Refusal letter shows how many pensioners will be impoverished – and Labour already knows 4,000 a year will die
Pensioners are being refused pension credit – and condemned to poverty and potential hypothermia – for the sake of just £3 a week.
A letter sent to a pensioner turning down an application for pension credit – without which no pensioner will be granted the vital Winter Fuel Allowance under Keir Starmer’s and Rachel Reeves’s new rules – refuses the application because the applicant had a pension just £3.05 above the arbitrary cut-off point:
That £3 a week is worth just £150 a year – and means the denial of not just the Pension Credit top-up, but also the Winter Fuel Allowance of between £250-600 a year to help toward fuel bills, which was previously awarded to all pensioners universally to avoid perverse situations like the above.
Labour knows – because the party’s own analysis confirms it – that the cut will cost the lives of at least 4,000 pensioners each winter, on top of the 8,000 people who already die avoidable each year because of living in a cold home. Fuel costs have soared since the analysis was done, so the reality will be worse.
Chancellor Rachel ‘Freeze’ Reeves talks of ‘tough decisions’ – but while she runs a mile to avoid any tough decisions involving the rich paying their taxes, or for that matter like running the national economy like a national economy instead of like a weekly shopping budget, she only uses this to refer to decisions that will be tough on the poor and vulnerable, not on Chancellors claiming thousands every year in fuel costs or on their party donors.
Social murder by social murderers, no less than the blue Tories that the red Tories have replaced.
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Bus passes next. Especially if it’s a mild winter.
I recollect in previous winters there were pensioners spending days riding on buses to keep warm…. But I would not be at all surprised if bus passes were next.
This letter is a very good illustration of how so many pensioners are going to be worse off because of measly amounts above the Pension Credit limit.
Apart from the disdain for poorer people he and Reeves always exhibit, this matter has been dealt with in an absolutely shambolic manner.
Seeing the ‘buyer’s remorse’ displayed in The Guardian (I know, I know but I find BTL interesting) yesterday, I think the scales are falling off eyes only weeks into Starmer’s government!
Now here’s an interesting idea:
https://www.change.org/p/reduce-politicians-expenses-to-fund-winter-fuel-payment-for-pensioners?
“I know firsthand the importance of Winter Fuel Payment – it’s a lifeline to pensioners during the harsh winter months. Their heating bills can skyrocket, and they end up struggling, trying desperately to keep themselves warm. Meanwhile, our politicians are living comfortably with expenses that would be considered extravagant by most standards. We believe that our politicians – who have a stable income, can afford to pay their heating bills and do not need taxpayer-funded expenses to support this aspect of their lifestyle.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies found that politicians’ expenses can cost taxpayers millions each year (Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2019). A portion of these could be redirected to support the Winter Fuel Payment, providing respite for thousands of vulnerable pensioners who are barely making ends meet.
It’s time we turned the tables. It’s time we cut back on politicians’ expenses and direct the funds towards helping the country’s struggling pensioners afford basic amenities like heating.
Help us ensure all pensioners can comfortably and safely get through winter. Sign the petition, and let’s ask our politicians to do the decent thing. Cut your expenses; fund our Winter Fuel Payment.”
Let’s squeeze these buggers back.
Another place that pensioners used to go to keep warm were public libraries. In recent years more and more have closed or have reduced hours, so not longer an option.
If bus passes get target next, I am not going to be surprised if the number of winter related deaths is going to be much higher than 4000.
They were already pensioners struggling to keep their homes warm with the fuel winter allowance. How on earth a pensioner having £158.60 extra is going to feel when he/she is losing a minimum of £141.40 per year and with the price of utilities rising.
Not even scaremongering
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/free-bus-pass-could-scrapped-29916377
I’d like the fiscal genius that is reeves to explain to me how that’ll help griw the economy.
Without free travel, millions of those pensioners will be stuck at home all day, still not heating their homes, on the of not going to the shops and spending any money at all.
