The DWP's £10 Christmas "Bonus"

Don't worry as they as not raising the tax thresholds we will all soon be paying tax even we only get the standard basic government pension.

And who brought in that little ruse Jackiest?

I did a little online exercise yesterday (Asda/Tesco/Sainsburys) and taking both mine and dh's Xmas bonus together we could afford a Christmas dinner. Admittedly it was using chicken breasts not turkey, but it included some treats like mince pies, Xmas cake a chocolate orange and a cheap bottle of plonk. I assume the £10 provides a few treats for some so perhaps not to be so heavily criticised although I do agree it needs to be increased.,

*ought not to

Gosh. Well done Katek! Interesting project. Now repeat it at Waitrose?

Mollygo

^On the other hand, fuel costs have dropped (although they're creeping up again). Even with the loss of WFA, my income is higher than it was this time last year because my direct debit for fuel has gone down.^
I wish!
Mine has just gone up by around £18 pm.

I currently pay 24p per KWh for electricity and 5.86p per KWh for gas.

During the same month last year, I was paying 26.6p per KWh for electricity and 6.46p per KWh for gas.

Even though there has been a recent increase, I (and I would imagine everybody else) am still paying less per unit for fuel than I was this time last year.

Freya5

PoliticsNerd

argymargy

Winter fuel allowance has not been axed.

No, it hasn't. It is still being paid to those on Pension Credit.

To balance that those receiving Pension Credit - those rcognised as the poorest retirees - lost around £1,000 Cost of Living payment they had been getting annually for the last couple of years.

It is also still being paid to very well off MPs. Lets not forget that.
Wonder if they have to fill in a 233 page document to claim it.
Of course not, don't be silly!!!

Ggggrrr! The application for Pension Credit isn't a 233 page document, nor do the vast majority of the 233 questions need to be answered. If people have problems filling in forms, there's help available.

Aveline

Gosh. Well done Katek! Interesting project. Now repeat it at Waitrose?

I don't drink alcohol, but even with just my £10, I reckon I could knock up a Christmas dinner for myself for £10 - even from Waitrose.

Due to the issue of WFA this year far more pensioners are accessing their WFA than before because so many didn't realise they were eligible- that has to be a good thing?

As for the £10 it will buy me a bottle of wine with which I shall toast the government this Christmas.

Even though there has been a recent increase, I (and I would imagine everybody else) am still paying less per unit for fuel than I was this time last year.
I’m happy for you. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to me AND the standing charge has increased by a lot.

Freya5

PoliticsNerd

argymargy

Winter fuel allowance has not been axed.

No, it hasn't. It is still being paid to those on Pension Credit.

To balance that those receiving Pension Credit - those rcognised as the poorest retirees - lost around £1,000 Cost of Living payment they had been getting annually for the last couple of years.

It is also still being paid to very well off MPs. Lets not forget that.
Wonder if they have to fill in a 233 page document to claim it.
Of course not, don't be silly!!!

What is being paid to 'very well-off MPs'?

Pension Credit? I doubt it.

WFP? No, unless they are on Pension Credit.

Cost of Living Payment? Not unless they were in receipt of benefits, such as Universal Credit; income-based Jobseeker's Allowance; income-related Employment and Support Allowance; income support; Pension Credit; Working Tax Credit, and Child Tax Credit.

So there will be no form of any length to be filled in by MPs, and nothing claimed by MPs, other than work-related expenses which are available in various forms to many workers who have to spend time away from home.

Maybe the structure of MPs' salaries needs to be looked at, but it is the same now as it was under the last government (under all of the various PMs' jurisdictions) and it is entirely separate from the WFP and the Christmas bonus, so linking them is pointless.

They can keep their £10 as far as I'm concerned.

Mollygo

^Even though there has been a recent increase, I (and I would imagine everybody else) am still paying less per unit for fuel than I was this time last year.^
I’m happy for you. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to me AND the standing charge has increased by a lot.

The standing charge should be abolished, IMO. It's ridiculous that people are charged for fuel they aren't using (eg when they are away) and it denies them the chance to save on bills by staying with relatives or whatever.

