Winter Fuel - Means Test

Spoonie_Turtle

Qyburn said:

Brie said:

Probably a dump question but how does DWP know if 2 people are married?  Of even a couple?  What if there are 2 house mates both of whom are eligible?

Do they even care, maybe it's just any two (or more I guess) pensioners living at the same address.

It always used to be.  It means 3+ pensioners in a household can each get the halved rate according to their age, rather than the household being capped at 1x the full rate.  Which makes sense, as more people = more rooms (and hot water) to heat.

Brie

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Qyburn said:

Brie said:

Probably a dump question but how does DWP know if 2 people are married?  Of even a couple?  What if there are 2 house mates both of whom are eligible?

Do they even care, maybe it's just any two (or more I guess) pensioners living at the same address.

It always used to be.  It means 3+ pensioners in a household can each get the halved rate according to their age, rather than the household being capped at 1x the full rate.  Which makes sense, as more people = more rooms (and hot water) to heat.

yes but no.....in practical terms more people = more rooms to heat but in reality there's a lot of individuals rattling around big homes.  Not that I think they should get more because their home is big.  Just that some pensioners won't give up the family home even when it's ruining them financially to maintain. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Brie said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Qyburn said:

Brie said:

Probably a dump question but how does DWP know if 2 people are married?  Of even a couple?  What if there are 2 house mates both of whom are eligible?

Do they even care, maybe it's just any two (or more I guess) pensioners living at the same address.

It always used to be.  It means 3+ pensioners in a household can each get the halved rate according to their age, rather than the household being capped at 1x the full rate.  Which makes sense, as more people = more rooms (and hot water) to heat.

yes but no.....in practical terms more people = more rooms to heat but in reality there's a lot of individuals rattling around big homes.  Not that I think they should get more because their home is big.  Just that some pensioners won't give up the family home even when it's ruining them financially to maintain. 

Oh I just meant from a rationale kind of view, in that if you have a couple sharing a home vs 3+ sharing a home, that would be why it wasn't capped at one full payment amount per household. 
People rattling around alone in large houses is viewed as a choice (even though in reality the alternatives may not be feasible for everyone).

Brie

@Spoonie_Turtle
as a debt adviser I've met people who have almost no income (elderly widows with no idea of finance) who don't understand that they might be better off selling a home worth £2million rather than try to maintain that and themselves on almost nothing. 

"But then what will I leave to my children?  And I've lived here for 60 years!!"  

All of which I get but.....

brewerdave

Brie said:

@Spoonie_Turtle
as a debt adviser I've met people who have almost no income (elderly widows with no idea of finance) who don't understand that they might be better off selling a home worth £2million rather than try to maintain that and themselves on almost nothing. 

"But then what will I leave to my children?  And I've lived here for 60 years!!"  

All of which I get but.....

Well off topic but .....as a couple of 70+ pensioners sitting in a 5 bedroom home - it already fills us with horror at the thought of having to declutter to downsize evennif we needed to - can't imagine attempting a house move in our 80s !!

Farway

brewerdave said:

Brie said:

@Spoonie_Turtle
as a debt adviser I've met people who have almost no income (elderly widows with no idea of finance) who don't understand that they might be better off selling a home worth £2million rather than try to maintain that and themselves on almost nothing. 

"But then what will I leave to my children?  And I've lived here for 60 years!!"  

All of which I get but.....

Well off topic but .....as a couple of 70+ pensioners sitting in a 5 bedroom home - it already fills us with horror at the thought of having to declutter to downsize evennif we needed to - can't imagine attempting a house move in our 80s !!

Have to concur with BD, the thought of uncluttering, buying, selling etc at my age & health is not something I'll do from choice

However, If I could just wake up in a small bungalow with it all sorted, I would

subjecttocontract

I don't understand the need to downsize. We are both in our 70's with a large property and I'm considering buying something even bigger. You really can't have enough space.