What Will You Do With 10 Million Frozen Pensioners, Rachel?

I expect some parents may volunteer.

In answer to the original question, the frozen pensioners can volunteer to run the free breakfast clubs (they will be warm) because someone has to and the money isn't going to run to staff costs as well.

Jane43

Wyllow3

Where do you get the 10 million figure from mae?

Reference?

In the UK there are 12 million who receive state pension, most who can afford to do without the heating allowance. For those on the margins, of course, more should get WFA, but this is just a plucked out the air figure propaganda for a typical "shock horror O/P.

*So I ask again, where is the reference for this figure of 10 million out of a total of 12 million?*

Well there are 3.2 million pensioners who pay tax at the higher levels, ie have an income of over £50,270.

Everyone on less than £50, 270 is not at risk of freezing to death though.

Chocolatelovinggran

Returning to the original debate, I think that it would be justifiable to say that pensioners paying tax at a higher rate could forego the WFA, surely?
The charming lady I met at the airport, on her way to a Spa retreat in St Lucia probably doesn't need it.

You do not have to be on higher rate tax. The median (not average ) income for pensioner households is around £28,000, Many of the 5 or 6 million pensioner households with high incomes, will not pay higher rate tax because they contain 2 people and 2 people with a pension of £30,000 each is a household income of £60,000, over the £50,000 higher tax rate levelbut spread over 2 individually taxed people on incomes below it.

As I keep saying, ad nauseum. All these add on bells and whistles, whether WFA, prescriptions, bus passes etc, should all be abolished and dealt with by increasing the PC level by £30-40 a week.

If that had been done, we wouldn't have all this fuss.

I do think breakfast club is a great idea, it will help working parents tremendously. No more nagging to get children fed before the school run and I also think it will help teach social skills as well as eating skills.

Most parents need to work these days and they need to get to work on time. All that stress first thing cannot not be good for children. Maybe now they will be keen to get into school and to have some socialising time with friends before the academic day starts.

That 10 million figure is sheer nonsense.

WFA should be stopped for all those in the higher tax bands but not for those in the lower portion of the 20% band.

Returning to the original debate, I think that it would be justifiable to say that pensioners paying tax at a higher rate could forego the WFA, surely?
The charming lady I met at the airport, on her way to a Spa retreat in St Lucia probably doesn't need it.

I was a teacher. My children were given breakfast every day.
However, my working day started before eight and my children needed to be provided for until their day started at 8.50.
I am surprised that this makes me shiftless on the eyes of some.
And, my children are all " parents" (?) and are excellent cooks, men and women - much better than me. I will acknowledge in the spirit of full disclosure, that bar is set pretty low.

Wyllow3

Where do you get the 10 million figure from mae?

Reference?

In the UK there are 12 million who receive state pension, most who can afford to do without the heating allowance. For those on the margins, of course, more should get WFA, but this is just a plucked out the air figure propaganda for a typical "shock horror O/P.

*So I ask again, where is the reference for this figure of 10 million out of a total of 12 million?*

Well there are 3.2 million pensioners who pay tax at the higher levels, ie have an income of over £50,270.

But WFA isn’t a claimed benefit grey. It might have been given to help out with energy bills, but it was up to the individual how to use it. Most I know used it for Christmas spending.
AA is awarded to recipients to make their own lives easier - but I know someone who gives her AA to her son to help him out and another who uses it to pay her DGD’s travelling expenses.
A dear departed friend merely saved hers for a decade, as her DH did everything she wanted.

DGS1 (7) goes to breakfast club from choice! He asked to go, when he realised some of his friends were meeting up before School - it gives them a chance to socialize. His Daddy drops him off and DD1 then has time to sort herself out at home, before she leaves for work later.

I'm astonished that some posters think it entirely reasonable that those who don't need the WFA should give it
away. Could you imagine the uproar if any other benefit claimant boasted they didn't need the benefit and just gave it to charity ? There would be hell to pay.

Doodledog

It also removes stigma from those who would feel embarrassed if only 'the poor' were allowed to go. When I was at school there were separate queues for children who got free school meals - I think there were even different coloured tickets. My friend's mother was a widow and my friend qualified for free meals as a result, but often skipped them because she hated having to stand in the 'free dinners queue'.

Yes. We were talking about this on my secondary schools Facebook page.

Norah

Doodledog

It also removes stigma from those who would feel embarrassed if only 'the poor' were allowed to go. When I was at school there were separate queues for children who got free school meals - I think there were even different coloured tickets. My friend's mother was a widow and my friend qualified for free meals as a result, but often skipped them because she hated having to stand in the 'free dinners queue'.

Disappointing anyone wouldn't want all children well fed.

Doodledog

It also removes stigma from those who would feel embarrassed if only 'the poor' were allowed to go. When I was at school there were separate queues for children who got free school meals - I think there were even different coloured tickets. My friend's mother was a widow and my friend qualified for free meals as a result, but often skipped them because she hated having to stand in the 'free dinners queue'.

It also removes stigma from those who would feel embarrassed if only 'the poor' were allowed to go. When I was at school there were separate queues for children who got free school meals - I think there were even different coloured tickets. My friend's mother was a widow and my friend qualified for free meals as a result, but often skipped them because she hated having to stand in the 'free dinners queue'.

Breakfast clubs are a great, safe choice for working parents, children looked after, food and warmth before being taken safely to school. Then after school club too. My grandchildren all went, no such thing when mine were small, but then again I was lucky enough to be able to stay at home with them. I really don't understand why there is some disparaging of parents taking children to one. Peace of mind where children are concerned is surely most important for working parents.

