Winter Fuel Allowance

It would be really cheering if a simple system could be organised for paying these benefits to those who need them. Means testing should not be employed as this is going to cost.
I like Elegran's fund idea and also FlicketyB's increase of pension.
The tax office is fully aware of peoples incomes by the tax paid. Perhaps a line could be drawn in a certain place, in excess of which, certain benefits are not paid.
I know that many will not agree with this as they'll say that they have paid in all their life. Remember, there are some pensioners, who have more money than they are able or want to spend. For this reason I am thinking that some of us should show a little compassion for others - if we can afford to.

If that happened it would, somehow just disappear at some point in the future; people would just start to forget that it was included in the basic pension.

Surely the simplest thing would be to add the WFA into the basic pension and then "reclaim" it via the normal tax system?

Crimson and Vampirequeen. Sorry I forgot some of us are under 60 years old.

I agree with Crimson. £104 is a lot of money to me. I have a condition which requires me to have several items every month. It works out cheaper for me than paying for all the items individually but it's still money I can't afford.

Only about 1 in 10 prescriptions are paid for, what with tax credit exemptions and such like. For some reason I've always been in the 'having to pay' group, so I'm thoroughly enjoying not having to pay [even though I'm only on dry eye drops!].....

£104 is actually a lot of money to some people . It would take up a lot of NHS time checking if every over 60 has got a PP and then chasing them for it if they hadn't.

(My post was in reply to crimson, of course!)

Yes, and that's ridiculous, too. It was just a vote-winner in Wales, and of course comes out of the budget, which means other things have to be cut. I'd have thought it more sensible to have a flat charge per prescription (not item) of, say, £3.00, which would still be a lot less than charges in England - and of course those on benefits get prescription medicines free anyway.

People, like Annobel or my DH, who takes a lot of medication could get a season ticket. Current price £104, or £2.00 a week. With the price of prescription season tickets being so low I cannot see why anyone over 18 should get free prescriptions for any reason.

At every other stage in our lives we have constraints on our spending that we have to take into account. In southern England the monthly cost of housing takes a greater proportion of income than in the north, if you live in a rural area it may be necessary to budget for at least one and possibly two cars. Why should we be protected from this just because we have been around a bit longer than other people. Some older people need more medication than others, other older people need to buy in services like gardening or cleaning. It is up to each household to manage their own budget. I find the present system of being given ring-fenced gobbets of money for specific purposes infantilising and demeaning.

....and, if you live in Wales or Scotland they're free for everyone, anyway aren't they?

I'm confused. Prescription are free for men and women over the age of 60, irrespective of when they are due to get their pension, 61, 62 etc.

Mine was thyroxin too Annobel and I never understood why that was free but my DH's beta blockers were not.

So was I Alison. I had all prescriptions free before I retired just because I needed thyroxin which I could have afforded to pay for at that time.

That's why it would be unfair Annobel because I was getting all of mine free before I retired because of a long term need.

My basic pension would have to almost double to cover the monthly cost of my current prescriptions!

flickety I think that would be a vote winner.

Yes, but if all these benefits were scrapped and replaced by a boost to the basic pension with an even bigger boost for those on Minimum Income Guarantee, all those in need would have the extra cash to pay for bus fares, prescriptions, fuel bills.

As it is take up of these benefits is very patchy. Bus tokens are no good if you live in a rural area with no buses or, like me, are travel sick on buses, particularly local stop start buses. If you are fortunate to have good health free prescriptions are of no advantage and when I worked with older people I rarely met one who did not spread their fuel bills over the year by paying by monthly direct debit so the winter fuel payment would be better paid as a weekly pension supplement of £4.00 than paid as a lump sum of £200 just before Christmas. So why not cancell the lot and replace them with a big boost in the weekly pension?

The trouble with having a fund into which we donate our WFA is that the government would start taking it for granted and reduce funding accordingly.

