DEVON PENSIONERS? ACTION FORUM
Report on
AGM & April 2006 Newsletter
I should like to thank those of you
who attended the AGM, whilst
understanding that a number do have
difficulty in getting to such
things, but know you are there in
spirit. We had a turn out of 72 and
the representation was from all over
the area.
Chairman?s Report The
Chairman?s Report as circulated was
accepted after the following points
were made in addition.
Mr
Venison had gone to John Prescott?s
office along with Christine Melsom
from Isitfair on Friday31st March to
hand in personal council tax bills.
After some pressing on our part we
were told that all the mail received
had to be scanned before delivery
and that this was the cause of any
delay. We were assured that as much
as possible would be there that
afternoon and that all letters would
be acknowledged.
See
the message from Christine,
enclosed.
The confusion over the free bus pass
had caused controversy all over the
country and in some areas people
were asking to keep the old system.
All complaints over EDDC that had
been made to me had been passed on
to the National Pensioners?
Convention, who are collating the
information before trying to arrange
a meeting with the Transport
Minister. Any information received
will be passed on.
Alan Cayley?s visit to Newton Abbot
Magistrates court had resulted in
the usual expression of sympathy,
but a liability order was still
issued.
All these actions are designed to
obtain as much publicity as possible
and to keep the pressure on both
local and central government.
Financial Report
The Financial report as circulated
was accepted.
Election of Officers
All serving officers were
re-elected. It was indicated that at
some time in the near future there
would be an alteration to some
responsibilities and a gradual
change over would take place.
Both Mr Hadley and Mr Venison
reported on meetings that had been
taking place at County Hall to do
with a Government initiative called
?Link-Age? and was to do with
Councils taking a more positive
approach to consultation with older
persons groups. DCC had asked to be
one of the pilot schemes being set
up. The last meeting had indicated
that DCC could be in favour of
setting up an organisation of forums
over the county. DPAF had pointed
out that is was the pensioner group
that was run wholly by pensioners
and had been setting up branches of
DPAF in the different District
Council areas and was calling public
meetings to make itself known to
those persons living in those areas.
The first of these is on 24th
April at the Sidwell Community
Centre, Sidwell Street Exeter at
2.00pm. We already have volunteers
in East Devon, Mid Devon, North
Devon and Teignbridge to organise
other public meetings. There is a
liaison link with Plymouth and
Torbay. We shall need members
to help in the other areas so please
come and give us a hand. As
a result of an advert placed in the
Western Morning News on 25th
March, our membership has grown to
1058 so you can see that we need to
decentralise in order to increase
interest and recruit in all areas. A
greater number of people would be
prepared to attend meetings in a
more local environment. Our
continued growth will persuade DCC
that we are the people to talk to
regarding pensioner and older
persons issues. Over the next couple
of weeks we shall be changing our
database of members to show the
council area that they live in and
so make it easier to give and
receive information relating to that
council.
We had requested that DPAF were
consulted when the Audit Commission
carried out its Comprehensive
Performance Assessment in May.
Council Tax was then discussed at
some length and with some feeling.
Mr Venison pointed out that in the
past the payment of a reduced
monthly amount of tax, based on the
increase in pension rises had
resulted in councils targeting one
or two persons at a time to take
them to court. This had been in some
cases within a few weeks of the
reduced amount being paid. The
council then obtained a liability
order for whatever was owed at that
time. DPAF has gained support with
many other older persons groups all
over the country to put into affect
a campaign that would mean that all
councils would feel the result of
non payment at the same time. The
government would be given time to
put in place an alternative method
of raising money for local
government finance, even if it was a
short term proposal. It was
suggested that all should pay their
council tax under whatever
arrangement they had with their own
council until 31st
December 2006, but if the government
had not put in place some other
system by this time, members should
not make any further payments of
council tax from 1st
January 2007.
All
members would make their own
decision as to whether to go along
with this suggestion, but it was
pointed out that with the support of
all the other groups prepared to
take part, the numbers involved
could be thousands and the more
involved the greater the impact.
The post your bill to John Prescott
resulted in several thousands being
sent and this is would show that we
have had enough of the delay in
doing something for present day
pensioners.
DPAF was asked to produce a letter
that could be sent to the different
councils and you will find your copy
enclosed.
In conclusion I know that you would
want to thank South West Water for
its support in providing admirable
surrounding for the meeting and for
the service of coffee, tea and
biscuits before hand.
What can I say to finish off? Things
can only get better, summer is
coming, Mr Blair may pack it in and
Mr Gordon Brown may find he is not
going to be Prime Minister. All
these are maybes but the certainty
is that we are going to win in the
end. The British especially we old
fogies, always win the last battle.
All the best
Ven/Albert.
I received a call from the ODPM
regarding our Send your bill to
Prescott. He said that there had
been several thousands of letters
and to answer them all personally
would have meant recruiting extra
staff at more expense to the tax
payer. The letter that they have
sent out, he said, covered most of
the questions asked ie. The Lyons
Review and Council Tax Benefit.
I was very polite and said that I
could not agree. He has asked me to
write to him with a list of
questions and he will endeavour to
answer them, although he did feel
that many would still be covered by
the stock letter. I pointed out that
the people who took the time to
write were people not generally in
the position to receive council tax
benefit and had little faith in the
Lyons Enquiry, that they were well
versed about council tax and
deserved a little more
consideration.
So we need some questions that will
not fall into these categories;
questions that will demand
Answers A.S.A.P.
Please do not post them on the
forum. PLEASE E MAIL THEM TO ME.
Some of us will them sort them so
that there is no duplication. I will
post the response as soon as
possible.
Christine Founder Isitfair
If you have
received an answer after sending
your bill to Prescott will you
please let me have questions that I
can pass on to Christine, or send
them by e-mail direct to her on
c@isitfair.co.uk
Ven/Albert
Letter to Councils - Sample
To The Chief
Executive
From
Date
Sir/Madam
Council Tax Bill No/ Account No
Devon Pensioners Action Forum is
spearheading a nation wide campaign
to put an end to this government?s
reluctance to acknowledge that by
its action it is discriminating
against pensioners who have a second
pension or savings that take them
over the limit of receiving pension
credit. About 70% of pensioners are
affected in this way and the
government?s answer is to waste
money on advertising and
administration costs It has also
commissioned enquiries such as the
Lyons Enquiry and we shall still be
waiting for some time before we see
the result of that. In addition the
Hutton Report does nothing to help
present day pensioners.
Council Tax is a constant drain on a
pensioner?s income with rises well
above the rise in pensions and
although all councils express
sympathy, they seem reluctant to do
anything to support that sympathy.
The LGA is in disagreement with this
stealth tax but is not prepared to
encourage individual councils to
take strong action. Magistrates?
Courts are completely impotent when
cases of non payment of council tax
come before them, although they
again express the deepest sympathy.
So DPAF has said to the government
that it has the remainder of this
year to put in place a scheme that
recognises these problems and to do
something about it, even in the
short term. If such an initative is
not in place, DPAF has suggested to
its members that they should pay
their council tax in full under
whatever arrangement they might have
with their own individual council,
until 31st December 2006,
but after that date they should not
make any further council tax
payments.
As a supporter of this campaign I am
informing you of this action and am
hoping that you will make your own
efforts to relieve the strain on
persons such as myself, by lobbying
the government. I realise that your
first action will be to tell me that
if my council tax is not paid you
will take all legal means to recover
the debt. So be it!! We shall be
delighted to put pressure on the
courts as well as on the prison
service.
Yours sincerely