They won’t have the money to buy broadband to get online shopping – and that’s if they’re technology-savvy in the first place, which most aren’t.
But let’s say they were, and they did all go online…Not only would plenty of pensioners not be able to afford to spend enough to meet the free delivery threshold, but the spending amount to meet it would go through the roof because of the demand – affecting everybody else.
Which, in turn, not only means means prices would be hiked for the supermarkets to take on more staff and provode more vehicles – but more food waste, as pensioners – who generally dont eat a lot- would need to buy more than they need to meet the free delivery.
The whole idea is fooking nonsense from top to bottom.
But the geniuses’d ostensibly disagree.
Yes & Streeting bleating about the NHS today though correct need prevention instead of illness. But perhaps not ending the 2 child benefit cap & keeping a cap on what single parents can get does nothing to prevent child poverty & illness.
And cutting the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners does nothing to prevent illness amongst older people & in fact contributing to worse ill health.
Joined up thinking my arse!
Need to ditch Right Wing Labour & dust up Corbyn’s programme.
By refusing to rebel, Labour MPs have helped ensure more attacks.
I wonder how long it will be before a Labour MP complains about ‘intimidation’ and being accused of voting to ‘kill off pensioners’ or having his tires slashed.
Just to re-cap on what I have said before:
Cost of keeping the Winter Fuel Allowance intact: £1.5 billion a year
Cost of Starmer’s war of choice in the Ukraine: £3 billion a year
https://www.declassifieduk.org/lets-just-fight-how-britain-prefers-war-over-peace-in-ukraine/
“The newly installed British Labour government cast itself as a reincarnation of Tony Blair’s ‘New Labour’ by ejecting the genuinely Leftist former party leader Jeremy Corbyn and positioning itself as Centrist.
Now it is following Blair’s role as enabler of American war crimes. In his capacity as lapdog, Blair provided respectability for President George Bush, Jr. to proceed with the invasion of Iraq without the consent of the UN Security Council and over the objections of France, Germany and Belgium. Starmer is more proactive and indeed has moved out in front of the United States in willingness to supply Ukraine with his country’s most advanced lethal weapons systems with no restrictions on their use and to guide Ukrainian terror attacks on Russia. Other NATO countries have not objected but Germany and France are not following suit to avoid being identified by Russia as co-belligerents.
Russia has many different possible ways to respond to the attacks on its heartland but all those which are most appropriate in terms of severity, such as missile strikes against airbases in NATO countries which are being used to send F-16s aloft to attack Russia from Ukrainian air space or attacks on marshaling yards in Poland and Romania from which NATO weapons are dispatched to Kiev, are likely to provide Washington with the excuse it is seeking to perform a first, preemptive nuclear strike on Russia or to do something else that unleashes WWIII.”
– Gilbert Doctorow
“It is really quite a parallel here, what we’re seeing before our eyes with what we had before the outbreak of the American-led attack on Iraq. That is, yet again, a British labor government is working hand-in-glove with the American administration to perpetrate war crimes and to kill millions of people. This is what we’re about to see, unfortunately. And this time, some of those killed will not be unfortunates in Iraq but will be people right here in Europe and possibly, if this continues to logical extension, right in the United States.”
And, more to the point, the USA’s permanent aircraft carrier in the North Atlantic.
There may be advantages to living in the northern hinterland of the UK rather than within a 100 mile radius of London at the presnt time.
