Winter Fuel Payment

HarryIb

I got a letter today from the DWP telling me that I'm getting a Winter Fuel Payment of £200. Hip, hip, hooray! I'll use the money to increase my shareholding in Drax, the power generation company. However, the payment is only a short-term gain. I'm informed in the letter that if my pre-tax income is above £35k (it is) then the combined chumpery of DWP, HMRC and the Whitehall Blob will conspire to claw back the money via my tax code. You could not make it up! No wonder the country is going down the pan. Fine; I don't need this money, but why give it to me in the first place? If pointless bureaucracy and stupidity such as this were stamped on there might just be enough money in the coffers to allow a universal winter fuel payment.
BTW, I wish those buffoons at DWP would learn to write letters correctly. They use Dear [Christian name] [surname] rather than Dear [title] [surname], and there's no Yours sincerely. Pathetic!

Keep_pedalling

You did have the option to opt out, and that option was well publicised. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

HarryIb said:

I got a letter today from the DWP telling me that I'm getting a Winter Fuel Payment of £200. Hip, hip, hooray! I'll use the money to increase my shareholding in Drax, the power generation company. However, the payment is only a short-term gain. I'm informed in the letter that if my pre-tax income is above £35k (it is) then the combined chumpery of DWP, HMRC and the Whitehall Blob will conspire to claw back the money via my tax code. You could not make it up! No wonder the country is going down the pan. Fine; I don't need this money, but why give it to me in the first place? If pointless bureaucracy and stupidity such as this were stamped on there might just be enough money in the coffers to allow a universal winter fuel payment.
BTW, I wish those buffoons at DWP would learn to write letters correctly. They use Dear [Christian name] [surname] rather than Dear [title] [surname], and there's no Yours sincerely. Pathetic!

If you didn't want to receive the payment and have your tax code messed with then you could simply have opted out.

The timeframe for doing that, for this payment, has now passed though.

https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/report-change-circumstances

Isthisforreal99

Keep_pedalling said:

You did have the option to opt out, and that option was well publicised. 

Then they couldn't have went on a rant.

Exodi

HarryIb said:

I got a letter today from the DWP telling me that I'm getting a Winter Fuel Payment of £200. Hip, hip, hooray! I'll use the money to increase my shareholding in Drax, the power generation company. 
<snip>
Fine; I don't need this money, but why give it to me in the first place?

Because when Labour looked to dramatically reduce entitlement to WFP, pensioners picked up their pitchforks and unleashed pandemonium.

The issue often cited, was that the original plan was to reduce eligibility to only those on pension credit and this was too low. Examples were used ad nauseum of pensioners that were just over the pension credit threshold. Naturally, some had honest concerns, while others piggybacked off this narrative with selfish intentions to protect their own WFP.

FWIW, I think it was somewhat valid criticism (and was likely only picked by the government for the ease to administer by potentially rolling it into the pension credit payment + system).

Nonetheless, the government did the right thing and increased the threshold slightly from ~£12k a year to £20k £35k a year... wait, what?

Unfortunately, Labour appears to not be the best at following through on cuts. 

Exodi

Keep_pedalling said:

You did have the option to opt out, and that option was well publicised. 

Herein lied Labours problem - no-one did. In 2021, only 186 pensioners opted out from a pool of 11m recipients (0.0002%). 

https://ifamagazine.com/only-186-pensioners-opt-out-of-winter-fuel-payment-in-2021-out-of-over-11m-recipients/

People instead used to increase their shareholdings (like the OP) or to put towards a nice getaway. People regularly bragged about what they were spending it on every year on this very forum.

It's a similar reasons why pensioners were changed to opt out instead of opt in. People like to do nothing.

Devongardener

HarryIb said:

I got a letter today from the DWP telling me that I'm getting a Winter Fuel Payment of £200. Hip, hip, hooray! I'll use the money to increase my shareholding in Drax, the power generation company. However, the payment is only a short-term gain. I'm informed in the letter that if my pre-tax income is above £35k (it is) then the combined chumpery of DWP, HMRC and the Whitehall Blob will conspire to claw back the money via my tax code. You could not make it up! No wonder the country is going down the pan. Fine; I don't need this money, but why give it to me in the first place? If pointless bureaucracy and stupidity such as this were stamped on there might just be enough money in the coffers to allow a universal winter fuel payment.
BTW, I wish those buffoons at DWP would learn to write letters correctly. They use Dear [Christian name] [surname] rather than Dear [title] [surname], and there's no Yours sincerely. Pathetic!

