widow allowance
Posted by: toot
17th Mar 2010 05:00pm
I am in receipt of the widow allowance, still have a mortgage and am tired of politicians saying it is an adequate income to live on while looking for work.
You see what I get (and thousands of other women in Australia) do NOT get is a pension and as you have to be over 54, not worked for at least ten years prior to becoming a widow and a pile of other criteria(which I have no objection to)and it is around $200 a fortnight below the adult single age pension.
I think the widow allowance should be changed to a pension with the amount equal to the age pension , what do others think?
Help Caféstudy members by responding to their questions, or ask your own in Café Chat, and you will get the chance of earning extra rewards. Caféstudy will match these and donate equally to our two chosen Australian charities.
Comments 20
chookybo
The government has a lot to answer for making widows seek employment. It is bad enough losing a loved one but to say that a widow's allowance will not be given unless one gets work is sometimes the last straw to a grieving person. Anyway, the widow's allowance is a pittance.
brumar
I absolutely agree that a widow pension should be available irrespective of age.
mistymae53
I would like to express my sincere empathy with your situation. Living on the money you receive is not possible, and now people are expected to work until they are 67 (I hope this information is correct). It's a long, hard haul, and politicians can say what they like, even with the best of qualifications, it is hard to get work when you are older, let alone maintain it. I am very sorry to hear that your are struggling emotionally and financially, it's not fair! Try to keep your chin up, I hope things pick up!
stressless
I whole heartedly agree. I have, sadly, just found myself in this position as my partner passed away on rememberance day. I am 53 years old and ineligible for any benefit other than newstart. Luckily we had managed to pay off our home, however the meagre $440 per fortnight I am entitled to although being adequate to buy my food and feed our pets will leave nothing for paying bills or buying gifts for those I love. I believe that I will also be no longer entitled to any concessions other than a health care card...not much point in that, I won't be seeing a doctor, will not be able to pay for medicines!
It makes me angry because I worked for 14 years then commenced raising a family. I must have done something right, as five out of five children(now adults) have full time jobs, great attitudes and comparatively high moral standards. When my marriage failed I was not only a sole parent to three children but continued to improve my own education. I then met the man I was to share the last 18 years with.
You can not help whom you fall in love with. My partner was chronically ill but as time went by we seemed to forget. So for the last 18 years I have been a full time carer, full time mother and hands on grandmother (assisting my children with childcare so as they can pursue their own careers). Now all this is taken from me by a bureacracy who neither seem to know or care. I feel cheated as I feel I have sacrificed(willingly, it was the right thing to do at the time) my entire life in the support of others and now that I need the support, there is nothing.
I am expected to fulfil job search and volunteer requirements, yet live in a rural area where it is unlikely to find either. I have enough woes and worries on my shoulders at the moment and really shouldn't be making any decisions for at least 12 months. Yet the powers that be seem to be trying to force my hand.
Reinstate the widows pension for those over 50....and concentrate the work finding ethic on the many entire families that have not one contributing member.....Well that's what I think!
Gypsy
I would be thinking you already receive the same amount as others looking for work, unemployed and single. Why would you think you are better than a person that's also unemployed, trust me the money received is not incentive to be on the dole.
A single person looking for work receives $460 a fortnight approx, if they pay rent privately they also receive extra for rent assistance, but this amount hardly pays for anything, I can't see how they pay electricity, or water, or buying food in general, without the help of receiving vouchers or a bit of free food.
I would think as you are on the windows allowance a few years ago when the government messed up the payments for divorcees, seperated or similar, you would also had been recieving FTB, and classified as a widow, whereas single unemployed people do not get this, as you now know.
Maybe you might think about doing a course, you would receive extra for this, volunteer go to the guidedogs, they are always looking for walkers, they pay for all the food and vet bills, and you get fit, just a suggestion, you don't just have to work, ask centrelink staff about it.
I do not agree the window allowance to receive the pension just because you now do not have dependants, you know when you are 64 what ever the age is now, you will be receiving that difference. Sorry but there are lots of us also doing it hard.
Maybe think about this, in a way you are luckier than some, as you are paying your house off, some, like myself do not even have a place to call home. That's the truth!
Please I am not having a go, I just don't understand why you believe you deserve this more than others that are unemployed just because you were able to have children.
3lions
Hi Toot,
Firstly, I am sorry you are on the widow allowance....as well as having to deal with one's grief, then you are confronted with the position you find your self in now.
I totally agree, you should if widowed, be entitled to the Adult Pension.
We can only hope in time this rule is ammended, and there is no time like the present, with the state of the country, or lack of.
p.s. three cheers for bob, the independant from nth queensland, what a breath of fresh air!
All the best to you toot :)
Lise
mermaid
And in addition to what your already doing seek likeminded people in and outside of your community who encounter the same and build a support group. Take your extensive knowledge and hard efforts to your local councillor and seek their support to have your say in government.
It is achievable and I look forward to hearing how you go.
castiger
PS: I should also add that during those 20+ years of caring for my husband I also raised our three children & almost all of that time I also held down part-time jobs & paid taxes! So tell me why I should not be entitled to a little genuine help now?!
toot
castiger, whilst my late husband and I did not have children, I too worked. I worked full time and often had to take all of my leave entitlements to look after hime each time he was crook. The bit of super I had I took when I quit work in 1994 to deal with our idiot builder as the stress of it all and over work put my husband into hospital several times was used to buy a new car as the one we had at the time was no good..
I am not afraid of admitting we made mistakes with our money when he was alive and I have made mistakes with money since I have been on my own .
