Gordon Birtwistle & Burnley Liberal Democrats

Posts Tagged ‘winter’

MP for Burnley and Padiham, Gordon Birtwistle, is reminding people to check if they are eligible for Cold Weather payments following the recent cold snap.

Cold weather payments are made to people in receipt of Pension Credit and certain other benefits when the temperature drops below 0c for more than 7 days.

Pension Credit provides a top-up to pensioners on low incomes to ensure they have a minimum income.

A recent report by Age Concern suggested that between 27 and 38% of older people eligible for pension credit were not claiming it, either because they don’t know about it or don’t think they are eligible.
“Pension Credit is a ‘passport’ benefit which can provide access to a number of other payments such as this,” said Gordon. “It is important that people who might be eligible don’t miss out.
Age Concern run a helpline 0800 169 6565 which can provide people with advice. Alternatively people can contact the Pension Service direct on 0800 99 1234.

Last year we had a Labour run County Council and they didn’t grit the roads properly and refused to refill some grit bins.
Now we have a Conservative Council, and again there was chaos as some roads weren’t gritted properly and they refused to refill grit bins.
“We could have avoided this” said Cllr Charlie Briggs, the leader of the Lib Dems on the County Council.  “Last year Lib Dem County Councillors proposed a £690,000 boost for winter gritting but Labour and Conservative Councillors teamed up to vote that plan down.”
“Conservative Councillors gambled that we wouldn’t have a severe winter.  They lost and we are all paying the price.”