It is being clawed back in this way because it’s cheaper to process than trawling through taxpayer records before awarding the payment and of course total income will not be known until after the end of the tax year, you can’t expect those who do need it to wait 6 months.
You could have opted out before now.

p00hsticks

Exodi said:

Keep_pedalling said:

You did have the option to opt out, and that option was well publicised. 

Herein lied Labours problem - no-one did. In 2021, only 186 pensioners opted out from a pool of 11m recipients (0.0002%). 

In 2021, opting out meant declining 'free' money though.
 
This year, opting out means avoiding the situation of being given money by DWP in one hand and it all being clawed back soon after by HMRC. One would have expected more to opt out in those circumstacnes. 

Shylock_249

Well I agree with the OP, it's ridiculous to give one the money and then take it back.

Both me and my wife will have to pay the  money back.

We didn't opt out because the relatively high interest rates on savings have put both of us above the 35k limit THIS Year but might NOT do so next year.

The Lord giveth and The Lord taketh away!  Thank God I'm an atheist! 

HarryIb

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

HarryIb said:

I got a letter today from the DWP telling me that I'm getting a Winter Fuel Payment of £200. Hip, hip, hooray! I'll use the money to increase my shareholding in Drax, the power generation company. However, the payment is only a short-term gain. I'm informed in the letter that if my pre-tax income is above £35k (it is) then the combined chumpery of DWP, HMRC and the Whitehall Blob will conspire to claw back the money via my tax code. You could not make it up! No wonder the country is going down the pan. Fine; I don't need this money, but why give it to me in the first place? If pointless bureaucracy and stupidity such as this were stamped on there might just be enough money in the coffers to allow a universal winter fuel payment.
BTW, I wish those buffoons at DWP would learn to write letters correctly. They use Dear [Christian name] [surname] rather than Dear [title] [surname], and there's no Yours sincerely. Pathetic!

If you didn't want to receive the payment and have your tax code messed with then you could simply have opted out.

The timeframe for doing that, for this payment, has now passed though.

https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/report-change-circumstances

I've never heard of this option, and as far as I can recall it has not been detailed in any DWP correspondence. However, if you did opt out then it seems from the website you would need to opt back in if your circumstances changed. The whole thing is just ridiculously complicated; good old Rachel!

Dazed_and_C0nfused

HarryIb said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

HarryIb said:

I got a letter today from the DWP telling me that I'm getting a Winter Fuel Payment of £200. Hip, hip, hooray! I'll use the money to increase my shareholding in Drax, the power generation company. However, the payment is only a short-term gain. I'm informed in the letter that if my pre-tax income is above £35k (it is) then the combined chumpery of DWP, HMRC and the Whitehall Blob will conspire to claw back the money via my tax code. You could not make it up! No wonder the country is going down the pan. Fine; I don't need this money, but why give it to me in the first place? If pointless bureaucracy and stupidity such as this were stamped on there might just be enough money in the coffers to allow a universal winter fuel payment.
BTW, I wish those buffoons at DWP would learn to write letters correctly. They use Dear [Christian name] [surname] rather than Dear [title] [surname], and there's no Yours sincerely. Pathetic!

If you didn't want to receive the payment and have your tax code messed with then you could simply have opted out.

The timeframe for doing that, for this payment, has now passed though.

https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/report-change-circumstances

I've never heard of this option, and as far as I can recall it has not been detailed in any DWP correspondence. However, if you did opt out then it seems from the website you would need to opt back in if your circumstances changed. The whole thing is just ridiculously complicated; good old Rachel!

And one person clearly thinks the way DWP have implemented opt outs has unintended consequences for some (lucky) people.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/effect_of_opting_out_of_a_winter#incoming-3193961

While Scotland have done what seems to give the expected outcome for a couple.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/winter-heating-assistance-pension-age-scotland-amendment-regulations-2025-policy-note/pages/10/