Guildford Borough Council to campaign against cuts to winter fuel allowance and council tax discounts

Councillors at Guildford Borough Council have backed a Liberal Democrat motion asking the council to oppose proposals by the Labour government to abolish the winter fuel allowance for most pensioners and to potentially scrap the 25% discount on council tax for single adult households.

A motion calling on the council to take a stand on the issue was proposed by the Liberal Democrat group and was passed overwhelmingly by councillors on a cross-party basis. The motion was proposed by Lib Dem councillor Merel Rehorst-Smith who warned that the removal of the winter fuel allowance from all but 1,500 pensioners in Guildford, would force many on low incomes to choose between heating and eating this winter, and said that while the Liberal Democrats agreed that the government had to make difficult financial decisions and that the winter fuel allowance shouldn’t be paid to people who didn’t need it, the way in which it was being removed by the government would hurt many people who were already struggling with the cost of living crisis and high energy bills.

The Lib Dem motion also warned about rumoured government plans to scrap the single person council tax discount, saying that the council should be “concerned that any withdrawal, or reduction, in the rate of the single person council tax discount would result in a large and punitive tax rise for many of those least able to afford it, including groups such as young adults, single and widowed parents, lone pensioners, and carers of disabled people, many of whom are already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis”.

In the debate Lib Dem councillor Catherine Houston spoke about a resident she had recently met whose wife had recently passed away and who needed to run a dehumidifier all day during the colder months due to health problems and was worrying about the impact of losing the winter fuel allowance, and who would struggle even more if he was hit with a several hundred pound council tax rise.

Another Lib Dem councillor, Fiona White pointed out that the threshold for receiving the winter fuel allowance was so low that a single pensioner living on just £218.30 a week would no longer be able to receive it, and challenged councillors to imagine how they could try to get by on such a low income.

As a result of the motion being passed the council has now agreed to:

• Instruct the Chief Executive to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer asking her to pause the removal of the winter fuel allowance and to rule out any cuts to the single person council tax discount
• Call upon local MPs covering Guildford borough to support the council’s campaign to halt changes to the winter fuel payment scheme and to resist any attempt to remove the single person’s council tax discount. 
• Sign the ‘Save the Winter Fuel Payment for Struggling Pensioners’ petition being run by Age UK
• Promote the uptake of Pension Credit and other under-claimed benefits through council services

Note to editor: 

The text of the motion can be found here: https://democracy.guildford.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=15497

The Age UK Petition can be found here: Save the Winter Fuel Payment petition! | Campaigns | Age UK