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WFP in Scotland

(22 Posts)
Mollygo Thu 28-Nov-24 17:01:14

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has confirmed that on the roll-out of the new benefit next winter, pensioners in receipt of a relevant qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit will be receiving Pension Age Winter Heating Payments of £300 or £200, depending on their age. Meanwhile all other pensioner households will receive £100 from next winter, providing them with support not available anywhere else in the UK.

Floradora9 Thu 28-Nov-24 21:47:48

Good news for some but I fear money will have to come from another project , like roads or home care, to pay for it . The SNP already has a black hole in the finances.

rafichagran Thu 28-Nov-24 22:15:36

Good move. I only with the rest if us would do it.

rafichagran Thu 28-Nov-24 22:19:00

Of UK I should say.

petal53 Fri 29-Nov-24 00:07:11

Lucky Scotland.

Aveline Fri 29-Nov-24 06:41:25

From next winter. 2025-2026. Guess when the next Holyrood election is? Yes. 2026. SNP predictable??!!!

loopyloo Fri 29-Nov-24 09:27:22

It is colder in Scotland......

paddyann54 Fri 29-Nov-24 12:07:12

Well Aveline the Scottish budget has been cut relentlessly for years we are already mitigating Tory policies to the tune of hundreds of millions .If there had been more notice maybe they could have continued with the WFA as itwas BUT..when it was stripped of 18% of the budget overnight they had no choice
I know you come from a prosperous part of Scotland but be.ive me where I live the majority of pensioners don’t have private pensions and many would never claim benefits because of pride
Of course the answer is Independence…let’s take control of ALL our income instead of getting pocket money from WM !,

MissInterpreted Fri 29-Nov-24 12:08:20

Aveline

From next winter. 2025-2026. Guess when the next Holyrood election is? Yes. 2026. SNP predictable??!!!

So you won't be accepting your payment then?

Aveline Fri 29-Nov-24 13:16:27

It probably won't actually happen like many SNP pre election promises. How many of the promised bikes and laptops for 16+ voters actually materialised?

OldFrill Sat 30-Nov-24 11:39:56

paddyann54

Well Aveline the Scottish budget has been cut relentlessly for years we are already mitigating Tory policies to the tune of hundreds of millions .If there had been more notice maybe they could have continued with the WFA as itwas BUT..when it was stripped of 18% of the budget overnight they had no choice
I know you come from a prosperous part of Scotland but be.ive me where I live the majority of pensioners don’t have private pensions and many would never claim benefits because of pride
Of course the answer is Independence…let’s take control of ALL our income instead of getting pocket money from WM !,

The SNP is now a minority government. It was defending 48 seats in the General Election and won just nine.
Independence is dead in the water.

Aveline Sat 30-Nov-24 16:08:10

SNP just lost the last 18 local elections too.

Grandmabatty Sat 30-Nov-24 16:36:41

Scottish Labour were promising to reinstate it a few days ago

LadyInBlue Sat 30-Nov-24 16:44:09

Next year may be too late for some elderly people, Scotland is a cold country most of the time, the elderly of the UK and Scotland need it now not in a years time. What a c##ck up.

PoliticsNerd Sun 01-Dec-24 16:56:50

I don't understand why people think they should receive a retirement insurance benefit when they haven't met the criteria.

It's a bit like finding out that your neighbour uses the same car insurance as you. Would people then rant at the company if the neighbour received a payment when someone drives into their car and writes it off, but you don't?

Aveline Sun 01-Dec-24 18:29:32

??? confused

Mollygo Sun 01-Dec-24 18:40:55

Aveline

??? confused

Likewise.

Katek Sun 01-Dec-24 18:51:02

MissInterpreted It actually wasn't possible to refuse to accept WFP-I know, myself and other family members tried. I think charities benefited from quite a few donations from those who didn't feel we needed/wanted it.

Katek Sun 01-Dec-24 18:51:43

*benefitted

PoliticsNerd Sun 01-Dec-24 19:23:29

Sorry Aveline, I think that may have been a bit ambiguous.

What I meant is that you wouldn't expect any other insurance to pay out when the claimants didn't meet the criteria. They only pay to those who do.

I also noticed that some contributors on here felt they should get the the "£300" (it's actually £200 or £300 depending on age), even while declaring they "don't need it". As far as I have picked up no one has commented on the around £1,000 those on Pension Credit received as cost of living payments, last year and the year before, which has now been stopped.

I don't know about you but I would guess that if I am still feeling the effects (mainly from Brexit) of the rise in the cost of living, I'm sure our poorest pensioners are too.

It seems to me eminently economically sensible that payments outside the basic insurance benefit should be treated as crisis payments and stopped asap. If the crisis is believe to have become permanent then we should be challenging the basic insurance benefit, i.e., the basic state pension not asking for or having to accept a particular government's hand-outs.

ayse Sun 01-Dec-24 19:27:20

It’s cold up here on the NE coast. I wouldn’t say no to even £100. That would be better than nothing

PoliticsNerd Sun 01-Dec-24 20:59:29

I am hoping they get rid of the £10 "Christmas Bonus" too. On the other side they should be moving as fast as they can to raise the Basic State Pension from £8,814 or at least Pension Credit from £11,336 towards the Minimum Income Standard for those over retirement age which appears to be just above £17,000.

The argument about £200/300 is the wrong arguement.