Stop blaming Pensioners

Totally agree. Well said.

Every generation has it tough times, and the need for help with fuel bills affects the majority of pensioners. The wealthy ones who don't need it can always give it to charity, but if you started means testing it, the admin costs would be horrendous, and the proud who 'don't accept charity' would never apply for what they needed.

Absolutely agree with you . Started work at 16 still working part time at 70. Had a period in the middle at home with children whilst husband at the time worked all hours mostly away from home so don’t feel a bit guilty claiming my winter fuel payment as have worked hard all my life. And no I won’t be donating it to charity

Some 'Young people' are resentful because they have the burden of paying for their training, which we did not.
That said, I worked full time from the age of 21 until 65, with 4 years at home for childbirth/care, so I do not feel guilty about accepting winter fuel allowance.

I just ignore and let it all wash over - definitely don’t take it as a personal insult.

Well I paid for my training easybee through the OU. Only about 10% of my school class went to Uni. My mum was very happy I had the grammar school education that she missed out on, her dad didn't think girls need education, but she was adamant she couldn't support me going into the 6th form, she needed me to be earning to contribute to the family costs, and you didn't go on to Uni without A levels then.

Yes, I’ve been watching that thread and find it really upsetting. I’ve stopped looking at it to be honest. I don’t usually frequent mumsnet so it was a bit of an eye opener.

B9exchange

Every generation has it tough times, and the need for help with fuel bills affects the majority of pensioners. The wealthy ones who don't need it can always give it to charity, but if you started means testing it, the admin costs would be horrendous, and the proud who 'don't accept charity' would never apply for what they needed.

Quite right, B9exchange. You've summed up the problem with means-testing, and I'm sure that a lot of GNers who are fortunate enough not to need the full payment in a particular year give some or all of it to charities.

It suits some in government to allow generations to vent their anger on each other. As far as I'm concerned, I resent the implication that I vote Tory or that I voted for Brexit, or indeed that I am responsible for climate change just because I am over 70!

Unfortunately it seems to be a political tactic, endorsed by the right-wing media, to drive wedges between the older generation and the younger, the able-bodied and the disabled, those in work and those not in work, those born in UK and those born abroad etc.

Well said wheniwasyourage and Chardy.
Divide and rule is alive and well.

Best to ignore it. One day they'll be pensioners and may well find themselves being criticised by the younger generation, just as they're criticising us now.

There is a similar sentiment on Reddit, younger people using words like ‘selfish’ and ‘greedy’ to describe pensioners, there is a stereotype that we all live in detached four bedroomed homes which we got dirt cheap and are worth millions so we all go on multiple cruises each year. There is no recognition that some male pensioners will have paid NI for 50 years. There is also no recognition that my generation didn’t get any family allowance until a second child was born and there were no NI credits for staying at home to care for children until 1975, that was the year I returned to work so I never caught up with the 9 years of NI contributions I missed.

Another beef is about Brexit, most of the young people on Reddit say it is the fault of the pensioners because ‘they all voted leave’ when in fact it was 60% who voted leave and the main reason was the lies told by Cummings and Johnson about the potential benefit to the NHS. I also think many young people probably didn’t bother to vote although I don’t have the statistics.

Regarding the winter fuel payment, yes we could manage without it and this year we have decided to share the money amongst our family as there are health problems on both sides impacting their income. It is however a lifeline for many pensioners especially those with a limited income and/or health problems. I do expect it will eventually only be paid to those on pension credit and I wouldn’t argue with that decision.

I have never known such a divided society in all of my 80 years and it saddens me very much.

A neighbour of mine in his mid 40's resents the fact I can live alone in my little house and run a small, ancient car. It may have escaped his notice I have not been on holiday for 20 years, rarely if ever go out in the evenings and live a quiet life- the highlight of the week meeting friends for a coffee.

He shares his house with his sister and forgets because she works for TFL in London he also receives free travel and I do not know what other perks.

I worked 40 years for my pension, and have never claimed benefits so I have no qualms about accepting £600 to keep me warm this winter.

Though I agree with what you say Jane43, I doubt many people are interested in prior problems of people older than themselves. Possibly we weren't when we were younger?
They are women with 50yrs NI payments btw, and will be plenty in the future, increasing more rapidly on 6 May 2026 when SPA goes up to 67.

