winter fuel payment

margaretclare

Errata wrote: »

My bold: The plain fact is that it was created by the government of the day in place of an appropriate increase in the SRP that year, and then continued to be paid as a yearly lump sum

Yes, that's right. My objection to it was on political grounds. IIRC it was instituted in the run-up to a general election, the point being made at the time that older people were more likely to vote than younger people. So, a 'vote-catcher'. Once such a thing is instituted, like the Christmas bonus of the Heath government, it is impossible for any later government of whatever colour to tamper with it.

Regarding the bus pass, we used to have an arrangement locally whereby it was possible to pay £12 for a year's bus pass which could be used an unlimited number of times. I used to have one, but from memory, I probably used it a handful of times in 10 years. It must be remembered that not everyone is agile enough to hop on and off buses, stand and wait, walk to bus stops etc. For us, our car prevents us from becoming housebound whereas the bus pass does not do so.

borkid

margaretclare wrote: »

Regarding the bus pass, we used to have an arrangement locally whereby it was possible to pay £12 for a year's bus pass which could be used an unlimited number of times. I used to have one, but from memory, I probably used it a handful of times in 10 years. It must be remembered that not everyone is agile enough to hop on and off buses, stand and wait, walk to bus stops etc. For us, our car prevents us from becoming housebound whereas the bus pass does not do so.

And not every one has a convenient bus service. Last one into town from my village is 9:20 am and only 3 buses back from town during the day, the last one being 17:20.

margaretclare

borkid wrote: »

And not every one has a convenient bus service. Last one into town from my village is 9:20 am and only 3 buses back from town during the day, the last one being 17:20.

That too. People living in rural areas and even in some parts of towns, are not well-served by buses.

JB9302

Anyone know whats the latest the allowance is received ? , MIL says she has not been paid hers yet .

giraffe69

Anyone know whats the latest the allowance is received ?

From gov.uk

Most payments are made automatically between November and December. You should get your money by Christmas.

penrhyn

Waiting for my £ 10 Christmas bonus, good offer on Prosecco down Sainsburys.

ash28

borkid wrote: »

And not every one has a convenient bus service. Last one into town from my village is 9:20 am and only 3 buses back from town during the day, the last one being 17:20.

It'll be six years before I get a bus pass - if they are still around then. However, unless we move it will be pretty useless as our village has no bus service at all.

racon

Hey. We received the obligatory £200 a few weeks back. Sending it to our fuel supplier (dual fuel) creates a problem every year when they come to review the account every three months (we pay by direct debit monthly a fixed amount) The supplier has to recalculate the remaining monthly amounts before the annual review. This happens every year and from what we see of it they knock off a couple of pounds off the monthly payment leaving us in credit later on in the year. It must cost the fuel company £1000's in extra admin costs.

mgdavid

racon wrote: »

Hey. We received the obligatory £200 a few weeks back. Sending it to our fuel supplier (dual fuel) creates a problem every year when they come to review the account every three months (we pay by direct debit monthly a fixed amount) The supplier has to recalculate the remaining monthly amounts before the annual review. This happens every year and from what we see of it they knock off a couple of pounds off the monthly payment leaving us in credit later on in the year. It must cost the fuel company £1000's in extra admin costs.

costs next to nothing as all done by computer. Take into account that they get the use of your money for several months for no charge and they almost certainly come out on top.

Archi_Bald

MABLE wrote: »

I understand it does not cost anything to issue the bus pass as such

Yep, it's the work of that lovely bus pass fairy.