Lisaangel10

Parents need educating that if they are making babies then they need to provide for them. It’s not other peoples jobs to give their kids breakfasts. Some cereal and milk, a boiled egg and toast, yoghurt and fruit, porridge, these are cheap and easy.

Seriously?!?!!???

Work hours, poverty, no suitable cooking/refrigeration space -- the list is long. Children deserve to be fed and learn better when fed.

M0nica

MissAdventure

The cost of a school breakfast club in the UK can vary depending on the length of the club, the food it offers, and other factors:

Average cost: The average cost of a breakfast club session is between £8 and £15.50.

Surrey County Council: The average cost in Surrey is between £2.50 and £6.50 per session.

Bounds Green Primary School: The breakfast club costs £3.50 per day and runs from 8 AM–9 AM, with breakfast served until 8:30 AM.

Woodhall Primary School & Nursery: The breakfast club costs £3 per session and runs until 8:45 AM. Children entitled to Free School Meals do not pay for the breakfast club, but they must still book a place in advance.

Whitefriars School: The breakfast club costs £3 per session.

In which case why are breakfast clubs being provided. The children who need it most will come from families that cannot afford the cost of them.

No, they won't. Children in receipt of free school meals won't pay. That's how it was when my children went to breakfast club. They went because I had to leave home before 8 to get to work on time. They did go to a childminder for a short time, but the breakfast club was cheaper and more reliable and provided a breakfast. My children liked it because they had the opportunity to chat with their friends before the beginning of the schoolday.

(And I wasn't being shiftless!)

growstuff

MissAdventure

Yes, I'm all for the free breakfast clubs.

That doesn't mean I feel entitled to have a go at pensioners who will find it difficult to manage; although, of course, I could, by applying the same kind of judgements as are being put onto parents, who, as yet, are paying for a service which enables them to hold down jobs.

Some judgemental comments make me cringe. It really is no wonder that some struggling young families don't have much sympathy for the elderly.

I read MissA's comment as pointing out that the people who are so disparaging about parents (to the point that they negate them by using speech marks around the word) who are unable to provide for their children - the people who object to infants getting cereal and toast unless they 'need' it are often the same ones saying that all pensioners should get the WFP just for reaching pension age. By their logic (as opposed to the logic MissA would use herself) pensioners who can't provide for themselves are 'shiftless' and probably spend money on getting their nails, hair and make-up done instead of nourishing meals they can batch-cook. Irony, in other words.

MissA can, of course, correct me if I am wrong. If I'm not, I appreciate her point of view. It's depressing, and it is that sort of attitude which reduces sympathy for the elderly.

Dickens 👏👏👏
Agree with every word.

Cossy

22/25% of pensioners can easily afford to pay all their bill, there will be further percentage in residential care, and a further percentage set to still receive it.

I cannot understand where the 10m figure came from?

Here’s the average pensioner income information.
ifs.org.uk/publications/how-have-pensioner-incomes-and-poverty-changed-recent-years

They'll be free, M0nica as opposed to currently costing.

dalrymple23

Totally agree Lisa A. But I am guessing that the current generation of "parents" have absolutely no idea how to boil an egg!

FGS, most parents are great parents, with two working parents logistically finding it difficult to juggle full time jobs and getting kids organised (sometimes)

They might have children like me! I just couldn’t eat breakfast first thing in the morning, so having it school would have been great for me!

I have many many friends who have young grandchildren, all their parents can cook!

Oreo

Unless the threshold is lifted for PC significantly then lots of pensioners will be worried about energy bills and not wanting to have heating on for long.Why oh why have Labour dug themselves into this hole?!

Absolutely Oreo.

The whole point is that the PC threshold is too low - its application lifts just above poverty level.

So there will be many, many pensioners who will not be able to heat their homes adequately. And, as I've said earlier - it's not just about putting on another layer of clothes to keep warm - air temperature is important. Too low a temperature is not good for those with certain medical conditions (this also obviously applies to any age group).

The energy price cap is increasing next month - then again, apparently, in January next year.

If Starmer has a long-term plan - then he could have waited to plug this alleged bloody 'black-hole' rather than take a piddling amount from pensioners so early in the day - I read somewhere on here it had been suggested that to do otherwise than he did would have spooked 'the markets'... really?

Why oh why have Labour dug themselves into this hole?!

I voted for Starmer's LP, and I am deeply disappointed - not just because of the (ill-judged and too early) WFA removal either... his rhetoric about 'difficult' and 'painful' decisions are too reminiscent of the Cameron / Osborne era - and later, Jeremy Hunt.

But equally bad - in fact worse in some way, though it won't affect anyone's pocket - was his willingness to accept donor cash to buy his clothes (and his wife's) and accessories.

I mean... clothes for goodness' sake. At a moment when he's preparing the nation for hard times, you'd think he would have the integrity to refuse the offer because it just doesn't look good. It's not as if the ability to be appropriately and decently dressed is beyond his means - as it is for so many ordinary people.

A piece of artwork for his office in No.10 or a painting - just a gift, would have been acceptable. But clothes? Maybe it's just me, but it seems grabbing and tawdry - rather like I'll take whatever's on offer. It's what I would expect from a celebrity, but not a serious politician.

They were provided to help working parents, as were after school clubs.

I totally agree with universal free breakfast clubs