We more "mature" people may have had our Winter Fuel payment taken away but I've just had a look at our bank account and we've both got our £10 Christmas Bonus! We won't spend it all at once
Mine paid too! TBH, hadn't given much thought to it, if any, probably assumed Rachel (Robber) Scrooge-Reeves had stolen that to!
It's been £10 since 1972 when Ted heath introduced it! If it had followed inflation, it would now be worth around £116.
Shouldn't be too bitter about 'free' money, especially from any Government, and this abominable shower in particular, but not going to have much impact, maybe treat myself to some decent Minced Pies!
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 02/12/2024
Shouldn't be too bitter about 'free' money, especially from any Government, and this abominable shower in particular, but not going to have much impact, maybe treat myself to some decent Minced Pies!
Indeed Monty. Better public services & less tax is what we want. 5 months after kicking out the last abominable shower we want to kick out the present abominable shower & elect the next abominable shower. Then repeat every 5 months until we elect a government that can give us better pensions a better NHS affordable housing for all & tax us less. Oh yes & stop the boats of course.
We somehow seem to have destroyed our own politics. Yes ?
We don’t get any £10 up here, but we get things like free prescriptions so I’m not complaining. SNP stopped charging for them as they said it was “a tax on ill health”. Just wish they’d lose some surplus civil servants to offset what it must cost.
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 02/12/2024
It's been £10 since 1972 when Ted heath introduced it! If it had followed inflation, it would now be worth around £116.
In 1972 you could fill a large shopping trolley in a supermarket and come out with change from a £10 note. That trolley full would set you back at least £160 today!
It should go a fair way to buying a bottle of sherry or the wine for the Christmas Dinner. Obviously not the purpose of it! In truth it should probably be done away with and perhaps people of Pension Credit get £50? Probably be a cost saving there!
A whole £10? Well, every little helps, as the supermarket says...! I agreed totally with removing the winter fuel allowance from people who obviously don't need it and I applaud them for doing that, but they made the cut-off point too low. I miss out on Pension Credit by a few quid a week, so it hits me.
------------- Always edited for sloppy typing - when I spot it!
I'm staying well away from the rights and wrongs, but I think a practical point is worth mentioning here.
Universal benefits cost less to administer, and are less vulnerable to fraud than anything means tested, so from a financial perspective it is more sensible to use the tax system more and means testing less.
Quote: Originally posted by Hedgehugger on 02/12/2024
A whole £10? Well, every little helps, as the supermarket says...! I agreed totally with removing the winter fuel allowance from people who obviously don't need it and I applaud them for doing that, but they made the cut-off point too low. I miss out on Pension Credit by a few quid a week, so it hits me.
I'm inclined to agree about removing WFP from those who didn't need it, and that the cut off point is too low. Perhaps they should have set it at the level of the minimum wage, as the state pension is way below that. (How they justify that I will never know, as that is supposed to be the minimum anyone is expected to live on!)
I still got my WFP, as we are just the other side of the line. I get pension credit but only just. A few quid a week.
As has been said, means testing is not necessarily good anyway, as it costs quite a bit to carry out.
Quote: Originally posted by Hedgehugger on 02/12/2024
A whole £10? Well, every little helps, as the supermarket says...! I agreed totally with removing the winter fuel allowance from people who obviously don't need it and I applaud them for doing that, but they made the cut-off point too low. I miss out on Pension Credit by a few quid a week, so it hits me.
Totally agree; it's people like yourselves who will feel the scrapping of WFA the most, the threshold was indeed set too low.
I hadn't given the Christmas Bonus a thought until I saw it in our bank account. I'd assumed that would have been scrapped altogether, along with WFA for some pensioners, although I hadn't heard it mentioned specifically.
A whole 10 pounds each. I'm surprised that it hasn't been scrapped too.
As for the WFP, you could say that I don't need it, but I live in a village with no mains gas, so the WFP just compensates for the higher cost of heating - electric and/or oil - that we experience. At one point we did get £100 alternative fuel allowance, but that's gone too.
I understand that from next year, all pensioners in Scotland will get a reduced WFP.
------------- Two drifters off to see the world.
I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.
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Topic: Christmas Bonus
via mobile 02/12/2024 at 7:20am
