Loosing winter fuel allowance

Annibach,i think you might have to apply for the warm front allowance, i got itwithout applying for some reason, but my sister didnt, i suggested she did apply and she got it,it save you £140 off your electricity bill
I have been with First Utility for 2 yeaes and find them cheaper than any other,
I also got £495 rebate, both last year and this,
Saying that i do try to pay a little over the requested amout asked for, but was pleasantly surprised still

Maybe because I also mentioned media bias, I don't normally have much truck with conspiracy theories but this has me worried.
Is Gransnet supported by the same billionaires who own the Telegraph, Mail, Express, Sun et al and who have so much to lose if we ever get a Labour Government who will impose fair taxation?
I do hope not.

My message urging people to actually read the costed Labour Party manifesto alongside the uncounted Tory one has been deleted, I wonder why?

The Labour manifesto was clearly costed, the Tory one wasn't, I suggest you actually read them instead of the biased reporting of the right wing press and the BBC, try Channel 4 news instead.
The Telegraph, Mail Express, Sun et al are all owned by billionaires with a vested interest in keeping the Conservative government, they know if Labour were elected they'd have to start paying their fair share of taxes.
As for the winter fuel allowance, whilst I am not poor and don't qualify for pension credit I am grateful for the WFA and as I still pay a considerable amount of tax on my teachers pension I think one offsets the other in a simple and non bureaucratic way. Much easier and cheaper than bringing in a means test. I worry that many pensioners in real need wouldn't claim their WFA if they had to fill ion a form, just as a third of those entitled to Pension Credits don't claim now.

i, for one, would be lost without this - my income is very low and i have problems with paying my fuel bills. i claim pension credit because of my low income and this, together with council tax benefit, is means tested already.
so perhaps this will be the way the government will carry out any means testing.
i would love to be able to donate mine to charity - or do without it but needs must - and i'm surely not the only one who depends on this.

valeriej43 I totally agree. Is a man sleeping in the streets in UK not worth the same as a man sleeping in the streets in other countries? We should look after our own first before we start playing Lady Bountiful.

The Tories were responsible for the bedroom tax, people losing their jobs and people turning to drugs to ease their pain. They turn a blind eye to food banks which is something new in this country. I have never seen food banks all through my life, even after the war. Totally wrong to reduce our own to this while sending millions to countries who send rockets to the moon and create a very big Army as China have done.

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Same for me and for mum Whitewave and Bikergran. I think it would be good if GN set up a section for benefits and allowances a some people are just not aware of what they are entitled to.

Marianne the household allowance is £200 for those under 80, so if a husband and wife both receive retirement pension (not sure about sharers) there is £100 each. If one person receives pension and the other does not the person receiving pension gets £200. The amount is £300 for those over 80.

I do not object to paying more tax to help fund social care. It is not a lot to ask. The problem is that you cannot rely on them spending the money on what they say they will.

The Tories keep banging on about Labour and the deficit, how long have they been in power now? Things have become much, much worse over the last 5 years, and that is under the Tory watch.

I think they have shot themselves in the foot with this dreadful manifesto. Rob the poor but make tax cuts for the rich who do not need yet more money. It is always Tory policy so we should not be surprised. Even my died in the wool Tory OH is shocked at what they intend to do. Now I do not know who to vote for. Tories are stealing people's property after they die or Labour who want to get rid of Trident and who are behaving more like communists these days. UKIP has done its job and should now make sure that manifesto promises are kept. They are not ready for government and as for Lib Dems, Green Party and the rest well you can forget about them altogether. What to do?

I have never had a bus pass although I am entitled to one. We have our own car so OH does not claim his either. We have never applied for pension credit or any kind of benefit, because we do not need help as we can manage on our own. I give to 3 Charities every month, I give/buy books to/from Charity shops. I donate clothes to worthy causes. We all do our bit. Why do they make out that we are scroungers and bed blockers? Age brings bad health problems and everyone will be affected sooner or later. We have paid NI all our working lives so now we need help we are being denied knee operations, hip operations and other medical things such as pain killers. They are even thinking of getting rid of free prescriptions! Old age comes to everyone! I think it is a disgrace.

