Winter fuel allowance

[Murdochcat]

Yes, they inform HMRC of taxes applied..
The DWP operates the WFA.
The government, including DWP and HMRC, have no mandate to request a sweep of all, or even any bank accounts that meet certain criteria.
They can only request account details on a case-by-case basis, and with due cause.

Wrong. HMRC know more about us than the majority of people realise

I made more than £1000 in interest last year. Waiting for my tax coding to be adjusted

 

[Murdochcat]

Yes, they inform HMRC of taxes applied..

Wrong. No savings accounts are taxed at source AND if they did how they know and where the tax free allowance was applied?

 

[ajohn]

No. The state pension isn’t paid out to people who don’t apply for it

If you pay NI it more or less just appears at retirement age. Maybe if you don't tell them where to pay it into ..........

 

[JohnD]

No. The state pension isn’t paid out to people who don’t apply for it

That wasn't the question.

"What was the percentage of millionaires (receiving a state pension) who received the winter fuel allowance?"

I would expect all of them.

Obviously millionaires under retirement age will not be receiving pensioner-related payments. So the question as originally written was nonsensical.

Millionaires not receiving one of the qualifying benefits would not have received WFA unless they had claimed for it. Millionaires receiving a state pension or certain other benefits would normally receive WFA automatically.

 

[big-all]

ok just a though
if doctors health workers transport workers and other lowly paid had asked for an inflation busting rise off say18% over 2 years some may wince and say it cannot be afforded
now these hard working people are essential for life to continue but off course a more reasonable may be 10% over 2 years so why do we think when the system is struggling the hardest working are worth less so need to settle for perhaps 8% over 2 years
as a 70 year old pensioner my income has increased by very close to 19% over 2 years hardly taking the weight off my fair share off the financial crisis on my shoulders
indeed with the average pensioner just above means tested pension credits at £220 will be £31 better off than 2 years ago so now asking to forgo £5.78ish a week winter fuel payment from there £31 a week extra they now get compared to 2 years ago would seem a more Ballance situation than the tripple lock to buy votes rather than what we can afford ?

 

[JohnD]

If you pay NI it more or less just appears at retirement age. Maybe if you don't tell them where to pay it into ..........

Perhaps you've forgotten what you did.

The new State Pension

How to get and claim your State Pension, State Pension age - for men born on or after 6 April 1951 and women born on or after 6 April 1953.

www.gov.uk

 

[Justin Passing]

Banks don't routinely report to government all pensioners with savings.
The government have a right to ask for it, on a case-by-case basis.
They can't currently collect everyone's account information without due cause.

So it doesn't already happen.


It would require the above mentioned data lists, and any list created by Share Dealers, if it was available, to be combined.
That alone is three data bases into one. It would require an outsource to a data management organisation. The process of issuing the invitation to tender, and the resulting process would take months, and £m's.

Nope.
You're out of date on that too and/or persuaded by the blatant liar Mel Stride's weasel words.
I'd rather listen to the friends in low places - through my wife's former employ as it happens. Two groups of the old buffers still meet regularly so I tag along, with interest renewed recent .
Pre GDPR - since pre dot, when you sign up to a finance account anywhere you have in the small print a permit to give your info the authorities.
HMRC and their forerunners could access whatever they wanted, freely. GDPR arrived and though the same remained true, it made people question the matter.
The new data act has explicitly made info freely available in effect, which the newer technology facilitates. "The avoidance of fraud" clearss access to any account with an amount they care about, it's not cost effective below some (surprisingly high) level. Bear in mind that people tend to be honest so the margin they "forget" it trivial. The proportion of pensioners with hidden taxable interest in even 5 figures is small. so it's easy to say they don't routinely look at pensioners' incomes
There's better harvest in the self-employed waters. CGT on long-held properties is another target of course.

 

[Justin Passing]

ok just a though
if doctors health workers transport workers and other lowly paid had asked for an inflation busting rise off say18% over 2 years some may wince and say it cannot be afforded
now these hard working people are essential for life to continue but off course a more reasonable may be 10% over 2 years so why do we think when the system is struggling the hardest working are worth less so need to settle for perhaps 8% over 2 years
as a 70 year old pensioner my income has increased by very close to 19% over 2 years hardly taking the weight off my fair share off the financial crisis on my shoulders
indeed with the average pensioner just above means tested pension credits at £220 will be £31 better off than 2 years ago so now asking to forgo £5.78ish a week winter fuel payment from there £31 a week extra they now get compared to 2 years ago would seem a more Ballance situation than the tripple lock to buy votes rather than what we can afford ?

Re the doctors, they're already hemorrhaging away to, for example, Australia, leading to a huge step up in quality of life.
I'm close to your age. The only reason we matter at all is that we have a vote.

 

[securespark]

What next? A free doughnut issue to the obese?

Yes please!

 

[JohnD]

Yes please!

That might cut down long-term NHS costs

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

This is not available to anyone so well of that they wouldn't be bothered. Pension credit is available to those getting less than £218 a week, iirc.

Problem is, that is a cliff. Above it, you get nowt, below it you get access to the lot.. They haven't just removed the WFP, a while ago, they removed the free TV licence from the over 75's. What next, the bus pass?

 

[securespark]

That might cut down long-term NHS costs

What would?

 

[JohnD]

Feeding the obese with free doughnuts.

May not be conducive to a long and healthy life.

 

[JohnD]

Problem is, that is a cliff. Above it, you get nowt, below it you get access to the lot.. They haven't just removed the WFP, a while ago, they removed the free TV licence from the over 75's. What next, the bus pass?

£300 a year is useful, but not enough to drag you out of poverty.

The bus pass is more of a lifeline to people who can't afford a car. AIUI it the subsidy is paid according to usage. So unless your billionaire sacks his chauffeur and uses the bus to go to his day centre or Spoonies, he won't be costing the taxpayer much.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Problem is, that is a cliff. Above it, you get nowt, below it you get access to the lot.. They haven't just removed the WFP, a while ago, they removed the free TV licence from the over 75's. What next, the bus pass?

I will ask again.

There are a lot of pensioners on this forum. Anybody want to stand up and actually say the lack of WFA will seriously affect their ability to keep themselves warm over winter? That's all it is intended for, after all.

Is it right when public finances are in such a poor state that it is paid to people who don't need it ? Want, is different to need.

And I would love to see more paid out, but let's look at the finances first. Tough decisions needed, this must have been a tough decision too.