Moray pensioners ‘just £3’ above cut-off will lose £300 Winter Fuel Payment as Moray Council protests cut

A local council has voted to protest Winter Fuel Payment cuts in letters to Westminster and Holyrood governments.

As a result, Moray Council is now set to push both governments to reverse a decision to make the £300 benefit means-tested which, it warns, will have “severe and detrimental” effects.

A full council meeting today heard that Moray’s cold climate and high rural cost-of-living means local pensioners will suffer more than those elsewhere.

Councillor Sonya Warren (Buckie, SNP), who proposed an initial motion to send a letter only to the UK government, warned that the cut “spells disaster” for Moray’s elderly population, Moray Council and NHS services.

Living in remote rural areas can cost between 10 and 40 per cent more than other areas, the Buckie councillor said, meaning the decision comes at a time where fuel poverty is already high.

She added that “at least 63” Moray pensioners are set to lose a £300 winter fuel payment for having an income just £3 above the cut-off.

“Please don't forget that there is a direct correlation between cold homes and excess winter deaths,” she added.

“£300 may not seem a lot to some of you.

“However, if you're already counting every penny every day, to find £300 in a matter of weeks is exceedingly challenging and stressful.

“It spells disaster for a significant number of our pensioners in Moray and consequently Moray Council and the NHS services locally.”

Councillors voted 15 to 9 for a Conservative amendment proposed by Council Leader Councillor Kathleen Robertson (Forres) and seconded by Amber Dunbar (Elgin City North).

As a result, Cllr Robertson will write to both the Cabinet Secretary for Finance at Holyrood and the Chancellor of the Exchequer at Westminster in a letter to be co-signed by Moray’s “older people’s champions”.

The council leader thanked Cllr Warren for bringing forward the motion, but said she was “extremely disappointed” that the Scottish Government passed on the cut.

She argued this was “in stark contrast” to the SNP’s approach to policies like free prescriptions, free university tuition, free bus travel of under-22s.

“Fuel poverty is particularly poignant to our residents in Moray and we cannot allow them to have a choice between heat and heat,” she added.

However, new SNP group leader Councillor Scott Lawrence (Forres) said a lack of funding meant the Scottish Government had been left with no option but to pass on the cuts.

He argued that the Scottish Government “did not make the decision” to introduce the means test, but instead “refused the offer of devolution of powers”.

Continuing universal Winter Fuel Payments would have a price tag of £180 million, Cllr Lawrence added, but Holyrood would only receive £80 million of funding to do so.

“This would leave the Scottish Government having to find £100 million from somewhere,” he added.

“I have spent a great deal of time in this chamber listening to other members raise points about Scottish Government policy and then the following decisions that this council has to make and those decisions not being fully funded.

“If we're going to be consistent on that opinion - that when powers are passed down that they should be done so in a fully funded way - that should also apply to the devolution of powers from Westminster to the Scottish Government.”

Cllr Lawrence also warned that the wording of the Conservative amendment could impact the “future funding of this council” if Holyrood tried to find the necessary cash by cutting local government funding.