Taxi Driver Online

It will be interesting to see if any Labour MPs actually vote against the cut to winter payments for OAPs or how many will take the cowards way and either not turn up or abstain.

I would think at least a couple of dozen but to make any real impact over 100 abstaining would be needed

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Abstaining will not make any difference. They need to grow a pair and vote against and lose the party whip, which they wont do.

I'm still struggling to make sense out of the decision to bin the benefit.

Yes, we all know OAPs who have more money than the King and don't need the cash. But they have paid in tax considerable sums over the years and will continue to pay tax on their savings.

A daft decision that will come back and bite Labour's bum time and time again.

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IDFIMH

Of course Labour have not mentioned how much it is going to cost to do all the means testing. I recall that this issue was discussed a few years ago and it was decided that it was cheaper to have it as a universal payment rather than the extra cost of administering the means testing.

The means testing of fuel payments will enable them to means test other things such as pensions but my understanding was that it wasn't means testing it was just on the basis of whether or not your on benefits

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

It is the benefits that are means tested. You can get the winter fuel benfit if you are on a means tested benefit. if, as they say, there are around 10 million pensioners that aren't claiming any means tested benefits and now they will have to put in a claim, how much will that cost to administer.
For instance, my wife will lose the winter fuel benefit and she does not claim anything else. However she is the carer for her 97 year old mother. Now because she is in receipt she can't also get carers allowance which would then open the door for the winter fuel payment. But she can apply for the carers allowance which will get har a letter to state that she would get it if she wasn't getting her pension. Are you with me so far/ Now with this letter she would then be able to apply for other means tested benefits and she may well qualify for something but it would require a lot of form filling which the benefits people would have to assess and this would take a considerable amount of time but if she qualifies even for a payment of 1 penny on any of the many benefits tat she could fill the forms in for then she will be eligable for the winter fuel payment.

The maximum state pension is now about £221. The cut off for benefits is about £218. There are exceptions, of course. If you are married, or have a “partner” ( my wife will not tolerate that term) their earnings are taken into consideration. A couples limit is around £323.
This is going to be labours poll tax moment. I can only imagine the furious indignation if the conservatives had decided to put the mean into means testing the winter fuel payment. Rayner said in 2017 that the triple lock, bus passes, and the winter fuel payment would all be safe under a Labour government. They haven’t mentioned the Xmas bonus yet. I’m sure kier needs that £5 more than I do.

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Former taxi driver