Government blasted in Reading for winter fuel payment cuts

Since taking power this summer, the Labour government has devised budgetary measures to reduce spending after finding a £22 billion gap in finances.

One of those measures is cutting the winter fuel payment to help with energy bills of £200 or £300, which was paid to all pensioners, no matter their personal finances. 

But that changed after the passage of the Budget Responsibility Act in September, applying only to those claiming pension credit and other means-tested benefits.

The cut has been slammed in Reading as more than 10,627 pensioners are set to lose the payments.

Councillor Isobel Ballsdon (Conservative, Caversham Heights) introduced a motion at a full meeting of Reading Borough Council, calling on the administration to run an awareness campaign and write to Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves to review the cuts.

She said: "None of us got elected to see low-income pensioners become vulnerable pensioners forced to choose between heating and eating this winter.

"My Conservative colleagues and I certainly did not.

"Yet the Labour government has actively chosen to make some of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society poorer.

"We know the consequences of pensioner poverty are devastating as people age, their health is impacted. Being cold worsens many conditions commonly suffered from, such as arthritis and respiratory illnesses.

"Being cold can even be a matter of life and death."

But cllr Ballsdon's motion was changed in an amendment made by Paul Gittings, lead councillor for adult social care.

Introducing the amendment, cllr Gittings (Labour, Coley) said: "Obviously it's extremely topical, but it does give us an opportunity to put forward the strong counter-arguments.

"We are trying to target those most in need and we will do that."

While he thanked cllr Ballsdon for the motion, he did take a jab at the Conservatives for featuring 'well-heeled people' in a recent campaign advert, pointing out the first man featured was wearing a gold Rolex watch.

Continuing, cllr Gittings said:  "We all know that this is a difficult decision for the government. Difficult decisions certainly are not new.

"We've been having to make them with our council budgets for the past 14 years, thanks to the damaging austerity that has been imposed on us by successive Tory governments.

"It was the last Labour government that introduced the winter fuel allowance in 1997 as part of a range of measures that lifted a million pensioners out of property.

"That's a proud record."

Paul Gittings (Labour, Coley), lead councillor for adult social care at the full Reading Borough Council meeting on Tuesday, October 15. (Image: Reading Borough Council)

The amendment removed the request for cllr Liz Terry (Labour, Coley), the council leader to write to the chancellor calling for a review, and acknowledged the work the council has already done in writing to 175 households that staff believe are eligible for Pension Credit but are not claiming.

Additionally, the amendment noted that 1,100 pensioners will receive £200 from the council's household support fund this winter.

Cllr James Moore (Liberal Democrats, Tilehurst) expressed disappointment that the motion was amended.

While he agreed that winter fuel payments should be reviewed, he argued the eligibility cuts Labour have made 'too far and too deep'.

He added that Age UK is currently campaigning for the fuel payment cuts to be reversed.

Meanwhile, cllr Dave McElroy (Green, Redlands) called the amendment "toothless' and the fuel payment cuts "rotten".

Making another plea, cllr Ballsdon said: "We want everyone to keep up the pressure on the government to change this terrible policy."

The amended motion was passed, with all Labour councillors supporting it and all Conservative, Green and Liberal Democrat councillors present voting against it at the meeting on Tuesday, October 15.