The Tories are working on creating a two class society which is taking us back to Victorian days imo.

A couple doesn't receive double the WFA. If only one is eligible he or she receives £200, then when the other becomes eligible it is split between them so they get £100 earch.

I agree that fuel benefit should only be for people who can't manage without it. If Scotland wants it for everyone, let them pay it. After all they want to be independent!

I thought the fuel allowance is per household and not each person?
I think it's wrong that people get it even if they are working. We gave it to charity as there was no way we needed it as we were both still working.

I am sick of pensioners being treated like they do not count. If it was not for the pensioners there would be no NHS. If people have scrimped and saved all their lives as many have to buy their homes they should not be punished for that.

If they were deemed in need of help with the energy bills then they still are in need. Nothing has changed to alter that.

An excellent education nust be a wonderful thing , do those who didn't receive excellent education not understand our political and social structure ? Do they lack all your knowledge ?

The welfare state that my parent's generation struggled to establish is being dismantled by this dreadful government. I'm lucky that I had an excellent education and understand our political and social structure but on the other hand all that knowledge makes me despair. Jeremy Corbyn and the true socialists in the Labour party are trying to turn things around and achieve a better fairer and peaceful society but the establishment media is preventing that message getting across. I fear for my children and grandchildren's future if Mrs May continues on this destructive path. Once all our family silver is sold off and if/when the currency fails the Tories will cut and run and who/what will be there to help us.

Well well well 'so I do not need it' makes it ok then? I personally do not need it but undecided about who to vote for my mind is now made up and hopefully alot of grey voters will see the Tories for what they really are? Selfish with a capital S. Taking free school meals of children is a disgrace, we are not all born equal and if Corbyn wants to create a fairer society what is wrong with that? Yes your next question will be 'who is going to pay for it' well us, of course. If I can take one homeless person off the streets(which is worse now because of the bedroom tax) feed one child and keep one pensioner warm then I do not begrudge one penny of my taxes going up.

I've never been able to understand why a married couple living in the same house got two lots of winter fuel allowance.
Surely it doesn't cost more to heat a house with two people in it than it does for one person!

I agree with you cassandra. Abolish all these pensioner freebies, add it to the state pension and tax people as normal. Those who don't pay tax will receive the full amount and those who pay tax will lose a bit. Importantly, the bit people would lose would be progressive, unlike the cliff edge caused by gateway benefits such as Pension Credit.

X posts dd

ab you may well qualify for the fuel allowance, it could be for households under a certain amount will still receive it and not just anyone who gets pension credits.
There are certainly many who do not need it though.

Same here bikergran! It's worth checking out with your energy provider, because their eligibility criteria are different. TBH I doubt if you'll get it, unless you have a disability or children.

I'm 62 and apparently don't get so cold as 62 year olds did a couple of years ago.

PS. I haven't a clue how the means testing will be done, although the government has said that Pension Credit won't necessarily be used.

When the new (2016) state pension is fully rolled out, there will be few new claimants receiving pension credit anyway.

Meant to say too, its time child benefit was not sent to people working here whose kids are not in this country
Foreign aid should be cut too,

My energy company informed me of the warm front fuel allowance

As far as i know all MPs get the winter fuul allowance, i read only yesterday thay John Macdonnel gets it and uses it towards his winter fuel, he said this himself,
I agree wealthy people dont need it and shouldnt get it, all these wealthy celebrities get it
If anyone remembers the first thing David Cameron did was cut £50 of the WFA,
I live alone and get pension credit and use it for that reason,
I used to work for a retired cou[le who didnt even need their pension, they were very forthright in telling me they saved it for their frequent holidays,they both had private pensions
Regarding the free school meals cut,i think its disgraceful, how many children will use the free breakfasts, some would need it i know, but how many parents will send their kids to school early, if thats how it will work, and how many teachers will like the idea
Already tax credits have been cut even for working people
This country is going down the pan
I have never voted Conservative and wont this time
I dont know who i will vote for, always voted Labour in the past, but JCs stance on open borders puts me off
Also never even heard of food banks until the Tories came to power,now they are all over the country