e-mail Paul Lewis on paul@deadline.demon.co.uk
Liverpool City Council has decided to take £1.3 million off around 1500 war pensioners and widows living within its boundaries. On average they will lose just under £17 a week each but some will lose much more. The losses will be borne by people who were injured in the armed forces, many of them fighting in World War Two.
This change of heart is the first reversal for Saga Magazine's prize-winning campaign for fair treatment for war pensioners and widows. We labelled councils Good, Bad or Ugly according to how they treated war pensioners and widows. As a result, many have changed their policy to become Good. Liverpool is the first to go the other way. Liverpool council leader Frank Prendergast told Saga Magazine he blamed the Government.
"There's nothing fair about what's being done because whatever we do will affect someone somewhere. But the real unfairness is the Government agreeing this sort of legislation without providing the money. This year we have had to cut £44 million. This change saves about £1.3 million of that. If we'd have had an alternative that didn‘t result in job losses or cuts in services we'd have taken it. Yes, we could have made people redundant and taken whole wages off families, often single earners. You ask me how these war pensioners are going to manage. How would a family manage if we made the single earner redundant?"
Before the change Liverpool did not count war pensions as income when it came to work out entitlement to help with rent or council tax. Now, it will count the whole of the pension, except the first £10, as income reducing the help with rent and council tax paid to 1500 war pensioners.
It will have a devastating effect. Tom Hughes works for SSAFA in the city.
"We've had a lot coming in, some of them in tears. One bloke will lose £69 another £47. And this is the council with the highest council tax in England as it is - you can pay £44 a month for a one-bedroom flat in council tax. They're having to go begging."
Joe Connor will lose a modest amount, around £10 a week, but he is still annoyed.
"It's quite a lot. I only live on that and a small works pension. I can't hear anything in the left ear. I was in the Royal Engineers right through the war and then we were clearing mines on the beaches afterwards. There were a lot of explosions."
But councillor Prendergast was unrepentant. When asked about the allowances councillors pay themselves he said
"It's only £24 a day. We've got chemists, barristers, all sorts on the council. That's not a reflection of what they lose. Would you work for £24 a day?"
Another council, Anglesey in North Wales, also tried to end the help it gave to war pensioners. One of the first decisions of the new council was to follow nearby Liverpool to save an estimated £80,000 a year. But a combined assault by local war pensioners led to a swift reversal. The council has now said it will ignore war pensions once more.
Successes
Elsewhere Saga's campaign to make local councils treat war pensioners fairly has achieved more successes.
Bexley council in London has moved from the list of bad councils to become one of the good majority. In February we reported that Bexley had decided not to change its policy of counting all but £20 of war disablement and war widow's pensions when it worked out entitlement to help with rent or council tax. But councillors had a change of heart and Saga seems to have been responsible. Councillor Donna Bryant, chairman of the Policy and Resources committee said
"Agreeing spending priorities is always difficult. I hope that everyone would agree with me that this small group of people have a very special case. In a recent report we were included as one of the mean and nasty boroughs. This decision puts us in the thoughtful and caring category."
Gosport in Hampshire has also had a recent change of heart and will now ignore war pensions completely when assessing housing benefit and council tax benefit. Gosport has a high proportion of ex-service people in its population and it followed the Liverpool route three years ago to save money. Now councillors have done a U-turn and will let war pensioners keep all their war pensions on top of any help with rent or council tax. They may also pay compensation for the last three years if the budget can afford it.
Altogether, ten of our original list of the thirty worst councils have changed their policies. Seven went straight into the list of good councils, another will join them next year, and two others moved towards the good list, more than doubling the amount of war pension they ignored. That leaves 20 of our original list of ugly councils plus of course newcomer Liverpool.
July 1996
e-mail Paul Lewis on paul@deadline.demon.co.uk