Jackiest

Don't worry as they as not raising the tax thresholds we will all soon be paying tax even we only get the standard basic government pension.

No. Nothing will change until 2027

www.lcp.com/en/media-centre/press-releases/new-state-pension-guaranteed-to-exceed-tax-threshold-in-2027-under-triple-lock-policy

and that is for the new higher levels state pension not the old one.

It is to be reviewed in 2027 by which time we may well have a review of thresholds anyway.

sandev67

They can keep their £10 as far as I'm concerned.

You can't refuse it, as far as I know, but if you want the government to have it you could donate it to the Labour Party - it's probably easiest to do that locally than centrally for a one-off sum.

They've probably forgotten about it. After all it's loose change to them.

The standing charge should be abolished, IMO. It's ridiculous that people are charged for fuel they aren't using (eg when they are away) and it denies them the chance to save on bills by staying with relatives or whatever.
I wish! I wish it even more for those who already can’t afford heating.
But if they abolish the standing charge they would increase the fuel prices even more, to cover the loss of revenue.

Similar to what happened IMO with water. We swapped to a water meter, with lower costs. e.g. from £72 pm to around £10 pm. So did many others. Next news, they increased my water/sewage bill by nearly 3x that amount.

Doodledog

Mollygo

Even though there has been a recent increase, I (and I would imagine everybody else) am still paying less per unit for fuel than I was this time last year.
I’m happy for you. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to me AND the standing charge has increased by a lot.

The standing charge should be abolished, IMO. It's ridiculous that people are charged for fuel they aren't using (eg when they are away) and it denies them the chance to save on bills by staying with relatives or whatever.

Some providers have no standing charge, but charge more for the fuel, medium to high energy users can end up worse off.
If the standing charge was to be abolished, it would benefit only very low energy users, people away from home for long periods, etc.

Doodledog

Mollygo

Even though there has been a recent increase, I (and I would imagine everybody else) am still paying less per unit for fuel than I was this time last year.
I’m happy for you. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to me AND the standing charge has increased by a lot.

The standing charge should be abolished, IMO. It's ridiculous that people are charged for fuel they aren't using (eg when they are away) and it denies them the chance to save on bills by staying with relatives or whatever.

My standing charges for electricity and gas come to £250 per year without using one single unit of either fuel. That's nearly £21 a month which is not a negligible cost. Of course the unit price would need a small upward adjustment to compensate for this loss of revenue but would enable savings on fuel bills with judicious use. For some the standing charges in summer could be greater than their usage which is ridiculous.

Doodledog

Mollygo

Even though there has been a recent increase, I (and I would imagine everybody else) am still paying less per unit for fuel than I was this time last year.
I’m happy for you. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to me AND the standing charge has increased by a lot.

The standing charge should be abolished, IMO. It's ridiculous that people are charged for fuel they aren't using (eg when they are away) and it denies them the chance to save on bills by staying with relatives or whatever.

I agree with you about the standing charge. Mine has, of course, increased too. Nevertheless, even accounting for the increase in standing charge, I am still paying less per unit (with the standing charge averaged out) this year than I was last year. I can't really understand why anybody is paying more for their fuel now, unless they had built up a deficit.

Doodledog

Freya5

PoliticsNerd

argymargy

Winter fuel allowance has not been axed.

No, it hasn't. It is still being paid to those on Pension Credit.

To balance that those receiving Pension Credit - those rcognised as the poorest retirees - lost around £1,000 Cost of Living payment they had been getting annually for the last couple of years.

It is also still being paid to very well off MPs. Lets not forget that.
Wonder if they have to fill in a 233 page document to claim it.
Of course not, don't be silly!!!

What is being paid to 'very well-off MPs'?

Pension Credit? I doubt it.

WFP? No, unless they are on Pension Credit.

Cost of Living Payment? Not unless they were in receipt of benefits, such as Universal Credit; income-based Jobseeker's Allowance; income-related Employment and Support Allowance; income support; Pension Credit; Working Tax Credit, and Child Tax Credit.