Not going to happen
What is described is the end of life on earth
The Kleptocracy would have no one left to rob blind for the simple reason there would be no one left
Be wary of supporting Tory party accusations people will die with some losing the winter fuel allowance, the rehabilitation of Cheap and Nasties has started across the MMS and toilet papers
There is nothing they won’t say or do to get back into power
The answer to all our problems is simple, never vote Tory again and that includes Red Tories
The names of the Labour MP’s who voted to scrap the winter Fuel Allowance:
https://www.thestar.co.uk/business/consumer/winter-fuel-payment-vote-how-did-my-mp-vote-on-2024-allowance-payments-cut-full-list-4777550
Jack Abbott – Ipswich
Debbie Abrahams – Oldham East and Saddleworth
Dr Zubir Ahmed – Glasgow South West
Luke Akehurst – North Durham
Sadik Al-Hassan – North Somerset
Bayo Alaba – Southend East and Rochford
Dan Aldridge – Weston-super-Mare
Heidi Alexander – Swindon South
Douglas Alexander – Lothian East
Rushanara Ali – Bethnal Green and Stepney
Mike Amesbury – Runcorn and Helsby
Callum Anderson – Buckingham and Bletchley
Scott Arthur – Edinburgh South West
Jess Asato – Lowestoft
James Asser – West Ham and Beckton
Jas Athwal – Ilford South
Catherine Atkinson – Derby North
Lewis Atkinson – Sutherland Central
Calvin Bailey – Leyton and Wanstead
Olivia Bailey – Reading West and Mid Berkshire
David Baines – St Helens North
Alex Baker – Aldershot
Richard Baker – Glenrothes and Mid Fife
Alex Ballinger – Halesowen
Antonia Bance – Tipton and Wednesbury
Lee Barron – Corby and East Northamptonshire
Alex Barros-Curtis – Cardiff West
Johanna Baxter – Paisley and Renfrewshire South
Danny Beales – Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Torsten Bell – Swansea West
Clive Betts – Sheffield South East
Polly Billington – East Thanet
Olivia Blake – Sheffield Hallam
Rachel Blake – Cities of London and Westminster
Chris Bloore – Redditch
Kevin Bonavia – Stevenage
Jade Botterill – Ossett and Denby Dale
Sureena Brackenridge – Wolverhampton North East
Jonathan Brash – Hartlepool
Chris Bryant – Rhondda and Ogmore
Maureen Burke – Glasgow North East
David Burton-Sampson – Southend West and Leigh
Liam Byrne – Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North
Ruth Cadbury – Brentford and Isleworth
Nesil Caliskan – Barking
Markus Campbell-Savours – Penrith and Solway
Irene Campbell – North Ayrshire and Arran
Juliet Campbell – Broxtowe
Sir Alan Campbell – Tynemouth
Dan Carden – Liverpool Walton
Sam Carling – North West Cambridgeshire
Al Carns – Birmingham Selly Oak
Sarah Champion – Rotherham
Bambos Charalambouse – Southgate and Wood Green
Luke Charters – York Outer
Feryal Clark – Enfield North
Ben Coleman – Chelsea and Fulham
Jacob Collier – Burton and Uttoxeter
Lizzi Collinge – Morecambe and Lunesdale
Tom Collins – Worcester
Liam Conlon – Beckenham and Penge
Sarah Coombes – West Bromwich
Andrew Cooper – Mid Cheshire
Yvette Cooper – Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley
Deirdre Costigan – Ealing Southall
Pam Cox – Colchester
Neil Coyle – Bermondsey and Old Southwark
Jen Craft – Thurrock
Mary Creagh – Coventry East
Stella Creasy – Walthamstow
Torcuil Crichton – Na h-Eileanan an Iar
Chris Curtis – Milton Keynes North
Janet Daby – Lewisham East
Sir Nicholas Dakin – Scunthorpe
Ashley Dalton – West Lancashire
Emily Darlington – Milton Keynes Central
Alex Davies-Jones – Pontypridd
Jonathan Davies – Mid Derbyshire
Paul Davies – Colne Valley
Shaun Davies – Telford