Even so that should not be a case for making a person continually live in poverty because the politicians live in la la land and do not have a clue what it is like to live on a pittance like the widow allowance.
castiger
I too was given a Widow's Allowance when my husband passed away 2 years ago, after I had been his carer for over 20 years. I'd reckon that I would have saved the Government thousands upon thousands of dollars over those years by taking care of my husband myself at home & the thanks I got was this piddly little allowance. I ended up having to sell my home of 16 years as I couldn't keep up the mortgage. Heartbreaking but necessary.
I also notice that you alluded to not having to look for work - may be true for you but here's what happened to me - I already had a small job as an Avon lady (a job I could do while still looking after my husband) & before I could sell my house & to prevent the bank taking it I also took on a 2nd part-time job as a Carer for a Respite Company. When I finally sold my house 14 months later & was able to give up my 2nd job & thus my 60-70 hour weeks they figured out within 4 weeks (2 pays) that I was no longer earning the good money & rang me to say - "We realise that technically you do not have to work but when are you going to be getting another job?" I have NOT gotten another job as my health went to hell doing those long, long hours & have just stayed with my Avon, which means that now instead of losing most of my allowance I now lose a few dollars a fortnight off my allowance. Makes living tough but at least my health has improved. Recently I was to travel to Sydney (I live up near the Qld border) for a funeral & went into Centrelink to ask for a free rail pass & was told that because my last few pays had dropped by $2 - $3 due to my income I was not allowed one. As I could no way afford full or even slightly reduced rail costs I was unable to attend by brother-in-law's funeral! How mean-spirited do you call that?!
These mongrels SHOULD be forced to live for a few months or a year on the pittance they hand out to women who have fallen on hard times not through anything they have done themselves but through the devastating loss of a loved one - a double kick in the face - & see just how easy it is!
castiger
Hi Mistymae
Thank you so much for your kind thoughts. Well, it's over three years now since I lost my beloved husband & I am still just about getting by. I only have 3 fortnights out of every 6 where I have to survive with a $50 shopping! These are the times when my rates, my electricity bill & my Body Corporate Fees on my unit are due. Those fortnights are pretty tough but I'm hanging in there still - what else can you do?!?! Hard as my life is at present it's still better than the alternative! :-)
mistymae53
I know what it's like to be a long term carer, and when that role ends, to be expected to look for work. It's a joke. It's hard work, 24/7 hours, no time at all for rejuvenation, then your role ends, but you are tired and burnt out. My heart goes out to you, the money you have saved the government in your caring role over the years is unbelievable, but not taken into consideration when you need help. I do relate to your situation, you have my empathy, and though I am sure you do not want sympathy, I must say that I do sympathize with the situation you find yourself in, it's cruel, and mean spirited, in my opinion.
3lions
Hi Castiger,
You're most welcome, I am pleased to hear it made you smile at least, which as you said to keep on smiling, so make sure you do too
If only society was made up of more people like your self, be a much more lovely place!
Take Care of yourself
Lise :)
castiger
Hi Lise
Thank you so much for your kind thoughts! You can have no idea how much they mean to me, brought me to tears!
I'm hanging in there, though still doing it damn tough with around every 3rd pay only being able to buy bread, milk, cereal & cat food (for my 2 dear OLD cats) but I try to stock up on other stuff on the in between pays & am managing mostly. It's just those odd darn UN-EXPECTED bills that get you, haha!
I console myself that in another 4 1/2 years I should be able to step up to an Aged Pension (if they don't up the age again that is) which at least is around $700 a fortnight - about a $200 a fortnight increase, woohoo!! Now if I just don't do something stupid like starve to death before then I'll be sweet, haha!
Seriously, thanks again Lise, you made my day! Keep on smiling - it makes people wonder what you've been up to!
:-)
3lions
I have just finished reading your story castiger, twice! As I could not believe what you have been through...What a disgrace to do that to you, as you said after caring for your poor husband, I just think that stinks! It is almost beyond words! Very Very unAustralian :(
My heart goes out to you castiger :) You are a diamond!
Lise
sanspeur
Absolutely agree. What justification can there be to give a reduced pension after putting people through ridiculous hoops to get one? Governments (whether left or right wing) are mean-spirited to the poor, and generous to corporate fatcats. Focus on tax evasion by the wealthy? Pigs might fly!
toot
Sanspeur you are right about making the relevant authorities live the same as those they cover for a period of six months.
I think all of us "filthy radicals" have to keep writing to the papers, the electronic media as that is the only hope of getting things changed.
We need to also remind the politicians that if they do not start listening and taking proper action then we will remember that at the ballot box.
toot
Sanspeur you are right about making the relevant authorities live the same as those they cover for a period of six months.
I think all of us "filthy radicals" have to keep writing to the papers, the electronic media as that is the only hope of getting things changed.
We need to also remind the politicians that if they do not start listening and taking proper action then we will remember that at the ballot box.
sanspeur
toot, good luck, but seems that really is a vain hope in the prevailing climate of meanspiritedness. There would be winds of change, however, if all politicians had to live on the dole for 6 months, all judges had to spend 6 months in jail, all psychiatrists be injected with psychotropic drugs etc etc. But who'll listen to a filthy radical like me?
toot
sanspeur, that is the major problem though what us widows get since 1997 and under the tightened rules of 2005 is only an allowance , it is NOT a pension.
What we get is the Newstart(that is unemployment benefit) with slightly altered rules in regard to looking for work.
That is why I keep writing to all the media and to politicians in the vain hope of getting it changed to a pension