Gautrain's big price cut plan for students, poorer commuters gets 2 000 sign-ups
One month after it launched, only 2 000 people have expressed interest in the Gautrain's KlevaMova product which slashes prices by 50% for groups including students under 25, and pensioners.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
No decision on winter fuel allowance until autumn, minister says
No decision will be taken on the winter fuel allowance until the Autumn budget – dispelling speculation that the government would make an announcement on it at next week's spending review. Sir Keir Starmer last month announced his intention to give more people access to winter fuel payments, just months after Labour decided to means test the previously universal payment. But weeks later, chaotic government messaging had left millions of pensioners with no idea what the changes will look like or when they will be announced. Asked about the changes, Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, told Sky News: 'These issues are going to be dealt with in the run up to the autumn where these decisions are going to be taken and announced. 'But this is a spending review that's going to set the overall spending constraints for government for the next period, the next three years.' Pressed on whether that means no details will be unveiled on winter fuel next week, the technology secretary said: 'I think what you're going to see is the overall spending constraints and allowances for each government department, and then each department is then going to start talking about how it's going to allocate those.' Last week, Rachel Reeves confirmed the expected U-turn on the controversial cuts would be in place for this winter, meaning that the government will be faced with a scramble to get the changes rolled out between the October budget and the winter months. While the chancellor had previously confirmed that they would not set out how the changes would be paid for until the autumn, there was a growing suggestion from the government that details on who the changes would affect could be set out at next week's spending review. The chancellor is expected to unveil a swathe of spending cuts on Wednesday as she attempts to walk the tightrope between delivering on the party's election promises and sticking within the bounds of her self-imposed fiscal rules. Mr Kyle's comments come days after pensions minister Torsten Bell confirmed there was no prospect of returning to a universal winter fuel payment for all, saying that '95 per cent of people agree that it's not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds of pounds to millionaires, and so we're not going to be continuing with that.' Winter fuel payments are a £300 payment to help with energy costs in the colder months. In July, the chancellor announced that pensioners not in receipt of pension credits or other means-tested benefits would no longer receive the benefit. As a result, just 1.5 million pensioners received the payment in winter 2024-25 – a massive drop from the 10.8 million pensioners who received it the year before. The cuts were deeply unpopular because they were seen as being disproportionately damaging to vulnerable people, and were criticised for leaving thousands of poorer pensions who were on the borderline missing out on the payment. In November, it was revealed that the government's own figures indicated it would force 100,000 pensioners into poverty in 2026. The policy was partly blamed for Labour's poor performance at the local elections – which saw them lose two-thirds of the council seats they had in 2021– as well as the previously Labour-held Runcorn and Helsby parliamentary seat to Reform UK. The cuts – combined with the £5bn welfare cuts and the party's decision to keep the two child benefit cap in place – have sparked growing concern over the direction of the government among Labour MPs.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Forcing rich pensioners to pay back winter fuel allowance would be tax ‘nightmare', Reeves warned
Questions have been raised over Rachel Reeves' winter fuel U-turn after it emerged the government plans to reinstate the payments for all pensioners before attempting to claw it back from millions through higher taxes. The chancellor is expected to set out Labour's plans to reverse the controversial policy change at Wednesday's spending review, but fresh questions have been raised over how the government will distribute the payments. Reports suggest Ms Reeves will from this autumn restore the grants, worth up to £300, to the 10 million pensioners who had lost out. But only those in the bottom half of average incomes will keep the payments, with the top half of earners forced to repay the grant through higher tax bills over the course of the year. One option for the threshold at which pensioners are eligible is average household disposable income, currently around £37,000, The Times reported. Such a plan would resemble George Osborne's high income child benefit charge, which sees 1 per cent of total child benefit received taxed for every £100 earned over £60,000. It means that, over whatever threshold Ms Reeves sets for the payments, an amount will be clawed back from those on higher incomes. The plans could cost around £700 million, with the chancellor vowing to set out her plans to pay for the change at her autumn Budget. Dennis Reed, of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said the plans 'would be an administrative nightmare and would be likely to draw in many more pensioners into the tax system'. He told The Independent: 'The most cost effective solution is to restore the universal benefit and maybe fiddle around with the higher tax threshold in due course to target 'the millionaires'.' Mr Reed accused the government of 'casting around for ways to show it has not made a complete U-turn while gaining the political credit for doing so'. It comes after pensions minister Torsten Bell said there is no prospect of the winter fuel allowance being restored universally. He said: 'The principle I think most people, 95 per cent of people, agree, that it's not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds of pounds to millionaires, and so we're not going to be continuing with that.' Sir Keir Starmer last month announced his intention to give more people access to winter fuel payments, just months after Labour made the previously universal payment means-tested in one of its first acts after taking office. Speaking in Manchester on Wednesday, Ms Reeves said: 'I had to make decisions last year to restore sound public finances, and that involved a number of difficult decisions around welfare, taxation and also public spending, including the decision to means-test winter fuel payments so only the poorest pensioners, those on pension credit, got it. 'But we have now put our public finances on a firmer footing. The economy is in a better shape, but we have also listened to the concerns that people had about the level of the means-test. 'So we will be making changes to that. They will be in place so that pensioners are paid this coming winter, and we'll announce the details of that and the level of that as soon as we possibly can.' The Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions have been asked to comment.
News24
5 hours ago
- News24
Gautrain's big price cut plan for students, poorer commuters gets 2 000 sign-ups
One month after it launched, only 2 000 people have expressed interest in the Gautrain's KlevaMova product which slashes prices by 50% for groups including students under 25, and pensioners.
