“I think the [winter fuel payment] means testing was too tight..to set it at pensioners who have annual income of less than £11,400 is too tight”
Martin Lewis says the winter fuel payment should have been extended to those pensioners with around “£20,000-25,000” annual income
Martin Lewis says the winter fuel payment should have been extended to those pensioners with around “£20,000-25,000” annual income
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#LetTheBodiesPileHigh
#ScottishIndependence Come on folks, let’s leave
However, they need to demonstrate more nuance - not to appease the right wing press but to be the party of Justice.
Exempt farmers aged 75+ & OAPs on marginal incomes who may slip into poverty & share essential NI increase between business & individuals.
we need to Renationalise..shout it loud come on Labour sort this out !Power Water Rail and Mail all require immediate renationalisation stop the vile corrupt billionaires making millions every year from us all suffering!
Universalism works - https://reidfoundation.scot/2012/09/weve-had-the-debate-universalism-won/
However to have a strongly public supported welfare system you must run it well i.e not like the NHS....
Last year I gave my payment to a charity for those in fuel poverty.
I don't know if the Treasury got it right .
Rich pensioners (all rich people) should pay fair tax.
But Labour won't engage in progressive taxation, because they favour the rich.
Of course, energy should be a service, not a business, and pensions should be above poverty levels, but that would be socialist...
Or
Less than 20,000
such a weird discourse.
Many younger families with children have much less; they also need help.
However just received electricity bill, pay £75 by DD. My bill £56 but standing charge £26 how the hell can they justify that when you have to pay even if sitting in with no lights or heating
Many have saved & paid into pensions that are no longer keeping them alive in the changed world they have been abandoned in.
They are numbers to the mandarins.
They are our parents, grandparents & aunties who sacrificed so much for today.
Cold hearted.
UK's propensity to freeze its people every winter is barbaric. I speak from the Nordics, not the tropics, btw.
that would have been far better,and would have led to far less controversy.
WFA works out at 55p a day.
Pension rise April is £1.20 a day.
Government has to prioritise where it allocates its money.
As a household who have lost the WFA I would prefer they prioritise children in poverty.
Then there are those who really do, but won't get it because the bar was set far too insanely low.
There are cold young children to think of as well. And no I’m not wealthy or warm.
Enabled to pension credit
WHY DONT THEY SEND THEM THE MONEY!! Are they putting the onus onto by definition the less perhaps Able,to answer 240+ questions
Sight might be fading,arthritic hands,struggle!
We pay almost twice as much for energy as they do in the EU.
Nobody should need a winter fuel payment.
It's a symptom of something wrong.
People who'll never have a chance to own a home, paying national insurance to pay for the elderly's public pension.
There's just so much to fix. And this feels like is a massive distraction.
Labour made a big mistake with this being their first big policy announcement. It means people on the borderline will suffer and it made them very unpopular.
PR is clearly not their strong point.
Easy and fair?
By increasing the threshold for PC you enable those just missing out now to get WFA
(Pensioner are already taxed of course or are you talking about a special supplementary tax?)
£8,814 per year. This doesn’t cover the cost of basic bills and food and people who have worked all their lives shouldn’t have to beg for more. Everyone should receive a sufficient pension to cover basic needs!
It would have been a far gentler solution.
The real issue is the government subsidising landlords. Cap the rental market to see real change
There are plenty of people who need much more than that.
Also, while I knoe the Tories couldn't care less one way or the other, I believed that @uklabour.bsky.social had those in need when making policy
What does that tell you about the state our pensions are in?
As with any policy there will unfortunately be some edge cases that are manifestly unfair. That goes for working age people too as we’ve seen.
Sincerely, a two income “hard working family” recently section 21’d just so the landlord could get new tenants in for £300p/more.
Determining the appropriate level is challenging, but an income threshold of 20-25K seems excessively high.
It's a middle class, cushy, cosy, skewed way of looking at it..
But there should still be a threshold.
They still have the triple lock, and the richest should absolutely not have the WFA.
Working age people in poverty get no such help?
Means testing to a separate threshold would require time and paperwork. And I guess they couldn't be bothered. So some people have to suffer.
What on earth are they spending it on????
Means-testing is the least cost-efficient way to do it.
No, then stfu.
We won't get WFA. Those recovering from/receiving treatment for, serious illness and needing constant heat are struggling. Feeling cold and fatigue are common side effects of cancer treatment.
I'm lucky; I have an open fire and enough donated wood to last all winter. I'm not in fuel poverty.
My biggest concern is young kids whose lungs are still developing.
Anyone with a low income, living wage or below, should receive support. And there are far more children in poverty than pensioners.