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

Pension credits can you up the old state pension so that there is £3 difference between that and the new one.

Peartree

Go ahead but ann sixty stuck her finger up at me so you had better report her too.

No she didn’t.

I suggested that annsixty did to those who sit on judgement about how she spends her money.

She hasn’t been rude enough to do so, - indeed not as rude as those who sit in judgement.

The above is up to date info from age UK.

Increases to the new State Pension
You can now get up to £221.20 per week depending on the National Insurance contributions you made during your working years.

Increases to the old State Pension
The full State Pension under the old rules is now £169.50 per week for people with at least 30 years of NI contributions.

Increases to Pension Credit
Guarantee Credit can now top up your income to at least £218.15 per week for single people and £332.95 for couples.

Savings Credit is now up to £17.01 extra per week for single people or £19.04 extra per week for couples.

Thank you again, Blinko. That is very kind.

I wanted to say to HattieTopper that it isn’t as straighforward as comparing the weekly rate of Basic State Pension with the weekly rate of New State Pension and assuming that all people of a certain age receive the higher amount.

For those reaching pension age after 5 April 2016, the method for calculating SP is complicated - especially so for women who were contracted out of the Additional State Pension. That can substantially reduce their SP entitlement.

Many women who reached SP age after 5 April 2016, do not receive £221.20 per week. I don’t receive that despite having worked and paid NIC for 44 years from 1971 to 2015 and having to wait until 2021, when I was 66, to get SP.

Many of us “WASPIs”, women born after 5 April 1950, have had to wait much longer to receive our SP - up to six years for some. They may have lost up to £40,000 SP as a result of not receiving SP at age 60 - as slightly older women did. I know, as I have lost almost £40,000.

Furthermore, younger women do not have the same rights as older women as regards inheriting pension from their late husbands. My late husband worked and paid NIC for 40 years until his premature death. I receive an extra £12 a week for those 40 years, worked 44 years myself but my pension is still below £221.20 a week.

My DH and I live off our savings and we have to be very careful not to go over our budget of £10,00.00 per year. My DH draws a monthly pension of £510. I don’t have a state pension. We do not go on holidays, go out for lunches, dinners or even coffee and a piece of cake. During the winter months we cannot afford to have the heating on for more than a few hours a day - we are all electric, no gas. The Winter Fuel Payment came in very handy. It allowed us to breathe a sigh of relief and not feel too anxious about putting the heating on a little earlier if it was too cold. Our savings (less than £70k) has to last us until we die so we do have to be very frugal. I now dread the winter months. Fortunately we own our home but we still have all the expenses to pay which, every year go up. Council tax, building insurance, car tax and maintenance. We will miss the WFP.

Post references deleted post. Talk guidelines.

Casdon

Smileless2012

According to Hunt, 10 billion of the 20 billion black hole is the cost of the announced pay rises in the public sector which she has just made .

I suspect we will find out who is telling the truth, this is lurking in the ‘less read’ section on BBC News.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6p24zpeg05o

Thank you for that reference Casdon it really does show the extent of the "black hole" that was covered up by the outgoing government.

Smileless2012

According to Hunt, 10 billion of the 20 billion black hole is the cost of the announced pay rises in the public sector which she has just made .

I suspect we will find out who is telling the truth, this is lurking in the ‘less read’ section on BBC News.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6p24zpeg05o

Peartree I do not need the WFA

I will complain and campaign for it to be reinstated for those who do, those who miss out by a few £’s.

Far more effective than maligning other GN members…

👍 GrannyGravy

Peartree I am reporting your post of 12.14.20

Thank you NS, I shall - on my "to do" list. No, not alone but OH is on minimum wage.

According to Hunt, 10 billion of the 20 billion black hole is the cost of the announced pay rises in the public sector which she has just made .

Is there any need to be so rude??

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

If you just get the new pension and nothing else then it’s probably worth using the benefit calculator. You’re probably entitled to rent and council tax benefits. It’s also worth applying for dental etc on the low income scheme form hc2

Fine by me,
I'd much rather have a functioning health service and kids with full bellies.
I don't have a high income, I'm on low rate tax but with Labour this money will be spent on things I approve of rather than rich shareholders.

J52

rosie1959

I find it odd that the supposedly caring Labour party are hitting pensioners who are just over the limit for benefits. They may be just managing but this kick on the teeth will not help.

So what would be your answer?

Give it to all pensioners even if they don’t need it? Very costly.
Means test it? Again costly to administer
Raise the UC credit bar? Then the next layer of missing out would complain.
Raise the SP? Then those pushed into tax would complain.
Of course they could abolish paying tax for Pensioners.
Any other suggestions?

As I suggested further up, I wonder if it would be as costly to differentiate between pensioners who own their home outright and those who pay rent or mortgage. I own my own home, so just being on the State Pension is okay for me. There must be lots of us out there, and it seems to me that other pensioners with this ongoing expense of rent etc., could retain the allowance, but people like me would lose it.

Pension credit is a "gateway" benefit.
A person may only get a few pounds, but perhaps other things.

Anyone who is struggling, even if they applied once, should think about reapplying, as amounts change, and they may now qualify.

Many people think that the income limit should be increased but can they explain how this is to be achieved? Not everyone completes a tax return so how are incomes to be checked?

Apparently there are at lest a million pensioners who do not claim the pension credits or other income to which they are entitled.

I'm 77 and I'm aware that my parents and grandparents thought it would be demeaning to claim benefits. But my generation is, I think different.

So I would urge anyone who may be entitled to addtional benefits to go out there and claim them.

Some helpful, thoughtful posts on here which have greatly helped my understanding.

Kudos - in no particular order - goes to:
J52 for that list of possible alternatives;
Merion for well informed, non judgmental posts;
Callistemon for some positive contributions; and of course Doodledog brilliant, thoughtful posts.

Sorry if it sounds like 'marks out of ten' but I just appreciated this thread and wanted to say so. GN at its best is informative as ever.

maddyone

Why did anyone think Labour would care about pensioners? They never have done. Remember Gordon Brown’s 11 pence rise one year? Remember Gordon Brown’s tax raid on those people putting money into a pension savings pot? I have no idea why anyone is shocked. This is absolutely typical Labour behaviour. There are several other groups that Labour won’t go after, but pensioners have never been a high priority in Labour’s view. The triple lock won’t last longer than one year in my opinion. Watch this space.

Because we are not in a union, they see us weak as a group but we have our votes and I for one will not ever vote labour.

We don`t count, look at their smirks when the pensioner-bashing measures are announced

This is only the tip of the labour iceberg

People who are getting the new state pension won't feel the stopping of the WFA as much as we older people on the old state pension as people on the new state pension get much more a month than we do. The difference between the two is £52 per week that means people on the new state pension get £200 approx more every four weeks. See below.......

The weekly rate of the full new State Pension is £221.20 per week. The weekly rate of the full basic State Pension is £169.50 per week.

So before peope on the new state pension start saying they can manage, with the WFA they should realise that they can manage because they get a lot more per month than we on the old state pension receive.

It's lucky everyone is so thrifty.

Lentil soup for us all.