NOW! IN CAPITAL LETTERS!
It's September. My heating isn't even on yet. I doubt Ethel's is.
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[Politics] The Labour Government
- Thread starter Super Steve Earle
- Start date
It's September. My heating isn't even on yet. I doubt Ethel's is.
Is it PotG?
Thrifty non-licker
In the north of the country it is considerably cooler than down here, and the elderly tend to feel the cold more. Rather strange to assume that because you don't, then others don't.
Weststander
Well-known member
.
Weststander
Well-known member
Some NSC'ers on the heating thread happened to mention that they've fired up the heating/woodburning stove. Especially true where there's a dampness issue.
79-year-old Jennifer McKay's is. Well, it was yesterday anyway. I can provide today's update, if it's helpful, when I get there in about 20 minutes.
Old poorly people often feel the cold more than spritely and fit youngsters.
Mellor 3 Ward 4
Well-known member
LamieRobertson
Not awoke
oh dear oh dear ....i guess it must be hard for you to accept all this ….have you tried therapy
I'd like to think my commentary has been anything other than lazy.
I speak from both first-hand experience of those I know, and from extensive reading.
No one of right mind would suggest paying £200/£300 to wealthy pensioners is a good use of the nation's money.
However, there are literally hundreds of thousands, potentially a 7-figure number even, for whom the WFP is much-needed to help them get through the colder months.
It is estimated that c880,000 people due Pension Credits, a gateway benefit to other payments, including the WFP, have not claimed it. This will be for a number of reasons including ignorance - simply not knowing it exists, pride - not wanting to ask for a handout or inability to claim - those on the dementia curve may lack the mental fortitude to go through the application process.
Considerable effort has been made, for some years, to reach these people but the reality is many are all but unreachable.
Beyond that, there are people who sit just above the Pension Credit threshold, often by just a few quid, who will miss out. These people aren't wealthy by any stretch, often survive month-to-month and have little or no savings. £200/£300 is a significant sum to these people.
We're probably on the same page, to a degree, that some policy "tweaks" would fix this ghastly and cruel implementation, but the government has said, repeatedly, that it is what it is.
People are going to become seriously ill and, sadly, in some cases, will die if this proceeds as currently specified.
This is anything but faux outrage from those on the right looking to score cheap political points.
LamieRobertson
Not awoke
Notwithstanding that your politics are much further right than mine, I have to say you are quite right here. What possible justification is there for binning off the WFA?
I think in the defence of Labour, they have boxed themselves into a corner because they are terrified of raising taxes after telling everyone they wouldn't be doing that - despite that clearly being the right thing to do to pay for all the mess the Tories have left. But I really was expecting far more justifiable taxes to be introduced. IHT would be my first port of call, as that is easy to explain away as it is not a tax on working people.
Mellor 3 Ward 4
Well-known member
This.
I was listening to Radio 4 on Tuesday morning, which featured a torrent of people who are having their WFA taken away because they are caught in the unfortunate financial bracket between being desperately poor and being not quite comfortable. It seems that if you contributed to a very small private pension that was barely worth having even for a matter of weeks, you are not deemed poor enough to qualify, despite the WFA being far more valuable than the pension payout in question - and that would be bad enough even if it wasn't the case that these people are effectively being penalised for trying to look after themselves in their old age.
As a policy, it's an absolute mess.
As a policy, it's an absolute mess.
Right Brain Ronnie
Well-known member
Perhaps you could give Ethel your spare timber, you clearly have a bit.
Weststander
Well-known member
Legal challenge in Scotland to the withdrawal of WFP. The essence of the challenge is that the decision didn't meet a statutory requirement for a detailed equality impact assessment, regarding the elderly or disabled. If they're successful, it would postpone this by one winter.
https://govanlawcentre.org/2024/09/26/legal-challenge-to-the-winter-fuel-payment-cut/
https://govanlawcentre.org/2024/09/26/legal-challenge-to-the-winter-fuel-payment-cut/
I think they have boxed themselves into a corner with this policy. It was totally daft that the "flagship" policy after only a few weeks of Labour government was to put the boot into pensioners.
No doubt many pensioners are wealthy. I know two personally who haven't needed the WFA and both tried to return it to the DWP but were told "you can't" but probably many more pensioners do need the WFA to supplement their heating costs.
There could have been so many more policies that wouldn't have created such havoc. Starmer's policy has managed to ally the unions on the left and trad Tories on the right and that takes some doing.
Maybe going after all the covid fraudsters and the crooked PPE contracts or oil/gas companies or water company bosses might have been a better idea and would be far more likely to unite voters behind the new government. Just a thought.
This wouldn't have made much of a dent in the amount of money needed to be found, but frankly should have been done alongside raising taxes from the word go.
Please don’t put words in my mouth, I never said it was.
I have accused those who have chosen to make an issue out of Starmer’s son sitting his GCSEs in peace and being in a box after Arsenal moved him for security reasons so he could continue to watch games he pays to watch of faux outrage. Very different issues.
As much as I disagree with how they are implementing this, I believe the timing of the announcement was the right thing to do as...
1. It gave people an opportunity to see if they were able to access Pension Credits and, then, WFP before winter.
2. It allowed others some time to prepare and adjust knowing they were not going to be getting the payment.
Delaying the announcement until the end of October budget would have given almost no time for either of those.
Mellor 3 Ward 4
Well-known member
Agree.
My personal fear is they will go for Corp. Tax (as they've said no increase to personal tax and NI)
Sure, they're are some big Cos making mega profits, but many SMEs struggling and a rise in CP will hit hard.