Rachel Reeves has announced that winter fuel payments will only be paid to those on Pension Credit.nsion Credit

Actually, maddyone most of the poor are working age people with families. Government statistics show that, after housing costs and direct taxation, they are, on average, poorer than the average pensioner.

I have found a way of saving money to account for the loss of the WFA. I now am going to spend £6 less per week on my weekly grocery shopping, that will give me a yearly saving of £312 which will more than cover the loss of the WFA. Of course it won't cover the loss of this years WFA as it has been so sudden, but starting from January 2025 it will cover it.

This is what is has come to in our old age.

There were many on here claiming that they were voting Labour because they were voting for the poor. I wonder who those people thought the poor are, because it’s clear from this site that many of the poor are pensioners, particularly female pensioners. Even now we’ve got posters proclaiming they’re happy that much money is going abroad to help poor people abroad, forgetting that poor pensioners need our help too. Personally I think we should help poor people abroad, but absolutely not at the cost of people who have worked and paid taxes all their lives and will now suffer the cold this coming winter. We had stopped seeing news reports of elderly people dying of hyperthermia many years ago, but this is what we will be seeing again very soon. We were told by Labour that there would be hard choices, but up to now it seems to me, that the only group who have been singled out to suffer any hard choices are the pensioners. I don’t need to wait till the budget to see what Labour are like, I’ve seen it this week.

This is just the first step from the new regime. It is a worrying time for anyone who doesn’t have savings.
For the first time ever, one of my sons is wondering how to make substantial amounts of money to support us into old age. I managed not to laugh… but he has his own little ones to support. What is happening to this country?

Presumably all the hotels in Rwanda have been paid for already. Cannot we Pensioners have a year of Free living over there?

BTW it's interesting all those people saying they will have to reduce their heating. I currently do not have any heating and I was turned down for a grant to upgrade my heating as house in not energy efficient.

Might have to go and live with Mr Linekar. Eugh!!

Many of us didn't vote Labour because we knew that Labour would not be good for us and have been proved right.
The abrupt stoppage of WFA is cruel to many pensioners. They have alienated a huge group of people some of whom are the most vulnerable in society.

annsixty

All I object to is the suddenness of the withdrawal.
It should have been paid this year to give time to get used to the idea and maybe start to make economies where possible for the winter after this.

I could not agree more. It was hastily done by a new Chancellor who keeps extolling the virtues of budgeting and how the government must act within its means but has not given individuals notice to do before the cold weather arrives.

And acknowledging what HattieTopper says - losing one's spouse, oce doesn't just have to deal with bereavement but the sudden loss of income. This is very apparent from the graphs I linked to above.

On average, couples are considerably better off than singles and single women are considerably worse off than single men not least because a generation of working women who are now old were often paid less than men for doing the same work so did not build up the same entitlement to works pensions or have the same capacity to save.

We know too that the lion's share of caring for children or other older family members falls to women who end up penalised in older age for it.

It's striking that the cost saving from removing WFA from pensioners other than those on Pension Credit has been estimated at 1.5 bn is actually less than the 1.8 bn set aside in 2022/23 for women (mostly) who were being underpaid state pension. I'm hoping that most of those women have now been identified and paid and await with interest what the head of HMRC, Jim Harra has to say about that in his annual report.

I would urge anyone in the slightest doubt about their eligibility for pension credit to apply. It’s a very straightforward application form. I have applied 3 times in the past 2 years “just in case” I might find myself eligible. Unfortunately, I’m not eligible despite living alone and my sole income being the new state pension. That’s the cut off point for eligibility.

I have already cut everything back to the bare bones in recent years . Last winter I only had the heating on for one hour in the morning and another in the evening on the coldest of days. The WFA was a very welcome help in those very cold months.

It’s time people started getting it in their heads that Liebour do not care about them at all.

Winter Fuel Payment gone, Cost of Living Payment gone and that’s just in the first few weeks but will affect millions of older people.

WASPI women can kiss goodbye to any help from Liebour now despite working hard, paying their dues for all those years. They can find £84 million to send to other countries but have no interest in spending any on its own people.

You were all warned!

How on earth will the government implement the cancellation of the WFA in just a few weeks. It was due to be paid in November/December of this year and it is August tomorrow.

Surely they could have waited until next year to implement it and given the people that will be affected time to adjust their way of living by cutting down on their expenses a few pounds per month.

Since I reached 80 years of age (now mid 80's) I have lost the TV licence, our buses have been taken off so the bus pass is of no use to me now, they have stopped the rise of the personal tax allowance until 2028 so I now pay tax on my income and now the cancellation of the WFA.

