50 signatures reached
To: Department of Work and Pensions
Option to donate the Winter Fuel Payment to Charity
Rather than just send the Winter Fuel Payment to everyone over 65 give them the option to donate it to a list of charities like Crisis at Christmas, St Martin in the Fields Christmas Appeal or the Salvation Army and many more both national and local.
Why is this important?
Many people over 65 are members of the 'baby boomer' generation retired with good occupational pensions as well as the state pension, often living in warm comfortable houses which they bought on mortgages much cheaper than they are now. They don't need the £100 to keep warm but there are others less fortunate and often much younger who can't even afford to rent a property never mind own one and some of them are sleeping on the streets in the winter cold.
Many retired people, like me, send the money to charity but others never get round to doing it. Many others will just feed it into their frivolous lifestyle without a thought about how it could do more good elsewhere. Perhaps if they were given the option by the DWP to send it to a good cause instead much more of this money could be sent where it could really make a difference. Nudge Theory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_theory) now being used by various government departments could possibly feed millions in this direction.
Even better, since if you give to charity yourself with Gift Aid the government adds another 20%, perhaps they should send £120 for each person who selects the option.
Obviously it will take some time for the government to set this up if we do persuade them; certainly not before the middle of next year. So if you are reading this and you are a pensioner like me who can easily do without the payment, and you haven't already sent it to a good cause, maybe you could send it to a deserving charity too?
