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I tried to hand back my winter fuel payment I tried to hand back my winter fuel payment
(5 months later)
In the carefree old days when governments showered pensioners liberally with benefits, my mother and I were living in the same house. We received two winter fuel payments. One each. But you were only allowed one for each household, so we tried to give one back. The ministry of pensions, or whatever is was then, didn't seem to want it. They wouldn't take a cheque; they could hardly be fagged to discuss it. We begged them to please not send two payments next year. They sent two. And two the next year. In 2010, Joan Bakewell tried to give hers back, but couldn't. There was still no mechanism for doing so.In the carefree old days when governments showered pensioners liberally with benefits, my mother and I were living in the same house. We received two winter fuel payments. One each. But you were only allowed one for each household, so we tried to give one back. The ministry of pensions, or whatever is was then, didn't seem to want it. They wouldn't take a cheque; they could hardly be fagged to discuss it. We begged them to please not send two payments next year. They sent two. And two the next year. In 2010, Joan Bakewell tried to give hers back, but couldn't. There was still no mechanism for doing so.
They have tightened things up a bit now – just as well, as Iain Duncan Smith has pointed out that fabulously rich pensioners should not be receiving free benefits. I presume he has given his winter fuel payment back, so I rang to ask how to return mine. Pressed a few buttons, listened to a bit of Vivaldi, and then a pleasant fellow answered and gave me an address to write to. Easy-peasy. So here you are, Rich Pensioners. Just write to Winter Fuel Payment Team, PO Box 22, Gateshead, Newcastle, NE92 1BX and say you don't want yours. Quick, because they're made between the 3rd and 14th June. (I've never had mine that early.) Then, to make sure you're not poncing unnecessarily off the state, you can pay for all your prescriptions – just don't tick the "I am over 65" box; don't apply for your free TV Licence or Freedom pass, just stick to the chauffeur and taxis; and as for that automatic £10 Christmas pension bonus that you used to go wild squandering, well you could just give that to charity. You can be the ones to save us from a triple-dip recession.They have tightened things up a bit now – just as well, as Iain Duncan Smith has pointed out that fabulously rich pensioners should not be receiving free benefits. I presume he has given his winter fuel payment back, so I rang to ask how to return mine. Pressed a few buttons, listened to a bit of Vivaldi, and then a pleasant fellow answered and gave me an address to write to. Easy-peasy. So here you are, Rich Pensioners. Just write to Winter Fuel Payment Team, PO Box 22, Gateshead, Newcastle, NE92 1BX and say you don't want yours. Quick, because they're made between the 3rd and 14th June. (I've never had mine that early.) Then, to make sure you're not poncing unnecessarily off the state, you can pay for all your prescriptions – just don't tick the "I am over 65" box; don't apply for your free TV Licence or Freedom pass, just stick to the chauffeur and taxis; and as for that automatic £10 Christmas pension bonus that you used to go wild squandering, well you could just give that to charity. You can be the ones to save us from a triple-dip recession.
And you can also save yourself from having to work out this sort of thing on the Government website: "If you're a man living in England, you can get free bus travel once you've reached the state pension age of a woman with the same date of birth as you." What? Don't they make things sound confusing? What they need, to sort out these benefits, is a simpler method.And you can also save yourself from having to work out this sort of thing on the Government website: "If you're a man living in England, you can get free bus travel once you've reached the state pension age of a woman with the same date of birth as you." What? Don't they make things sound confusing? What they need, to sort out these benefits, is a simpler method.
One that avoids means-testing, letter writing, reliance on the goodwill of squillionaires and changing whole systems at vast expense. And I have the answer. At the risk of being called a raving mad, naive, hideously envious, screaming, foaming, ranting Communist, could I suggest taxing the rich more? My dream is that taxes be raised incrementally, reaching 90% for those greedy toads on the Rich List, but I'd be happy with even a measly increase to 50% on higher incomes. That would cover all those annoying pensioners' freebies, we wouldn't be seething about inequality, and this country would be a more mellow and happier place, because fairness and sanity had returned to Britain. My advice is free.One that avoids means-testing, letter writing, reliance on the goodwill of squillionaires and changing whole systems at vast expense. And I have the answer. At the risk of being called a raving mad, naive, hideously envious, screaming, foaming, ranting Communist, could I suggest taxing the rich more? My dream is that taxes be raised incrementally, reaching 90% for those greedy toads on the Rich List, but I'd be happy with even a measly increase to 50% on higher incomes. That would cover all those annoying pensioners' freebies, we wouldn't be seething about inequality, and this country would be a more mellow and happier place, because fairness and sanity had returned to Britain. My advice is free.
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