Winter Fuel Allowance

[emmie]

do you have to apply for it, or does it come automatically. I am now officially retired and have been since late December 2020, i didn't get this last year, so am i eligible this year 2021. I am single, and haven't any idea of how much, if anything to expect. Any thoughts as to when one might receive it? sorry i didn't know what category to put this is in.......

[emmie]

yes it does, we have more and more people of pension age, who live alone, and quite honestly i would rather see them receive a WFP, than not. Ask Minty how cold it gets in her neck of the woods - freezing would be the answer in the winter months. which is what it's for

[emmie]

i know you live in Canada where it gets very very cold and i have been there in September when the nights were freezing. But here we need these payments to stop the elderly from choosing between heating and eating, which sounds strange but does happen. My mum used it for buying her winter coal, as she had a coal fire, lovely in winter time.

[naomi24]

Sanmac, we don’t get the low temperatures that Canada gets but it’s damp here and that’s what causes it to feel so cold. Our friends from Northern Ontario where temperatures fall to minus 30 or more stayed with us one November. The temperature here was about plus 10 or something like that - certainly not freezing - and I had to make her hot water bottles. She was shivering. She said the dampness made it feel so cold.

[emmie]

agree Naomi, its the grey and the damp that gets to people, especially me...

[murraymints]

sanmac ..we get up to 3 feet in snow on a regular basis in Scotland... I have been snowed in for days on end because doors and windows were frozen shut...sub -10 is quite common here in the depth of winter as are icicles over 4 feet dangling from the eaves... which have to be knocked down with brushes in case one gets impaled !!

[barry1010]

When I were a kid our house and most other houses in the area had snow guards on the roof, above the guttering. You just don't see them anymore, murray's post reminded me.
Are they still common in Scotland, murraymints? It's a long time since I saw huge icicles above the front door.

This has made me think. Back in the day houses were very poorly insulated, with little or no loft insulation so I am surprised that the snow stuck to the roof as it did. Then again, the bedrooms were absolutely freezing in the winter, with jack frost on the inside of the windows and the net curtains firmly frozen to the panes.

[naomi24]

I like the crisp, dry cold they get in Canada and other places. It isn't bone-chilling like the cold we get here. Skiing in Switzerland I've had to take my jacket and hat off for being too hot!!

[emmie]

skiing in Austria was the same, cold but crisp and dry....

[barry1010]

Naomi, when I exercise outdoors in the UK winter I often have to take my coat off - exercise warms us up :)

[naomi24]

Indeed - but ours is a different sort of cold, barry.

[emmie]

yes it is, i am somewhat cold indoors, which is rare for me.... its still chucking it down.

[naomi24]

Exactly. It's nowhere near zero degrees and yet it's cold. Our friends in Canada have to go shopping on skidoos in winter. They love it.

[emmie]

sadly even when it snows here in the capital, it rarely lasts for long, turning to mush mostly because it's usually followed by rain.

[1ozzy]

Wet and cold is as bad as wet and hot.
Dry is tolerable, but has its drawbacks.

[pastafreak]

Just reading about the difference in Canadian cold vs British cold. What Naomi said is very true. It's the dampness. I've been here 30+ years, and I still shiver indoors though it may be nowhere near freezing outside. It just permeates everything. In NY there might be frost on your windows but there will also be brilliant sunshine and the air will be very dry.