Paphos Life

Firefly wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2024 1:19 pm Obviously millionaires don't need WFA, and I agree that an income limit could be set, but now it appears that the elderly will have to be on pension credit, to receive it in future, which to me seems extreme.

There must be thousands of British pensioners who don't receive pension credit, but manage on just their state pension. Define low income, the allowance is connected to age, and the need for extra expense during the coldest months. Families receive different benefits.

Seems to me that the elderly are easy targets to start penny pinching from. We shall see what next is on the Labour agenda.

Chaddy wrote: ↑Mon Jul 29, 2024 10:58 pm Our winter fuel allowance was scrapped 15 years ago.The fact that we had worked in the UK for 40 years or so paid all our taxes ,national insurances, never claimed a penny off the welfare state,,,,,,Ah well

PolemIan wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 7:24 pm This is the latest guidance. Cyprus is not on the list of included countries.

https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/ ... 20the%20UK

I appreciate I’m probably going to get slaughtered for this but here goes anyway.

I was fortunate enough to be able to give up work at a relatively young age, somewhere between 45 and 50. Not surprisingly, here comes a sweeping statement, most of the people we tend to meet and chat to tend to be at the “more mature end of the age spectrum”. The change in eligibility for the U.K. WFS was not too long after we moved here.

The allowance is, sensibly in my opinion, residency based and at the time I was quite frankly stunned to hear that people who had mostly moved here, presumably because of the massively better climate and could afford to buy a home here, were ok about claiming a winter fuel allowance whilst wandering around in shorts in December - granted there are cooler areas to live and and many houses are not warm, but that felt very much like taking the mickey to me. Still does. Ok, if you’ve paid tax and NI that’s fine, but the tax and NI contributions are not a ‘savings pot’, they pretty much fund those receiving state benefits at the time and pretty much just earn entitlements to receive future benefits assuming you’re still eligible.

This is one, of many, reasons, why the whole state pension funding is in such a state, with an ageing population, though that’s levelled off a bit, there simply isn’t enough money coming in to fund the state pension hence the constant twiddling with ages when state pensions would be paid. This has been brewing for 30+ years and no government of any party has had the balls to address this, because, like the hot potato of NHS funding, currently £180 billion a year, which every government claims to increase whilst every opposition claims it’s being cut, it is not a vote winner.

We looked at the numbers before moving here and basically decided to assume we might never actually receive a state pension, never mind a winter fuel allowance which should be for those who need it, not those who can move to a place in the sun.


Ian

Jamboal wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 8:02 am Yes, some residents of mountain villages still receive it, I believe if over 600m’s.

WHL wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2024 8:24 am

Jamboal wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 8:02 am Yes, some residents of mountain villages still receive it, I believe if over 600m’s.

Is this not a cypriot grant rather then a UK one?