Sorry going to have to disagree the dodgy ex civil servant or bent copper is an outdated stereotype the final salary scheme ceased on 2015 the civil service pension is not the luxury it was once seen as.
I think you miss the point being punished because you invested in your works scheme (at that time not seen a private pension but a works scheme) you still paid your full national insurance and paid tax all your days, but now are banned from winter allowance up here in Scotland is IS colder just a geographical fact, the impact here is harder felt. Older people DO feel the cold more sorry just a medical fact so tho stay warm they need to spend more on energy that does not discriminate same price for all. To be clear am not against the idea of tailoring benefits, but as said before the hard cut off point actually distorts this out of all proportion, if you fall bellow the cut off you get pension credit, housing benefit, council tax support, reduced phone. broad packages etc AND you get the winter allowance. Go over that threshold you get taxed and ZERO benefits no access to reduced phone etc. This has been going on for years now and the idea that UK pensioner are all rich is frankly insulting.
Yes some may be lucky enough to be wealthy but its not a huge amount, the fact that Scottish Labour want to overturn the winter allowance is proof is not fir and just measure in my eyes.
I agree if you are lucky enough to live abroad why should you get something designed to offset the UK weather!
On wider point the way benefit thresh holds are calculated needs to be changed all the benefits and reductions should be taken into account and calculated, likewise household incomes should be calculated against essential out going ie mortgage and council tax that would radically change the outlook. Speaking personally if i was out of work or classed not able to work my expendable income would actually increase!
The system is deeply broken and needs overhauled example a divorced mother can claim at least 20% of ex partners NET income if they have kids, BUT she does not have this included in benefit calculation, so gets paid on top of said benefits, and reductions, if the father wants joint access has to pay full whack for bigger house bigger council tax and so on and ends up worse off for working full time than the mother who does not work.
Yes that an extreme example but its fact, sadly