Call for winter fuel help

This follows the decision by the Labour UK Government to means test pensioners for winter fuel allowance.

The plea came at a special  meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council on Thursday, October 24 when councillors were looking at the draft annual self-assessment and wellbeing report for 2023/2024.

The self-assessment  document explains how a council is performing against a set of goals that it has given itself in a corporate plan.

Publishing the self-assessment is an annual legal requirement for local authorities in Wales.

The report contains details of the make-up of Blaenau Gwent’s population which comes from the Census 2021 figures.

These were brought up at the meeting by Councillor John Hill of the opposition Independent group and show that Blaenau Gwent population has fallen by 4.2 per cent during the previous decade.

They also show that the number of people aged 65 years and over had gone up by nine per cent.

Councillor Hill said:  “The (UK) Government has decided to take away the winter fuel allowance from older people.”

“Whether you think that’s right or wrong, there are some that can and some that can’t afford it.

“My worry is the people in the middle and particularly the proud people that don’t ask for anything and have worked all their lives and contributed to the system.

“There are some of those that should be getting pension credit but are not claiming it.

“What is the council doing to find these people.

“How are we guiding them to claim pension credits.”

Council leader Labour’s Councillor Steve Thomas said: “Clearly we need to make sure that people who can get the benefit, actually do.

“We are reconstituting the cost of living crisis work group and we’ll make that one of the agenda items so that we can work out the best way to identify those people.”

Cabinet member for Social Services, Labour’s Councillor Haydn Trollope tried to “allay” some fears by saying that staff at community hubs and libraries have already been passing on information to people in a bid to help them to understand their benefit entitlements.

Councillor Trollope said: “I think our officers are doing all they can, and I will be also pushing this from the Social Services side as well.”

Non-aligned Independent, Councillor George Humphreys said: “Our staff in the hubs and libraries are a godsend, the information they are relaying and the help and support they are giving goes above and beyond.”

The deadline to make claims for pension credit is December 21 – which would see people qualify for winter fuel payment.

Councillors agreed the report.