Josh Dean – Hertford and Stortford
Kate Dearden – Halifax
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi – Slough
Jim Dickson – Dartford
Anna Dixon – Shipley
Samantha Dixon – Chester North and Neston
Anneliese Dodds – Oxford East
Helena Dollimore – Hastings and Rye
Peter Dowd – Bootle
Graeme Downie – Dunfermline and Dollar
Dame Angela Eagle – Wallasey
Lauren Edwards – Rochester and Strood
Damien Egan – Bristol North East
Maya Ellie – Ribble Valley
Chris Elmore – Bridgend
Kirith Entwistle – Bolton North East
Florence Eshalomi – Vauxhall and Camberwell Green
Bill Esterson – Sefton Central
Chris Evans – Caerphilly
Miatta Fahnbulleh – Peckham
Hamish Falconer – Lincoln
Linsey Farnsworth – Amber Valley
Josh Fenton-Glynn – Calder Valley
Mark Ferguson – Gateshead Central and Whickham
Patricia Ferguson – Glasgow West
Natalie Fleet – Bolsover
Emma Foody – Cramlington and Killingworth
Catherine Fookes – Monmouthshire
Paul Foster – South Ribble
Vicky Foxcroft – Lewisham North
Daniel Francis – Bexleyheath and Crayford
James Frith – Bury North
Barry Gardiner – Brent West
Dr Allison Gardner – Stoke-on-Trent South
Anna Gelderd – South East Cornwall
Alan Gemmell – Central Ayrshire
Gill German – Clwyd North
Tracy Gilbert – Edinburgh North and Leith
Preet Kaur Gill – Birmingham Edgbaston
Becky Gittins – Clwyd East
Mary Glindon – Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend
Ben Goldsborough – South Norfolk
Jodie Gosling – Nuneaton
Georgia Gould – Queen’s Park and Maida Vale
John Grady – Glasgow East
Lilian Greenwood – Nottingham South
Dame Nia Griffith – Llanelli
Andrew Gwynne – Gorton and Denton
Amanda Hack – North West Leicestershire
Louise Haigh – Sheffield Heeley
Sarah Hall – Warrington South
Fabian Hamilton – Leeds North East
Emma Hardy – Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice
Carolyn Harris – Neath and Swansea East
Lloyd Hatton – South Dorset
Helen Hayes – Dulwich and West Norwood
Tom Hayes – Bournemouth East
Claire Hazelgrove – Filton and Bradley Stoke
John Healey – Rawmarsh and Conisbrough
Sir Mark Hendrick – Preston
Dame Meg Hillier – Hackney South and Shoreditch
Chris Hinchliff – North East Hertfordshire
Jonathan Hinder – Pendle and Clitheroe
Rachel Hopkins – Luton South and South Bedfordshire
Claire Hughes – Bangor Aberconwy
Alison Hume – Scarborough and Whitby
Dr Rupa Huq – Ealing Central and Acton
Patrick Hurley – Southport
Natasha Irons – Croydon East
Sally Jameson – Doncaster Central
Dan Jarvis – Barnsley North
Terry Jermy – South West Norfolk
Adam Jogee – Newcastle-under-Lyme
Darren Jones – Bristol North West
Gerald Jones – Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare
Lillian Jones – Kilmarnock and Loudoun
Louise Jones – North East Derbyshire
Ruth Jones – Newport West and Islwyn
Sarah Jones – Croydon West
Gurinder Singh Josan – Smethwick
Sojan Joseph – Ashford
Warinder Juss – Wolverhampton West
Chris Kane – Stirling and Strathallan
Mike Kane – Wythenshawe and Sale East
Satvir Kaur – Southampton Test
Liz Kendall – Leicester West
Afzal Khan – Manchester Rusholme
Stephen Kinnock – Aberfan Maesteg
Jayne Kirkham – Truro and Falmouth
Gen Kitchen – Wellingborough and Rushden
Sonia Kumar – Dudley
Uma Kumaran – Stratford and Bow
Peter Kyle – Hove and Portslade
Laura Kyrke-Smith – Aylesbury
Peter Lamb – Crawley
David Lammy – Tottenham
Noah Law – St Austell and Newquay
Kim Leadbeater – Spen Valley
Brian Leishman – Alloa and Grangemouth
Andrew Lewin – Welwyn Hatfield
Simon Lightwood – Wakefield and Rothwell
Josh McAlister – Whitehaven and Workington
Alice Macdonald – Norwich North
