Post by northwestman on Dec 17, 2022 19:07:21 GMT 1
inews.co.uk/opinion/the-10-christmas-bonus-for-pensioners-is-an-insult-that-helps-neither-the-poor-nor-the-rich-2034103
This month, if you’re a pensioner or on certain benefits, you may notice on your letter from the Government an extra payment marked “DWP XB”. You could be forgiven for missing it, not just because of the obscure terminology but because the sum is so small: £10.
This is the “Christmas bonus” sent out by the Department for Work and Pensions to all those on a state pension or other key welfare payments, including disability living allowance and carer’s allowance.
For many suffering the current cost of living crisis, with bills of all kinds still soaring, that extra tenner is a gift barely worth giving.
When it was first introduced back in 1972 by the Ted Heath government, the “bonus” was a healthy addition to a household income. The £10 payment was designed to pay for a full family turkey dinner and given prices in those days, it went a long way.
Yet the bonus has remained frozen ever since. What was a valuable festive top-up in the 1970s now looks to many like an insult or a sick joke. If it had been uprated in line with inflation, the “Christmas bonus” would be worth £108 today. Just imagine how welcome that would be this winter.
There are other similarly antiquated anomalies in the benefit system too. Those who get to the grand old age of 80 years old are given an extra - wait for it - 25p a week on top of their state pension in recognition of this milestone.
This is another relic of the Heath era, introduced in 1971 for perfectly well-intentioned reasons and during price levels that made it meaningful.
Back then, 25p a week was a 4 per cent top-up to the £6 a week pension. If it had been uprated in line with inflation, the over-80s would be getting not 25p a week today but £2.90 a week extra. Over a year that would be a healthy £150.
Governments of all stripes have shied away from uprating both the Christmas “bonus” and the over-80 payment, but both are being so overtaken by inflation that now look increasingly ridiculous. Not so much “perks” as pointless.
This month, if you’re a pensioner or on certain benefits, you may notice on your letter from the Government an extra payment marked “DWP XB”. You could be forgiven for missing it, not just because of the obscure terminology but because the sum is so small: £10.
This is the “Christmas bonus” sent out by the Department for Work and Pensions to all those on a state pension or other key welfare payments, including disability living allowance and carer’s allowance.
For many suffering the current cost of living crisis, with bills of all kinds still soaring, that extra tenner is a gift barely worth giving.
When it was first introduced back in 1972 by the Ted Heath government, the “bonus” was a healthy addition to a household income. The £10 payment was designed to pay for a full family turkey dinner and given prices in those days, it went a long way.
Yet the bonus has remained frozen ever since. What was a valuable festive top-up in the 1970s now looks to many like an insult or a sick joke. If it had been uprated in line with inflation, the “Christmas bonus” would be worth £108 today. Just imagine how welcome that would be this winter.
There are other similarly antiquated anomalies in the benefit system too. Those who get to the grand old age of 80 years old are given an extra - wait for it - 25p a week on top of their state pension in recognition of this milestone.
This is another relic of the Heath era, introduced in 1971 for perfectly well-intentioned reasons and during price levels that made it meaningful.
Back then, 25p a week was a 4 per cent top-up to the £6 a week pension. If it had been uprated in line with inflation, the over-80s would be getting not 25p a week today but £2.90 a week extra. Over a year that would be a healthy £150.
Governments of all stripes have shied away from uprating both the Christmas “bonus” and the over-80 payment, but both are being so overtaken by inflation that now look increasingly ridiculous. Not so much “perks” as pointless.
