MSE News: State pension payout likely rise by £2.40 a week

kindofagilr

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I thought the maximum (unless you are over 80) was £250 per household????? It's not per person, is it?

(From this link: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/Benefits/BenefitsInRetirement/DG_10018657 editing mine )

How much you can get

The amount of Winter Fuel Payment that you can get varies according to your personal situation.
Circumstances Aged 60 to 79 on or before 27 September 2009 /Aged 80 or over on or before 27 September 2009

You live alone or are the only person in the household who qualifies
£250 / £400

You get Pension Credit or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
£250/ £400

You live with another qualifying individual £125
£275 if you are the only person in the household who's aged 80 or over

£200 if you and at least one other person are aged 80 or over

If your partner or civil partner gets Pension Credit or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance for you both
The payment will be made to the person who gets Pension Credit or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

You live in a care home, an independent hospital or Ilford Park Polish Resettlement Home and don't get Pension Credit or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance £125/ £200

You live in a care home and get Pension credit or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance You don't qualify for Winter Fuel Payment You don't qualify for Winter Fuel Payment

During the qualifying week, you did not get Pension Credit or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance and there were other people in your household who were entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment £125/ £200

Nope if you live for example in one house with your 3 sisters and you are all under 80 you will all received £125 each = £500 for that household

Its because Winter Fuel isnt paid on a household basis, is paid per person over 60

Even more shocking (maybe lol) if the 4 sisters were all in receipt of a certain element of Pension Credit then they would EACH receive £250 making the household total £1000

margaretclare

It's because Winter Fuel isn't paid on a household basis, is paid per person over 60

It would make more sense if it were to be paid per household, because after all, it's the household that pays the heating bills, not the individual!

"Heating is a very large part of a retired person's bills"....well, not the largest part. Our largest monthly outgoing is Council Tax, £117 at 'C' band. And then there's food....

A sample of one does not prove whether many older people have/haven't got bank accounts or whether many pay by direct debit, or not!

kindofagilr

margaretclare wrote: »

It would make more sense if it were to be paid per household, because after all, it's the household that pays the heating bills, not the individual!

Yes it would I'm not the one who decided that lol

roddydogs

No it isnt-you get £250 for 1 person over 60, and £250 if theres 2 of you!

kindofagilr

No you dont!

Its £125 per person aged 60-79 in the household. Therefore is 3 people live there as a house they would get £375

Not only do I work at the DWP issuing these payments, I had a Aunty and Uncle who lived with their brother (and brother in law) and they got 3 payments too.

dodger1

gerryco wrote: »

Maybe they spent their Christmas present money on heating...

Let's have a realistic argument.

Realistically some will use it for heating bills, some for Christmas presents, some for both and some for neither.

kindofagilr

roddydogs wrote: »

Right, so 2 of you get £250--as i said.!!!

Eh? what is your point? I wasnt disagreeing that 2 people get £250. I was replying to Seven-Day-weekend who was asking about maximum's

I am just informing them that £250 isnt always the max.

The maximum a house could get is £250, yes if there is only 2 people living there (unless they both get a certain part of pension credit then it changes)

But if there are 3 or more living then they would get £125 each making the total per house more than £250.

Thats was my point.

margaretclare

If there are 3 people over 60 living in one house - or more than 3! - surely the heating bill is the same for all of them, the same as if there was one, or two?

I was thinking yesterday about 'heating is a very large part of a retired person's bills'. This is one of those generalisations. Our total household bills are £304 a month, of that £117 council tax is by far the biggest proportion, the next is gas & electricity, total £90. Actually it's £60 a month for heating by gas, £30 a month is electricity, what we cook with. Outside of that, we're spending approx £350 a month on food. Food is costing more!

Don't worry, I'm not about to give the £125 back. I can always put it to good use. I don't do Christmas presents so it won't go on that!!

kindofagilr

Yes I agree with you that it costs the same to heat the house

But thats the way its paid, I have no idea why

Dustangle

roddydogs wrote: »

PS what all the yellow anti DM rant about?

Because the grumpy people complaining seem like typical Daily Mail readers. And because I can.

We wouldn't be having this discussion if the Tories were in power because they'd stop all these payments and send pensioners down the mines. I put the anti Daily Mail comments in hidden text because it's well known that angry UKIP/BNP/Tory voters and Daily Mail readers see everything through an angry red mist and can't see such things - I was thinking of their blood pressure.