Young people always resent the old and wonder what we did to deserve living. I think they think we were always old and forget, like them we were born, had a childhood, youth and middle age before we reach old age. It helps toremind them that they will go through the same ageing process and one day be as old as us and on pension.

They have no idea what vicissitudes we went through earlier in our lives to reach where we are now.

I was born during the war, lived through bombings V1 and V2s, we live in southe London, rationing, houses without insulation or central heating,

Even excluding all technology, we were far less well off than modern young people, fewer clothes, far less going out, limited food choices and in several flats I lived in in my 20s and when first married we shared the bathroom with other people not living in our accommodation.

I thought the Winter Fuel Allowance had dropped back down again to £100 per person in a 2 person household? I believe the enhanced payment will be paid out automatically to those on pension credits etc.

Of course I stand to be corrected if I’m wrong!

We also had mortgage rates of 12% and over. With no help whatsoever

I try not to have my heating on. However, the problem I’ve had with weevils means that I’m having to run dehumidifiers throughout the day because I think that the wet weather has exacerbated the problem. They’re not going to be cheap to run but I have no choice.

Jane43 There is a similar sentiment on Reddit, younger people using words like ‘selfish’ and ‘greedy’ to describe pensioners, there is a stereotype that we all live in detached four bedroomed homes which we got dirt cheap and are worth millions so we all go on multiple cruises each year. There is no recognition that some male pensioners will have paid NI for 50 years.

Youngs complain about olds, will happen to youngs when they're old --

Ridiculousness.

The best thing to do is to ignore those many Ill informed comments regarding the supposed wealth of all pensioners, living in hugely expensive homes, squirrelling away their inheritance from their parents etc, etc. (Not at all true for so many of us).
I’m not of an age to receive the winter fuel allowance (would have been once, before the goal posts for state retirement pension age were moved), but don’t begrudge those who do receive it.

I fully agree shillyshally, like you I was born in 1949 and began full time work aged 15 - loved it ! Time off bringing up three children ,then back to work. We certainly didn't expect help to raise our family, our children,
our responsibility.

Mumsnet is not typical of society at large, though. If you believe everything on there, the average poster has a household income of £100k with one parent at home, wears designer clothes, sends their children to private school and went to a 'top' university where they got a first. Either it is a very specific demographic or there are a lot of fantasists .

I find some of those threads hurtful, but I don't think they are representative of the feelings of young people as a whole. Also, a lot of MNers are buying houses of their own - do they plan to give them away when the mortgage is paid off? I don't believe that anyone really thinks that people should be made to give up the house they have paid for to make room for a family - there would have to be some sort of communist revolution with housing allocated by the state for that to work, and today's young people would fall foul of that sooner than they expect.

I do think that this generation have a very hard time though, and that having been, on the whole, brought up to expect life to keep getting better, they see things differently than perhaps ours did. House prices are comparatively higher now than 40 years ago, and it is true that in some areas people have 'made' money simply by living in a house they bought relatively cheaply. I know it didn't feel like that at the time, but a lot of families did manage on one salary in the past, whereas nowadays it usually takes two to get by, and the cost of childcare is astronomical. Things must seem unfair to them.

Life chances differ even amongst parents of young children. My sister's children are 10 years older than mine and have similar level jobs, yet they were all able to buy houses much younger than mine have. Their rents were cheaper when they started out, so they could save more, and the houses they started in needed a smaller percentage of their salaries than would be the case to buy the same houses now. In another ten years things may be worse again. There really doesn't seem to be a lot of hope for young people today.

Of course it's not our fault though, and I'm sure that most young people don't think it is.

My late SIL fell out with one of her daughter’s (about 40) for a few weeks as she kept saying our generation had it easy!!

She pointed out to her that we worked right up until our babies were born. We had to pay for nursery places. No free school meals for early years like today. No breakfast or after school clubs.
I personally worked 4 days a week, came home and cooked a meal then went out again to work for Adult Education and got home at 10pm. School uniforms were far more expensive than now, no supermarkets with bargain school stuff.

There were no top ups or tax credits and we only got Child Benefit for first child.

We were never able to afford meals out, holidays abroad, designer clothes, girly spa days, expensive parties for kids, theme parks etc. I hear young Mums talking about all these now and I am amazed that young families can afford all this.

On top of all that we had mortgage interest rate of 17%!!

I wonder if those complaining on the mumsnet thread (which I haven't seen), have also berated their own grandparents face to face about how they should not be given this help.

I wonder how their grandparents responded???