Local councillors call for pause on winter fuel means testing

Powys councillors will ask UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves MP, to “pause” the means testing of pensioners for winter fuel payments.

Ms Reeves will also be asked to consider a fairer way of deciding eligibility other than linking it to receipt of pension credits.

The motion on winter fuel payments was hotly debated by Powys councillors at a council meeting on Thursday, October 3.

The final version of the motion was a compromise with most of it being amendments put forward by deputy council leader, Labour’s Cllr Matthew Dorrance, which took the place of the original text.

But the first part of the Liberal Democrat/Conservative motion was kept.

The original motion had also asked all council group leaders to sign a letter asking Ms Reeves to suspend and review the decision so that pensioners all across the UK get the “support they need.”

The final part of the original motion was to ask the council to mount a “comprehensive awareness campaign” to make sure all pensioners in Powys understand and are “informed” of the support they can get.

The proposal had been put forward by Liberal Democrat Cllr Glyn Preston and seconded by Conservative Cllr Iain McIntosh.

Cllr Preston said: “Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives put forward a motion on the winter fuel allowance.

“We decided it would be better for us to work together on a common motion on this issue.

“An unholy alliance it might be, but cross party working is a good thing.”

He explained that Powys has a large elderly population, and many are “not well off” and many live in homes that cost a “huge amount” to heat.

Figures in the motion say that 31,148 pensioners in Powys will be affected by the change.

Cllr Preston added that Powys has the second highest annual costs to heat a home in the UK.

Cllr Preston said: “I have been contacted by numerous residents since the UK Goverment announcement whose income is just above the pension credit threshold, they would not be considered to be well off but are set to miss out.

“There are many who are already fearful of having to choose between heating and eating.”

“The Labour government has got this badly wrong.”

Conservative group leader Cllr Aled Davies told councillors that he had already asked a “couple of months ago” for council leader Liberal Democrat Cll James Gibson-Watt and deputy leader Labour’s Cllr Matthew Dorrance to “make representations“ to the UK Government about the impact taking the allowance away would have on Powys residents

Cllr Davies hoped that the council’s finance team would help “inform” the letter to the chancellor with the: “detail behind our case here.”

Cllr Dorrance put forward his changes to the motion and pointed out the Labour government had inherited a £22 billion financial black hole.

Cllr Dorrance said: “Unless the UK Government stabilises the economy we will be forced to make these decisions.”

“The previous UK government made commitments they could not pay for.

“That’s why we’ve arrived where we are, and it’s disappointing that colleagues around the chamber pretend that’s not the reality.”

The amendment was seconded by finance portfolio holder Labour’s Cllr David Thomas.

Conservative Cllr Pete Lewington pointed out that the UK Labour Government: “has choices.”

He claimed that agreeing “inflation busting” pay rises to keep Labour’s “union masters” happy had contributed over half of the: “so called black hole.”

Opposition councillors also questioned whether Cllr Dorrance’s amendment could be put forward as they said it represented more than a “minor amendment.”

Head of legal services and monitoring officer Clive Pinney advised that the changes could be made.

After receiving the legal advice, council chairman, Cllr Jonathan Wilkinson was happy to allow the motion with changes to go to a vote.

The vote on the amendment was agreed with 49 councillors voting in favour and 11 voting against it.

The amended motion took the place of the original and was agreed with 57 councillors voting for it, one councillor voted against and one abstained.

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service