First topic message reminder :

Well here we go again . The lovely Mr Osbourne is going to announce his latest austerity measure and with no prizes one of the measures is bash the Pensioner. Yes you have guessed right it us again :Very sad:I know that we in Bulgaria will or should get the winter fuel allowance but how on earth can he have any heart to stop any money going to Pensioners. OK so some have more money than others but don't people understand that to get a reasonable pension you have to pay into a pot, and suffer hardship in doing so. You only get out what you put in, plus you still have to pay income tax on a pension if you are over the tax threshold .

We have paid into these pension schemes in order to have a comfortable life in our dotage. But it would seem that we are paying tax to benefit the sick, lame &
lazy brigade :shocked1:We put in the pot but we are not allowed to get owt out of the pot. Why did we move abroad? Basically to enjoy the last days on this planet. But we also moved to get away from a very unjust society, a corrupt government. Do these politicians forget that we pay their wages, and it is a duty for them to serve us (not). We all paid into the social security for many years and as soon as you move abroad you are not entitled to any benefits e.g. free prescriptions, now there's a term free. It aint free we paid for it. A question then what has happened to the money we paid in (and are still paying)?

Your views please

WHAT a complete mess our country has become. Seems a series of "
election winning"
policies only come back to bite us at a later date. Time to wipe the slate clean and start again where there is emphasis on common sense. But again we are talking about politicians !!!!

Quote :

:OffTopic:If you would like to start a new topic on Bulgarian Politics please feel free to do so. It would also be interesting for you to let us know how you get on back in the UK This topic is about how we as pensioners are treated by the UK Government and about the Winter Fuel Allowance.

Disagree Tony I think its relevant as to how we are effected by this or as stated how we may not be?

Quote :

Disagree Tony I think its relevant as to how we are effected by this or as stated how we may not be?

Quite right TRF

tonyb60 wrote:

oldun wrote:

Whilst I agree with most of the previous comments and as a pensioner with a basic State Pension which I earned personally through my working years, I am appalled that we are supposed to suffer cuts at old age. I have not claimed any benefits from Britain since I reached retirement age almost 10 years ago but I intend to claim when I arrive in Britain soon. It will be interesting to see how I am treated.

Having said that, I find it strange that people living in poor Bulgaria are complaining about British politicians when Bulgarians, and pensioners especially, are protesting at their lot which is far worse than any British people. We are living in a totally corrupt society and living cheaply in comparison with Britain and I really think people living here should not complain so much about Britain, its politicians and taxes. Don't any of you watch the Bulgarian news? You can live quite well on a British pension here and therefore have no need to complain so much in comparison with Bulgarians. Don't you see the dichotomy?

:OffTopic:If you would like to start a new topic on Bulgarian Politics please feel free to do so. It would also be interesting for you to let us know how you get on back in the UK This topic is about how we as pensioners are treated by the UK Government and about the Winter Fuel Allowance.

tonyb60, I don't think this is any more than the OP
My offer is to take a printed copy of this topic showing the forum members concerns to the Houses of Parliament, so I don't think we want disagreements between members, just constructive contributions

tonyb60 wrote:

Well here we go again . The lovely Mr Osbourne is going to announce his latest austerity measure and with no prizes one of the measures is bash the Pensioner. Yes you have guessed right it us again :Very sad:I know that we in Bulgaria will or should get the winter fuel allowance but how on earth can he have any heart to stop any money going to Pensioners. OK so some have more money than others but don't people understand that to get a reasonable pension you have to pay into a pot, and suffer hardship in doing so. You only get out what you put in, plus you still have to pay income tax on a pension if you are over the tax threshold .

We have paid into these pension schemes in order to have a comfortable life in our dotage. But it would seem that we are paying tax to benefit the sick, lame &
lazy brigade :shocked1:We put in the pot but we are not allowed to get owt out of the pot. Why did we move abroad? Basically to enjoy the last days on this planet. But we also moved to get away from a very unjust society, a corrupt government. Do these politicians forget that we pay their wages, and it is a duty for them to serve us (not). We all paid into the social security for many years and as soon as you move abroad you are not entitled to any benefits e.g. free prescriptions, now there's a term free. It aint free we paid for it. A question then what has happened to the money we paid in (and are still paying)?