There is a definitely a name for it for targetting the pensioners it is called elderly abuse.

Nevermind cutting WFA for pensioners how about cutting MPs expenses and the fossils in the House of Lords on £300 plus a day just for turning up, disgraceful, then they probably go to the subsidised restaurant and have a slap dinner and a subsidised gin and tonic.

You should be ashamed of yourself Rachel Thieves. The Labour Party, the new Nasty Party.

Freya5

Doodledog

Urmstongran

Anyone else think that had Labour had gone into the election admitting they would pay the doctors 22% and the rest of the public sector over 5%, whilst removing the Winter Heating Allowance from millions of pensioners living just above poverty levels, would the election result would have been very different?

One month in Ms. Reeves. 59 to go…

We’re watching.

No. I think that most people realised that difficult decisions would have to be made. We were told that often enough. £22billion pounds unaccounted for plus all the money that went to cronies during Covid - only a fool would expect no pain after that.

There will be a budget in the Autumn. Let’s see what that brings before the cold weather hits.

I am not thrilled about this move, but I am very pleased about a lot of the other things the government has done in the short time it has been in power.

Such as, what. Nothing I can see, oh the junior Dr's. Stopped winter fuel allowance to pay for it though.

It makes perfect sense.

We'll need all the doctors we can find when people are suffering from hypothermia next winter.

Doodledog

Urmstongran

Anyone else think that had Labour had gone into the election admitting they would pay the doctors 22% and the rest of the public sector over 5%, whilst removing the Winter Heating Allowance from millions of pensioners living just above poverty levels, would the election result would have been very different?

One month in Ms. Reeves. 59 to go…

We’re watching.

No. I think that most people realised that difficult decisions would have to be made. We were told that often enough. £22billion pounds unaccounted for plus all the money that went to cronies during Covid - only a fool would expect no pain after that.

There will be a budget in the Autumn. Let’s see what that brings before the cold weather hits.

I am not thrilled about this move, but I am very pleased about a lot of the other things the government has done in the short time it has been in power.

Such as, what. Nothing I can see, oh the junior Dr's. Stopped winter fuel allowance to pay for it though.

growstuff

Even after pension contributions have been checked and all those eligible for Pension Credit have applied, there will still be many people who won't be eligible. After direct taxes and housing costs, I receive £13 a week more than the amount for guaranteed Pension Credit (which is less than the average for all single female pensioners). I've had my entitlement to Pension Credit checked a number of times and I'm just not eligible.

My SisIL was only a few £ per annum over the limit.
The pension age couple next door received every benefit going and seemed to lead a luxurious lifestyle in comparison. A caravan, lovely clothes, a trip planned to New Zealand.

I don't think that many of you understand that it is not what you have in your savings account the government is bothering about, it is your income, i.e. how much money actually comes into your bank account weekly, monthly, yearly etc.

I filled in the form for the pension credit and I also filled in the box asking for my savings, which luckily is a decent amount, not over £25,000 but enough to supplement my quality of living, i.e. paying for gardeners, diy men and any other emergency situation that crops up. We did have a heck of a lot more when my late husband was here (he died a few years ago) as we had his state pension and his full private pension but he was ill for many years before he died and we had to buy stairlifts and every other medical item he needed as each time the NHS gave it to us, they asked for it back for someone else. We applied for Attendance Allowance and was turned down, after trying a few times and still being turned down he died. Our energy bills were over £600 per month during winter as he had to be kept warm. I tried to claim carers allowance but was told because I had a state pension I could not claim carers allowance as my state pension was a benefit.

After he died his state pension stopped and I received a portion of his private pension, which I now pay tax on bec ause I am over the threshold for benefits.

Since he died I have had a lot of expense, new house roof, garage roof, porch roof etc. due to the gales few years ago which cost me thousands of pounds and the insurance company refused to pay out stating it was wear and tear, gradually my savings are dwindling and with the cost of living as it is now, it is dwindling even faster especially with the cost of energy being higher.

Our buses have been taken off due to cuts so I have to pay for taxis so I only go out once a month and go for walks around the park at the end of my street. The cheapest taxi fare is over £20 return so I now buy everything online and have it delivered free. It even costs me £15 return to go to my GP's.

Anyway, back to the forms. I decided to fill in the form for benefits again but this time leaving out my £25,000 savings and I was still turned down for benefits.

So people, when all your savings have gone or if you do not have any savings, the government will still come after you because of your income be it a lot or just enough to stop you claiming benefits.

Governments are out to fleece the ones that are easy to track, pensioners, because they know where we live and they don't have to bother about the people who have no place to live or keep a check on benefit claiments once they have received benefits because we, the pensioners, have become the governments bank account, they can withdraw our money whenever they want to.

