First topic message reminder :I've just come across this and wondered what your thoughts were? and is it fare?
My thoughts are.......Administering a "
fair"
scheme will cost a fortune, monitoring the temperature around the world and figuring out what regions are due payment, likewise the means testing idea.You could probably cut the payments to pensioners by 10%, but spend 10 times more than that on staff.The wealthier pensioners have probably paid more tax over their lives anyway.I look at what this government is doing and I become convinced they are determined to never win an election again - perhaps some of them prefer being in opposition.
Ex-pats get winter fuel allowance: UK pensioners lose out[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Pensioners living in southern England could be stripped of their £200 winter fuel allowance while ex-pats in Spain continue to receive the benefit, under government plans. Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, is fighting “ludicrous” European rules that mean the winter fuel payment must be made to an estimated 440,000 British pensioners living abroad.
Taxpayers face a £100 million bill for the annual hand-out to people who have retired to the Continent in order to live in sunnier climes.
Mr Duncan Smith announced yesterday that he intended to introduce a new “temperature” test to prevent pensioners receiving the benefit if they live in warm countries and do not need extra money to spend on winter fuel.
However, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed that the new temperature rule would also apply to pensioners in Britain.
Campaigners raised concerns that this would see the elderly in milder areas of the south of England lose the benefit, while those in colder parts of Europe continue to receive it. The reform could also mean that pensioners living in Labour-supporting parts of Scotland and northern England keep the payment, while those in the southern Tory heartlands lose out.
The average low January temperature in Portsmouth is 41.4F (5.2C), warmer than Madrid, which has an average low of 37.4F (3C).
David Cameron has promised not to cut pensioners’ benefits during this parliament.
Pensioners’ groups warned that the current simple fuel payment scheme must not be withdrawn.
Michelle Mitchell, director-general of Age UK, said the payments provided “a lifeline to many vulnerable older people” who worried about their fuel bills. “While the introduction of a temperature test could allay concerns about ex-pats in hot countries receiving the payment, it is important that proposals for change do not complicate the system or result in those in need losing out,” she said.
The National Pensioners’ Convention described the current system of payments to ex-pats as “a complete mess”.
Neil Duncan-Jordan, a spokesman for the group, said: “Any attempt to clarify or simplify the allowance should not affect people in the UK.
“All parts of the UK are cold and most areas dip below freezing. We certainly wouldn’t want to see the winter fuel allowance moving on to some temperature test that means you only get it if you live north of Watford.”
Under previous rules, elderly ex-pats on the Continent could only receive the allowance if they turned 60 before leaving Britain and if they had left after the payment was introduced in 1998.
However, the European Court of Justice has ruled that claimants only need to have “a genuine and sufficient link” to the UK to qualify.
Payments begin at £200 for a household with a pensioner and rise to £300 for families including someone over 80.
Mr Duncan Smith yesterday promised to “protect taxpayers’ money and bring in a temperature criteria”. DWP officials said the details had not been finalised.
Fri Aug 31, 2012 4:03 pm
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