I think there may be another reason for free presecriptions related to long term illnesses which are likely to be increased as one gets older. Whatever your age if you have certain things wrong e.g. diabetes you get free prescriptions so perhaps it was felt appropriate for older people to get it too. If medication is free people are likely to take it but there has been some research done which suggests that some people only buy some, or even none, if they feel they cannot afford it.

As someone who didn't expect to be divorced by the age of 60 and then not entitled to my old age pension till I'm nearly 62 I'm quite happy to accept anything that's offered to me. At the end of the day, all money gets spent and goes back into the economy somewhere. As for prescriptions, although you can get a prepayment certificate for £100 + a year, anyone paying for each script individually would pay out hundreds if they were on several items a day.

Its very easy for those of us who have been able to save and pay into a private pension to say the WFA should be scrapped or means tested. This doesn't take into account those who, because of low incomes or illness, were not able to save. I think the current system should remain in place and those of us who feel they do not need the WFA should just pass it onto either a young family who do, or give it to a charity. If it was means tested the cost of administration would far outweigh the savings.

I like the idea of there being a ring fenced fund which the money could be paid into and then used to perhaps buy equipment for community groups or just as a hardship fund which local people could apply to if they were unable to meet their fuel bills.

I find all the bells and whistles (Fuel Allowance, free prescriptions, bus tokens etc etc) given to older people with their pensions degrading and patronising. It suggests that the government thinks that we poor dears are incapable of managing our finances so that we have to be given little dribbles of extra ring-fenced money for particular purposes to make sure we dont muddle it up and spend it on bingo instead of buying prescriptions or bustrips to see our grandchildren or are incapable of paying fuel bills by monthly direct debit.

I would like the government to scrap all the bells and whistles and simply up grade the state pension by, say, £10.00 a week and increase the Minimum Income entitlement by an extra £5.00 or £10.00 over and above that and leave us to budget our money as we have always done. If the recklesss and feckless elderly ( and they do exist) spend their money in a way that means they cannot afford bus tickets or prescriptions, well that is their problem, as no doubt it was when they were younger.

The cost savings from reduced administration costs would probably recoup all the money lost on the recent tax U turns.

Vampire I feel for your mother's situation. My FiL was in the same situation and found it hard that others on his council estate who had spent all their lives were being given help when he had saved hard into a pension. He used to go to the pub once a week but said they went every night.

I think the only way round this is to give all pensioners the same amount, enough to live on, and then those who had saved would be deservedly better off. A lot would be saved in administration.

Most of the youngsters in our office didn't join the company pension scheme because they said it wasn't worth it as the government would look after them in their old age. If there were a clear benefit to joining a pension scheme I think more would do it.

POGS as I said earlier, I think it is just being thrown out to see what the reaction is. Maybe they don't want to make it a fact and then have to retract - again!

Like the Granny Tax, it is all about common sense and we are in a massive financial problem, everything has to be looked at.

I am very heartened by some of the comments, I too think my children could benefit from the fuel allowance rather than myself. It is all relative as to what the proposal would be, I don't know that there is a firm proposal yet is there?. I for one think that if you are reasonably comfortable then you could forgo winter fuel allowances. Having said that I sometimes wonder what individual people think.I find quite well known women who have been paraded around the media on one hand say they would willingly give up their Winter Fuel Allowance but they had a hissy fit over Granny Tax.

All I know my dad is on Penion Credit Guarantee and he received £300 and £25 a week cold weather payment this year. I don't think he will be touched by the propoal so those less well-off will be cared for as usual, I hope!. If poor pensioners were to be touched then even I might get a hissy fit on.

My mum is in the grey area because she has a small private pension as a result of my dad paying into a scheme. My aunt and uncle didn't save. They went out every weekend, had a car and holidays. My aunt would automatically get the payment as she only has her state pension.

It wouldn't be fair if my mam is penalised for being thrifty and saving for the future.