Campaign calls for Winter Fuel Payments to be donated
Well-off pensioners urged to donate their Winter Fuel Payments to the Surviving Winter campaign.
This year’s Surviving Winter appeal, which encourages pensioners who are comfortable financially to donate their Winter Fuel Payments to the vulnerable, has launched.
Last year the campaign raised £1.46 million and helped 23,000 people. It has now expanded and is accepting donations from all ages – not just pensioners who don’t need the Winter Fuel Payment.
UK Community Foundations, the organisation behind the Surviving Winter campaign, highlighted figures from the Office for National Statistics that suggest 30,000 more people in England and Wales died in the winter months as a result of cold conditions, up by 29% on previous years. As Stephen Hammersley, chief executive of UK Community Foundations, said: "People are quite simply dying of the cold in this country."
What is the Winter Fuel Payment?
The Winter Fuel Payment is a tax-free payment of between £100 and £300 which is given to those born on or before 5th July 1952. It is designed to help older people cover the increased cost of their heating bills during the winter months.
Most payments are made automatically between November and December, so that you receive the money in time for Christmas. The money you receive doesn’t affect your right to claim other benefits.
Where does the donated money go?
Donations cover everything from individual bursaries for fuel bills and hot water bottles to boiler repairs and even lunch clubs for older people.
How do I donate?
There are 36 community foundations taking part in the Surviving Winter campaign. You can find the list on this section of the UK Community Foundations website and donate to your local campaign. Alternatively, you can donate to the central campaign, and your money will be distributed evenly to all of the foundations.
What do you think? Will you be donating your Winter Fuel Payment this year? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments box below.
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Comments
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We've all got to die sometime and to me its common sense that more people die in the winter months. Where is the evidence that this is down to people dying from the cold? A recent report from the International Longevity Centre - reported on by Lovemoney - showed that people in the UK were the least likely in the EU to live in a cold home. And who says that that excess who died didn't have enough money to heat their home? There's a lot of codswallop spoken in this country about how impoverished the poor are in the UK. They should try some of the eastern European countries to see what poverty really looks like.
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It is the falsity and hypocrisy of the whole scheme that I find annoying. It is the government who is responsible for the high energy bills which have doubled in a few short years. It is the government who imposed surcharges on bills and forced energy companies to collect those taxes on the government's behalf. Fancy! Private companies being forced to collect taxes! The government wanted to conceal the fact that they were raising taxes to pay for all the useless wind turbines they were erecting. It is an injustice that the tax has to be paid by everybody regardless of their income. The elderly with low incomes would normally escape taxes but they are caught in the trap with this one. Any campaign should be mounted against the government and should not be seeking charitable support.
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It would be nice to know what level of income a pensioner should have to be deemed 'well-off' and 'comfortable financially'. These articles never mention that.
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26 November 2014