So there will be no form of any length to be filled in by MPs, and nothing claimed by MPs, other than work-related expenses which are available in various forms to many workers who have to spend time away from home.

Maybe the structure of MPs' salaries needs to be looked at, but it is the same now as it was under the last government (under all of the various PMs' jurisdictions) and it is entirely separate from the WFP and the Christmas bonus, so linking them is pointless.

I expect MPs do have to fill in forms to claim their expenses, but of course they employ staff to do it.

I know very well your feelings about means-tested benefits. Putting those aside for a moment, I'm just a bit of a stickler for facts. People claiming Pension Credit don't have to answer 233 questions. The form for Pension Credit is very similar to that for claiming Universal Credit and (I would imagine) every kind of benefit. I find it a little ironic that on GN we're more likely to hear about scroungers when benefits are concerned - but these are people who have also had to complete forms with loads and loads of questions. Why do people think it's an issue for Pension Credit, but not all the other benefits?

Rosie51

Doodledog

Mollygo

Even though there has been a recent increase, I (and I would imagine everybody else) am still paying less per unit for fuel than I was this time last year.
I’m happy for you. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to me AND the standing charge has increased by a lot.

The standing charge should be abolished, IMO. It's ridiculous that people are charged for fuel they aren't using (eg when they are away) and it denies them the chance to save on bills by staying with relatives or whatever.

My standing charges for electricity and gas come to £250 per year without using one single unit of either fuel. That's nearly £21 a month which is not a negligible cost. Of course the unit price would need a small upward adjustment to compensate for this loss of revenue but would enable savings on fuel bills with judicious use. For some the standing charges in summer could be greater than their usage which is ridiculous.

My standing charges are actually a little higher than that, but the decrease in unit costs still means I'm paying less than last year for more or less the same usage.

Of course, as a low user, I'd love it if the standing charge were abolished because my low usage would mean I'd be paying quite a bit less than I am now.

I know very well your feelings about means-tested benefits. Putting those aside for a moment, I'm just a bit of a stickler for facts. People claiming Pension Credit don't have to answer 233 questions. The form for Pension Credit is very similar to that for claiming Universal Credit and (I would imagine) every kind of benefit. I find it a little ironic that on GN we're more likely to hear about scroungers when benefits are concerned - but these are people who have also had to complete forms with loads and loads of questions. Why do people think it's an issue for Pension Credit, but not all the other benefits?
I'm not sure why this was addressed to me (I didn't do a massive nested quote, but it was in reply to a post of mine).

I didn't say anyone did have to answer 233 questions - I was responding to a post that sarcastically asked whether MPs would have to do so to get some sort of unspecified benefit for which none of them will qualify. Of course they don't, and they wouldn't even if others did - MPs can't claim Pension Credit, so the idea is barmy.

I don't go on about scroungers, so I'm not sure about that reference either. In fact I have pointed out the dichotomy between posts about claimants, with their flat screen TVs (can you get any other kind these days?), 'latest' phones and gel nails, and those about older people who can afford second homes, foreign holidays and so on 'being robbed of the WFP'.

I don't know what my views on means-testing have to do with any of it, TBH. I don't approve of it (means-testing), but neither do I think that it is an outrage to stop paying people what was always a discretionary payment if they are on a high income. As ever, the problems arise when people have paid into something (in this case a pension) that lifts them out of being able to claim for things they would have got if they hadn't provided for themselves. That is the sort of anomaly that works against encouraging people to improve their lives and keeps them 'in their place' and dependent on benefits that take away control of their lives. That is the main reason (although there are others) why I dislike means-testing.

Mollygo

That would be an extra 50p per week for 50 weeks of the year, minus the management fee for setting up and running the system.

It could just be added on to the weekly payment changes made when the pension goes up one April, then it wouldn’t be an extra burden.

It could indeed, but first there’d have to be an announcement, and all the kerfuffle trying to justify it, then the appointment of another group or person to administer it and then . . . it would still only be 50p per week for 50 weeks of the year, unless it was swallowed up in admin.