The cut to the Winter Fuel Allowance is confirmed.

[jenniren]

Yes WM the cut. To stop it without making any concessions to those who need it most is despicable.

Now that's a simple concept............

[cromwell]

I agree that Labour are getting the unpopular stuff out of the way first, it makes political sense.

What's starting to bother me is what's coming down the line next ......

Well it could be as Saundra says, the single persons council tax 25% rebate. But that would hit the young as well as the old.There are lots of young people living on their own who are more likely to vote Labour.
Some sort of tax raid on pension funds is tipped.
But what i did notice the other day is that petrol is almost back to it's pre-pandemic price of being in the £1.28-ish range. it's £1.33 a litre round here. So a quick 5 or 10p increase in petrol duty might be on the way.

I'm not looking forward to next year's council tax bill either.

Neither am I. We are living in one of the highest-charging counties in the country here, and the county council are appalling. Sky-high rates and they still can't maintain the roads properly.

Same round here.
They dig them up so many times that I reckon they must have struck gold, but they keep saying it's the gas board...

[medsec222]

Keir Starmer with his pious face and gloomy warnings - there are diffuclt choices ahead but we will ensure the brunt will be borne by those with the broadest shoulders. Was he talking about the train drivers earning nearly £70,000 a year? No - he meant the pensioners, including those on a basic state pension with a small private pension which takes them just over the threshold for top ups. The same pensioners who are contributing to MPs heating in their second homes.

[Workingman]

Yes WM the cut. To stop it without making any concessions to those who need it most is despicable.

Now that's a simple concept............

Jen, I have been clear that it should / must go to those in most need. I suppose there are two main ways of doing it. A cut for all except those that are on the lowest threshold (as proposed) or filter out those who do not need it and then pay it only to those in most need. Which is the most efficient way I have no idea, but I do accept that a cut of some sort was necessary.

I can see other benefits going a similar way. A start was made in capping child benefit to two children and I can envisage job seeker's allowance being suspended for those who refuse a number of interviews, and so on.

The welfare state has to be reined in in some ways as it has become too expensive to manage, and I say that as someone who is more left than right wing politically. A more targeted system will eventually come in regardless of who is in power.

[medsec222]

I read recently that 25% of council tax is spent directly on funding the pension scheme. Perhaps if the welfare bill is to be cut, then final salary pension schemes should be axed in line with private pension schemes, as they will become increasing more unaffordable with the increase of ever more public sector workers. It will be interesting to see if the 25% discount does go in the October budget. It would be very unfair if that were the case. One address could have up to three or more incomes coming in, whilst the single person will have just one income, perhaps only the state pension, and that coupled with the loss of the winter fuel allowance and the rise in the cost of energy could result in severe hardship for the single person. Other people who could lose out are young single people starting out in their own home. Do politicians ever think through the effect of their actions?

[Workingman]

Removal of the single person discount from council tax will hurt far more people and be more costly for them than the WFA decision.

The WFA is a top-up, an extra, so to not get it is not really a "loss" in the real sense as it never had to be paid in the first place. It was only ever designed to be a temporary measure during the "cost of living crisis". The crisis the media invented.

However, the single person discount will become an extra cost from income of many hundreds of pounds and will effectively be a pay cut for ALL single people. Many. like pensioners, are on a fixed income. I will lose, really lose, £464.50p in my single bedroom flat, and that will be year on year. Others, those in houses, will lose very much more. The size and type of pension for pensioners will not matter because if you are single you will pay. They know who and where you are, there is no escape.

[TheOstrich]

Fully agree, WM.
And I suspect we'll see many more people taken to court for non-payment of their council tax.
Perhaps that's what they're freeing up all those prison spaces for .....

[Workingman]

Thanks, Os.

Now imagine that you are a single person, not necessarily a pensioner.

Your CT is £1858.00. Today you pay £1395.50 with the discount, in future you will pay the full whack an, extra £464.50. Not once, but always - forever. The once in a while gift of the WFA pales in significance by comparison.

I complained to my new Labour MP, has anyone else?

[JoM]

That’s the position our Tom will be in.
He’s single and has saved hard for a house deposit, he’s recently bought his first home and as expected money is tight as he finds his feet with budgeting for the mortgage, bills etc. It’s all affordable but there’s not a huge amount of money left over at the end of the month. Of course, his finances will improve as time goes on and he progresses in his career, but the 25% discount helps immensely while he’s paying all of this out of one quite low wage.

As for the WFA, it seems really unfair that those who are just over the threshold by a pound or two miss out. Maybe it could’ve been done on a sliding scale. Full allowance if all you get is the basic pension, and 50% between that and a higher cut off point?

[Workingman]

Jo, Tom, everybody. Email, text, phone or whatever, get in touch with your MP about this.

It is way more serious in the long term, for everybody, than some short term WFA freebie.

Angela Rayner and Labour have got this so wrong.