.

growstuff

PoliticsNerd

argymargy

Winter fuel allowance has not been axed.

No, it hasn't. It is still being paid to those on Pension Credit.

To balance that those receiving Pension Credit - those rcognised as the poorest retirees - lost around £1,000 Cost of Living payment they had been getting annually for the last couple of years.

On the other hand, fuel costs have dropped (although they're creeping up again). Even with the loss of WFA, my income is higher than it was this time last year because my direct debit for fuel has gone down.

PS. I don't qualify for Pension Credit, but I'm not very far above the threshold.

Exactly. Crisis payments should only ever last for the shortest time possible growstuff. After that it is either going back to the old normal or there is a new normal and the benefit should be increased appropriately.

It's no good the government telling us this has happened and quoting 2025/26 deferred years pension. The Basic is the one that drives all pension payments and we need to see that Pension Credit is at least adding these amounts.

On the other hand, fuel costs have dropped (although they're creeping up again). Even with the loss of WFA, my income is higher than it was this time last year because my direct debit for fuel has gone down.
I wish!
Mine has just gone up by around £18 pm.

PoliticsNerd

argymargy

Winter fuel allowance has not been axed.

No, it hasn't. It is still being paid to those on Pension Credit.

To balance that those receiving Pension Credit - those rcognised as the poorest retirees - lost around £1,000 Cost of Living payment they had been getting annually for the last couple of years.

It is also still being paid to very well off MPs. Lets not forget that.
Wonder if they have to fill in a 233 page document to claim it.
Of course not, don't be silly!!!

I received a Cost of Living one-off payment last Christmas in addition to my State Pension. I suppose there was no way Reeves was going to continue with that.

Who on earth suggested declaring birthday presents if you are in receipt of a benefit Doodledog ?

Sadly for some people, it seems people will never be equal enough in there “less well off-ness”.

Eg. I could have a top of the range washing machine that I bought when I was working 15 or 20 years ago that still functions today but tomorrow it could conk out and I’d be as much in need as the next.
Or another example would be really well made pair of winter boots as apposed to cheap pair that lets in water.

PS. You still need to find an NHS dentist, which is probably more difficult than finding out if you are eligible for free dental care.

Granmarderby10

I thought there was a maximum amount that a person could have in income and if you have more (not that much more) it is hardly worthwhile applying for. It is crystal clear to me that they don’t want to make this benefit any easier because more would apply even if unsuccessful. And so it remains an obstacle for a reason.

Just yesterday I went on a merry go round online trying to establish if there is any help with paying nhs dental charges if on a low income- (England) but in the end I’m still not certain if the answer is yes or no🤔 literally does my head in.

Yes, there is help available, if you're on a low income (depends how you define low income) and don't have more than a few thousand in savings (sorry, can't remember the actual figure).

You need to apply for an HC2 certificate. I have one. As a very general rule of thumb, your income needs to be less than about £14,000. They take rent into account.

I wasn't aware of it? I have now had my pension 2 years never noticed.

So that’s what the mystery £10 in my bank account from the DWP was! How quaint…

PoliticsNerd

argymargy

Winter fuel allowance has not been axed.

No, it hasn't. It is still being paid to those on Pension Credit.

To balance that those receiving Pension Credit - those rcognised as the poorest retirees - lost around £1,000 Cost of Living payment they had been getting annually for the last couple of years.

On the other hand, fuel costs have dropped (although they're creeping up again). Even with the loss of WFA, my income is higher than it was this time last year because my direct debit for fuel has gone down.

PS. I don't qualify for Pension Credit, but I'm not very far above the threshold.

mae13

argymargy

Winter fuel allowance has not been axed.

I must correct you - it certainly has for the majority, unless you can fill in the 223 question application form and convince the powers that be that you are a "special case".

Good luck with that.

Very, very few people would have to answer 223 questions to apply for Pension Credit. Many of the questions tell the applicant to skip the next section, unless X or Y applies. Most official forms are like that.

Essentially, the form wants to know about income, which isn't unreasonable for a means-tested benefit.

argymargy

Winter fuel allowance has not been axed.

No, it hasn't. It is still being paid to those on Pension Credit.

To balance that those receiving Pension Credit - those rcognised as the poorest retirees - lost around £1,000 Cost of Living payment they had been getting annually for the last couple of years.

I thought there was a maximum amount that a person could have in income and if you have more (not that much more) it is hardly worthwhile applying for. It is crystal clear to me that they don’t want to make this benefit any easier because more would apply even if unsuccessful. And so it remains an obstacle for a reason.

Just yesterday I went on a merry go round online trying to establish if there is any help with paying nhs dental charges if on a low income- (England) but in the end I’m still not certain if the answer is yes or no🤔 literally does my head in.

‘The majority’ of pensioners are not on pension credit.

The WFP has been means-tested - something that, when it applies to other benefits (eg child benefit and universal credit) doesn’t raise an eyebrow as a rule. We’ve had threads saying that even birthday presents to benefit claimants should be declared as income and deductions to benefits made accordingly, not to mention the outrage when claimants have ‘the latest phone’ or a flat screen tv.

I am no fan of means-testing, but where is the consistency? We also get countless threads about how people should be grateful for everything they get, specially Christmas presents, so again, the consistency is missing.

I get neither WFP nor the Christmas bonus, as I am still waiting for my state pension, but wouldn’t be doffing my cap or curtsying in any case - you go ahead if you think it necessary though. How will the logistics work? Do you have to go to the HofC to doff and curtsey, or can you do it from home via Zoom or FaceTime?

argymargy

Winter fuel allowance has not been axed.

I must correct you - it certainly has for the majority, unless you can fill in the 223 question application form and convince the powers that be that you are a "special case".

Good luck with that.

That would be an extra 50p per week for 50 weeks of the year, minus the management fee for setting up and running the system.