Andy MacNae – Rossendale and Darwen
Justin Madders – Ellesmere Port and Bromborough
Shabana Mahmood – Birmingham Ladywood
Seema Malhotra – Feltham and Heston
Keir Mather – Selby
Alex Mayer – Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard
Douglas McAllister – West Dunbartonshire
Kerry McCarthy – Bristol East
Martin McCluskey – Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West
Dame Siobhain McDonagh – Mitcham and Morden
Chris McDonald – Stockton North
Blair McDougall – East Renfrewshire
Lola McEvoy – Darlington
Pat McFadden – Wolverhampton South East
Alison McGovern – Birkenhead
Alex McIntyre – Gloucester
Gordon McKee – Glasgow South
Kevin McKenna – Sittingbourne and Sheppey
Catherine McKinnell – Newcastle upon Tyne North
Jim McMahon – Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton
Frank McNally – Coatbridge and Bellshill
Kirsty McNeill – Midlothian
Anneliese Midgley – Knowsley
Ed Miliband – Doncaster North
Julie Minns – Carlisle
Navendu Mishra – Stockport
Abtisam Mohamed – Sheffield Central
Perran Moon – Camborne and Redruth
Jessica Morden – Newport East
Stephen Morgan – Portsmouth South
Joe Morris – Hexham
Margaret Mullane – Dagenham and Rainham
Luke Murphy – Basingstoke
Chris Murray – Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
Ian Murray – Edinburgh South
James Murray – Ealing North
Katrina Murray – Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch
Luke Myer – Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland
James Naish – Rushcliffe
Connor Naismith – Crewe and Nantwich
Lisa Nandy – Wigan
Kanishka Narayan – vale of Glamorgan
Pamela Nash – Josh Newbury – Cannock Chase
Samantha Niblett – South Derbyshire
Charlotte Nichols – Warrington North
Alex Norris – Nottingham North and Kimberley
Dan Norris – North East Somerset and Hanham
Melanie Onn – Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes
Chi Onwurah – Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West
Dr Simon Opher – Stroud
Abena Oppong-Asare – Erith and Thamesmead
Tristan Osborne – Chatham and Aylesford
Taiwo Owatemi – Coventry North West
Sarah Owen – Luton North
Darren Paffey – Southampton Itchen
Andrew Pakes – Peterborough
Matthew Patrick – Wirral West
Michael Payne – Gedling
Stephanie Peacock – Barnsley South
Jon Pearce – High Peak
Matthew Pennycook – Greenwich and Woolwich
Toby Perkins – Chesterfield
Jess Phillips – Birmingham Yardley
Bridget Phillipson – Houghton and Sunderland South
David Pinto-Duschinsky – Hendon
Lee Pitcher – Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme
Jo Platt – Leigh and Atherton
Luke Pollard – Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
Joe Powell – Kensington and Bayswater
Lucy Powell – Manchester Central
Gregor Poynton – Livingston
Peter Prinsley – Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket
Richard Quigley – Isle of Wight West
Yasmin Qureshi – Bolton South and Walkden
Steve Race – Exeter
Connor Rand – Altrincham and Sale West
Andrew Ranger – Wrexham
Angela Rayner – Ashton-under-Lyne
Mike Reader – Northampton South
Steve Reed – Streatham and Croydon North
Ellie Reeves – Lewisham West and East Dulwich
Rachel Reeves – Leeds West and Pudsey
Joani Reid – East Kilbride and Strathaven
Emma Reynolds – Wycombe
Jonathan Reynolds – Stalybridge and Hyde
Martin Rhodes – Glasgow North
Jake Richards – Rother Valley
Lucy Rigby – Northampton North
Dave Robertson – Lichfield
Tom Roca – Macclesfield
Matt Rodda – Reading Central
Sam Rushworth – Bishop Auckland
Sarah Russell – Congleton
Tom Rutland – East Worthing and Shoreham