Even after pension contributions have been checked and all those eligible for Pension Credit have applied, there will still be many people who won't be eligible. After direct taxes and housing costs, I receive £13 a week more than the amount for guaranteed Pension Credit (which is less than the average for all single female pensioners). I've had my entitlement to Pension Credit checked a number of times and I'm just not eligible.

Maybe some good will come out of this by prompting more people to make sure they are being paid what they are entitled to especially widows who may not be receiving inherited pension entitlement and women who are entitled to Home Responsibility Protection for years when they stayed home to look after children.

Just to reinforce this point: Home Responsibilities Protection was paid from 6 April 1978 to 5 April 2010 if you received Child Benefit for a child aged under 16 or were a carer for a sick or disabled person and in receipt of Carer's Allowance.

It is possible to check on the Government Gateway to see if any years were added because of this in lieu of NI contributions, but this full statement of eligible years disappears after the State Pension pension is paid so it may be necessary to write in to the DWP to check if your pension calculation is correct.

Many women were persuaded (lied to) and paid the Married Women's Stamp too but then returned to work when children were at school, earning the right to a small occupational penion, so yes, older women on their own are more likely to be the group who might just miss out on anything and now lose the WFA too.

Merion I don’t think politicians should display anger when presenting their policies - it’s unhealthy and anger can affect the liver and gallbladder. Yvette Cooper and Angela Rayner also appear as angry women. It’s not a good role model.
I am interested to see how Simon Case responds to Jeremy Hunt’s letter.

All I object to is the suddenness of the withdrawal.
It should have been paid this year to give time to get used to the idea and maybe start to make economies where possible for the winter after this.

I have said elsewhere that this sudden withdrawal of WFA within weeks of when cold weather will start to set in is indiscriminately cruel. It has not given time for those affected to budget adequately even assuming they have the means to do so. Surely my post just above yours makes it clear that I am concerned for those on low incomes. I cannot understand why Reeves has done this. It feels like a knee jerk response to the what the OBR revealed and aimed at quick and easy target, to punish older people for the sins of the last 14 years of government. She was clearly angry when she made her speech on Monday at what the previous government has left her to clear up but this demonstrates a lack of understanding on her part for how hard life is for some older people.

Merion You know that as well as I do that I was making a point that the WFA is paid to the wealthiest pensioners as well as the poorest Was that directed at me as you don't make it clear by not naming to whom you are referring?

In my book you don't disregard the harm caused to poor pensioners who will be caught in the cutoff for pension credit and therefore WFA to avoid giving wealthier pensioners a benefit. Then again we're all different. I'd rather some who didn't need it benefitted rather than anyone who really did was denied.

You know that as well as I do that I was making a point that the WFA is paid to the wealthiest pensioners as well as the poorest.

A report by More or Less for BBC Radio 4 revealed that 27 per cent of pensioners live in millionaire households. And this from Full Fact:

fullfact.org/economy/millionaire-pensioners/

A millionaire household doesn’t necessarily equate to a millionaire income as property wealth is included but I would argue that those people are not going to miss £200.

There is a host of graphs here which show the relative wealth of pensioners. The average weekly income for a pensioner couple in 2023 was £561. That was before the 8.1% rise in the state pension in April 2024 so it would be fair to say that number is now £600 per week. That is far above the Guaranteed Pension Credit for couples which is currently £332.95. Couples with an income of over £30K a year can afford to lose £200 or £300.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023

The worry is that single pensioners fare worse, especially women. The average weekly income for single pensioners in 2023 was £267, say now £288. Single or couple, we all need heat in winter.

Moreover, that average income conceals the fact that the average income of single female pensioners in 2023 was £27 per week lower than single male pensioners £259 compared to £286. Remove the WFA of £200 or £300 (say six months at £33 or £50 for the colder months) and you make surviving even harder for those people.

It’s why I have made the point elsewhere about women who have been underpaid state pension and may still be underpaid. The government had set aside 1.8 billion in 2022/23 to address this issue. Then there’s the 800,000 people who are eligible for Pension Credit but haven’t claimed it.

Maybe some good will come out of this by prompting more people to make sure they are being paid what they are entitled to especially widows who may not be receiving inherited pension entitlement and women who are entitled to Home Responsibility Protection for years when they stayed home to look after children.

www.facebook.com/reel/464769259315729
Kier Starmer. I can't find the whole interview just yet but the essence is there. Withdrawing the WFA from all pensioners except those on pension credit will give him a lot more to be sympathetic to 🙄

Of course you are……🙄

When did they vow to be the party of pensioners?