winter fuel allowance

zygurat789

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

No....exactly the opposite. Men and women can claim it at the same age, although the men will not have reached State Retirement age.

But you said female pensioners got it anyway and men had to apply between 61+ and 65, that's discrimination.

seven-day-weekend

Because the men are not yet of retirement age, they have to claim it. This will be rectified in the next few years as the women's State Pension age increases. Meanwhile, men below Pension Age can claim Winter Fuel Allowance, even though the WFA is a benefit for those of retirement age.

Would you rather they couldn't claim?

zygurat789

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Because the men are not yet of retirement age, they have to claim it. This will be rectified in the next few years as the women's State Pension age increases. Meanwhile, men below Pension Age can claim Winter Fuel Allowance, even though the WFA is a benefit for those of retirement age.

Would you rather they couldn't claim?

Men have to claim it whereas women of the same age don't.
It will be more than a few years before this is rectified and in the meantime men should be compensated financially, for what is blatant sex discrimination.
Since men below retirement age are entitled to WFA iit is obviously not only for those of retirement age.

seven-day-weekend

zygurat789 wrote: »

Men have to claim it whereas women of the same age don't.
It will be more than a few years before this is rectified and in the meantime men should be compensated financially, for what is blatant sex discrimination.
Since men below retirement age are entitled to WFA iit is obviously not only for those of retirement age.

Sorry I should have said FEMALE retirement age.

NowRetired

I use mine to pay for my gas and electricity and the £200 I save because of it I spend on drink for the Scottish new year.

dzug1

zygurat789 wrote: »

Men have to claim it whereas women of the same age don't.
It will be more than a few years before this is rectified and in the meantime men should be compensated financially, for what is blatant sex discrimination.
Since men below retirement age are entitled to WFA iit is obviously not only for those of retirement age.

So how much financial compensation do you think there should be for having to apply for it rather than getting it automatically?

Goldiegirl

dzug1 wrote: »

So how much financial compensation do you think there should be for having to apply for it rather than getting it automatically?

Considering it took my husband about two minutes to complete the form ..... Minimal compensation required!

giraffe69

Amazing how much misinformation there is in this thread. Yes the age used to be 60. Yes it is now going up. The website at https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment gives all the detail. You need to be born on or before 5th January 1952 to qualify. It also tells you
1. how much
2. if you will need to claim
3. how to claim
so much better than relying on the man in the pub!

zygurat789

dzug1 wrote: »

So how much financial compensation do you think there should be for having to apply for it rather than getting it automatically?

Given that a carer can claim compensation of £X.000 for losing her job when the caree dies.....
The compensation is not to compensate for extra cost these days it's to compensate for the humiliation by the authorities in having to claim for something another person would get anyway because of her sex. Or does sex discrination only work one way?

greyfox

Zygurat,

I'm guessing that you didn't follow the link in Giraffe's post. As it says on the Winter Fuel site:

"You usually get a Winter Fuel Payment automatically if you get the State Pension or another social security benefit (not Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction or Child Benefit)."

So most women who are old enough to qualify for WFP will get it automatically because they're getting State Pension. The DWP know about them already & know they qualify, so they don't need to claim. The same would apply to a man who was getting Pension Credit, for example.


"You need to claim Winter Fuel Payment if you’ve not had it before and either of the following apply:

• you don’t get benefits or the State Pension
• you only get Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, or Child Benefit"

Most men would fall into this group, so need to make a claim. So would a woman if- for whatever reason - she isn't getting State Pension. This is because the DWP don't know about them unless they make a claim! Not sex discrimination; simply the lack of a crystal ball!

Last, but not least, people in the " non-automatic" group only need to claim WFP once as DWP will then know about them in future.

Hope that is clearer.