The Winter Fuel Payment: "Handing out money to people who often don’t need it is ridiculous".

Changes to the Winter Fuel Payment have been a huge talking point on Mumsnet, with around 867,000 views of related threads since the Chancellor's announcement.

In a poll of more than 2000 users, exactly half (50%) told us they agree with the change:

Winter fuel payments are brilliant for those who need them. So anyone who is in receipt of benefits will still receive them. More prosperous pensioners, who don't need benefits, don't need the payment. So it's a good saving for the government to stop paying it as a universal benefit.

But even those who agree with the government tell us they are concerned about the effect on pensioners just below the threshold for receipt:

I think it’s possible to hold two thoughts at once on this - 1) people like my in laws who live abroad in a a very warm country and still receive the winter fuel payment probably shouldn’t; and 2) this plan needs careful thinking through to ensure those on the cusp of pension credit are not disadvantaged by the change.

?And 40% of users tell us they disagree with government's decision (with 10% unsure):

There are lots of pensioners literally on the breadline, like my dad who is pounds away from getting pension credit. He worked a hard manual job all his life, he would have been much better off never paying into a private pension, it’s hardly worth anything and means he’s just over the threshold for all the additional help people on pension credit get. I'm so worried about what this will mean for him this winter, along with many other pensioners in the same situation.

With a debate in the House of Commons this week but the government (so far) standing firm against any u-turn, it's clear that whatever happens at least 40% of our nine million users will be disappointed by the PM's choice - a sign of what's to come as he and the Chancellor take more of the 'tough decisions' that they've talked so much about.

Survey of 2227 Mumsnet users, Sept 2024

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