Olive Ryan – Burnley
Sarah Sackman – Finchley and Golders Green
Dr Jeevun Sandher – Loughborough
Michelle Scrogham – Barrow and Furness
Mark Sewards – Leeds South West and Morley
Baggy Shanker – Derby South
Michael Shanks – Rutherglen
Tulip Siddiq – Hampstead and Highgate
Josh Simons – Makerfield
Andy Slaughter – Hammersmith and Chiswick
John Slinger – Rugby
David Smith – North Northumberland
Jeff Smith – Manchester Withington
Nick Smith – Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney
Karin Smyth – Bristol South
Gareth Snell – Stoke-on-Trent Central
Alex Sobel – Leeds Central and Headingley
Sir Keir Starmer – Holborn and St Pancras
Jo Stevens – Cardiff East
Elaine Stewart – Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock
Will Stone – Swindon North
Alistair Strathern – Hitchin
Wes Streeting – Ilford North
Alan Strickland – Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoore
Graham Stringer – Blackley and Middleton South
Dr Lauren Sullivan – Gravesham
Kirsteen Sullivan – Bathgate and Linlithgow
Peter Swallow – Bracknell
Markl Tami – Alyn and Deeside
Mike Tapp – Dover and Deal
Alison Taylor – Paisley and Renfrewshire North
David Taylor – Hemel Hempstead
Rachel Taylor – North Warwickshire and Bedworth
Fred Thomas – Plymouth Moor View
Gareth Thomas – Harrow West
Adam Thompson – Erewash
Emily Thornberry – Islington South and Finsbury
Marie Tidball – Penistone and Stockbridge
Sir Stephen Timms – East Ham
Jessica Toale – Bournemouth West
Dan Tomlinson – Chipping Barnet
Henry Tufnell – Mid and South Pembrokeshire
Anna Turley – Redcar
Matt Turmaine – Watford
Karl Turner – Kingston upon Hull East
Laurence Turner – Birmingham Northfield
Derek Twigg – Widnes and Halewood
Liz Twist – Blaydon and Consett
Harpreet Uppal – Huddersfield
Tony Vaughan – Folkestone and Hythe
Valerie Vaz – Walsall and Bloxwich
Chris Vince – Harlow
Imogen Walker – Hamilton and Clyde Valley
Chris Ward – Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven
Melanie Ward – Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy
Paul Waugh – Rochdale
Michelle Welsh – Sherwood Forest
Catherine West – Hornsey and Friern Barnet
Andrew Western – Stretford and Urmston
Matt Western – Warwick and Leamington
Michael Wheeler – Worsley and Eccles
John Whitby – Derbyshire Dales
Jo White – Bassetlaw
Katie White – Leeds North West
David Williams – Stoke-on-Trent North
Steve Witherden – Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr
Sean Woodcock – Banbury
Rosie Wrighting – Kettering
Yuan Yang – Earley and Woodley
Steve Yemm – Mansfield
Your picking the wrong fight with the means testing of the winter fuel allowance when no pensioner will be worse off, the triple lock covers the loss
Why not get the regulator to reduce bills by at least that amount
Why not impose windfall taxes on the obscene profits
Now let’s talk inequality and wealth taxes
2 child limit and bedroom tax
Student loans and house prices
Section 21 and Rent increases
Real inflation
MIC and Big Pharma
“Your picking the wrong fight with the means testing of the winter fuel allowance when no pensioner will be worse off”
As an actual pensioner, I beg to differ.
If anyone of similar mind wants to swap places with a pensioner on a limited fixed income living in their vicinity and experience this, here is your chance to put your money where your mouth is.
And no. I’m not going to clear up the tumbleweed that’s going to suddenly appear as the room empties with no takers.
I can beat that! I was denied Pension Credit due to £1.12p over the threshold!