According to Lady Bakewell speaking in the House of Lords she was stopped in the street by one time Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant. The rock singer wanted to know why he a multimillionaire was receiving the Winter Fuel Allowance.
Lady Bakewell was also mystified as to why well-off pensioners financially speaking receive the benefit. She stated that she too received the benefit and tried to send the money back but there was no mechanism to do so.
Lady Joan Bakewell is a veteran of tv documentaries and is no stranger to tackling controversial issues.
Lady Bakewell attacked Chancellor Philip Hammond for not addressing the issue.
Theresa May promised to review benefit
Before the general election this year Theresa May said she would look at Means Testing the benefit if she got back into power. She did win the general election by the skin of her teeth going into government with the DUP. The DUP at any moment could pull the plug on their going into government with the Tories.
The Winter Fuel Allowance is worth £300 and of course, pensioners should receive it but not wealthy pensioners. As it stands at the moment the mechanism allows for pensioners regardless of income or savings to receive the benefit.
However, if Theresa May could pull her self away from all the Brexit shenanigans for a moment means testing the Winter Fuel Allowance would be a good idea.
Eating or heating?
Many pensioners sometimes sit in the cold afraid to put the heating on because of the horrendous bills they may receive. Whereas with better off pensioners they surely must not be afraid to keep the heating on.
Means testing pensioners is certainly a controversial issue but at the end of the day why should they be different to the rest of us?
What about people on benefits or on low wages who no doubt have the same fear?
Pensioners opinions on the subject it seems on the subject are varied. For example, some feel that all pensioners should receive the allowance regardless of income in line with current government policy. Whereas others take the opinion put forward by Robert Plant and Lady Joan Bakewell.
Apparently, according to some targeting, poorer pensioners would be a win-win situation. If poorer pensioners were to receive the allowance only then surely they would be able to burn a little more heat, cook and keep the lights on.
Richer pensioners would have money stashed away to pay the bills and the government would make a saving of millions.