Your views please

The topic is quite clearly about Mr G Osbourne and British pensioners, also the rights we have on the NHS. There has been no mention of Bulgaria's corruption or poverty. If a member is returning to the UK this does come under the topic as they will be claiming Benefits whilst in the UK, and I'm sure that we would all like to know how they get on. If anyone wants to make a comparison about Bulgaria's corruption and poverty then they should start another topic.

willowsend wrote:

My offer is to take a printed copy of this topic showing the forum members concerns to the Houses of Parliament, so I don't think we want disagreements between members, just constructive contributions

It is worth reminding Mr Osborne that the pensioners that he intends to bash have mostly paid their state pension to the government for 50 years, the majority of us left school at 15 and have contributed until 65 for men and 60 for women. It is quite clear that he is looking at what he pays out and not what he collects in, in as much as the current period payable for a full pension is only 33 years (I believe this is right!). The general opinion is that the Winter Fuel Allowance, the TV licence and the Free Bus Pass is given to top up what most of us agree is an abysmal state pension.

oldun wrote:

Whilst I agree with most of the previous comments and as a pensioner with a basic State Pension which I earned personally through my working years, I am appalled that we are supposed to suffer cuts at old age. I have not claimed any benefits from Britain since I reached retirement age almost 10 years ago but I intend to claim when I arrive in Britain soon. It will be interesting to see how I am treated.

Having said that, I find it strange that people living in poor Bulgaria are complaining about British politicians when Bulgarians, and pensioners especially, are protesting at their lot which is far worse than any British people. We are living in a totally corrupt society and living cheaply in comparison with Britain and I really think people living here should not complain so much about Britain, its politicians and taxes. Don't any of you watch the Bulgarian news? You can live quite well on a British pension here and therefore have no need to complain so much in comparison with Bulgarians. Don't you see the dichotomy?

having read oldun post again I can not see where she has made any mention to Bulgarian politics? all I see is 'corrupt society ' which I believe is a generalisation or have I missed something here?????????????

Sorry Brian I think you have posted this in the wrong place, I can't see any connection beween the 2 topis.

nu2bg wrote:

Sorry Brian I think you have posted this in the wrong place, I can't see any connection beween the 2 topis.

I agree, I've edited it and it's gone

The Winter Fuel payment was introduced as a way of giving a universal benefit which would be tax free at a time when it would be most needed by poorer pensioners. So why so much emphasis on temperature? If Osborne can calculate the number of true ex-pats, compared to the 'snow-birds' he will need to recruit an army of civil servants. Also, does he realise that the average winter temperature in southern England is higher than Madrid? Is he going to stop the payments to his devoted army of pensioner voters in the south once he checks with the Met Office? Ex Pats only managed to claim the payments last year after the EU declared that withholding them was illegal, and even then refused to backdate them. There are so many unanswered questions surrounding this issue . Before he removes winter fuel allowance for OAPs who live abroad, most of whom worked many long years and paid a lot of tax, since they pre-date the 'something for nothing' welfare culture we now have in place, he should think about removing child benefit for children whose parents arrived last month and whose children live abroad, and salaries for council workers who have relocated to Australia and are 'telecommuting', for instance.

Lots of Brits retire abroad, usually living on the pensions they have paid for all their working lives. Cold weather payments are paid to older people, because they are vulnerable and suffer from health problems if they are cold. Even hot countries are often very cold at certain times of the year. I think that this benefit should be means tested, rather than just cut, as that would be fairer. Most of these cuts will really hurt people and achieve very little for the economy. The present government is just alienating all it's core supporters. Having said that, labour are totally responsible for the mess we are now in, so heaven help us if they get back into power, but I am almost starting to hope they might.