Last week was the regular full meeting of Cumberland Council. This is the meeting, about six times a year, that all 36 councillors meet together for more significant decisions.

Council Finances
The Council reported on its ‘quarter 1’ financial situation (ie at 30 June 2024). There were a number of worrying trends, in particular a predicted significant overspend on Children’s Services (about £10 million for the year). In addition a number of capital projects (ie investments) were noted to be delayed into future years. One of my Liberal Democrat Group colleagues raised a concern about the expected overspend on children’s services, which largely relates to children’s placements in residential care.

External Assurance Report
Unusually, the Chief Executive reported directly to Council on the External Assurance Report that had been undertaken by CIPFA (the public sector accountancy body) into Cumberland Council’s finances.

For me, the report highlighted concerns which are very significant. The publication of the report had been significantly delayed (by Government) by around six months, so by the time it was published in May this year, a lot of the issues raised by the report had already been addressed.

I raised significant concerns about the amount of time that it had taken for councillors (or at least opposition councillors) to be made aware of this external report. (The report had been taken to not the first, but the third Audit Committee since it had been received by the Council, and not the first but the second Full Council.) I asked how we can learn lessons for future external assessments of the Council to make sure that Councillors are made aware of concerns at the time.

Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel
Councillors agreed that councillor allowances should increase by the same percentage as staff wages for 2024-25. (That rate isn’t fully agreed yet, but I understand this is likely to be 2.5%.)

Local Government Boundary Review
Cumberland is about to start a ward boundary review, which will be in place for the 2027 local elections. This is to ensure that the wards are broadly the same size as, over years, discrepancies can develop – particularly where there have been new housing developments.

The first decision to make is how many councillors there should be. At the moment Cumberland is a relatively small council compared to similar authorities. This is because the decision was taken to use the old Cumbria County Council divisions in 2022, of which 46 were in Cumberland.

The unanimous decision of the Council was to propose a small increase, to 55 councillors, to ensure that the electoral wards don’t become too large and there are enough councillors to undertake the work that needs to be done. This recommendation will be made to the Local Government Boundary Commission who make the final decision. It was also agreed that these 55 councillors should be elected in ‘single member’ wards (ie one councillor per ward).

Written Questions
Each member is entitled to ask up to two written questions (though most don’t). At this meeting I asked about two issues, the level of residential care for people with dementia, and the potential for planning regulations around community benefit for ‘green energy’ developments. You can read the questions and answers (including those from my Liberal Democrat group colleagues) here.

Notice of Motions
There were three ‘motions’ submitted by the different political parties. The first, on seekers of sanctuary from the Green Party councillors received broad agreement from across parties.

The remaining two motions were on the same topic, the Governments decision to remove winter fuel payments from this year. As it appeared second on the order paper, I moved the Liberal Democrat motion as an amendment to the other (Conservative) motion. Regrettably this was voted down by both Labour and Conservative councillors.

The full text of the Liberal Democrat Group motion was:

Winter Fuel Payment Cuts

Proposer: Cllr Wills
Seconder: Cllr Pickstone

Council notes the recent announcement by the Labour Government to end universal winter fuel payments and restrict eligibility to only those in receipt of Pension Credits and other benefits.

Though many agree that universal Winter Fuel Payments are not necessary, Council is deeply concerned that many pensioners on lower and middle incomes will now not receive the payments. Across England and Wales the number of people eligible for winter fuel payments will fall by 10 million (from 11.4 million to only 1.5 million).

In Cumberland the number of pensioners affected by the change in eligibility criteria is 54,116. That means 90.10% of pensioners currently eligible for winter fuel payments will no longer be able to claim the payment from this winter onwards.

Council believes that the Labour Government has set the threshold at which pensioners do not qualify for Winter Fuel Payments far too low. Only those receiving a pension of less than £218.15 a week (or £332.95 a week for couples) are eligible for pension credits. This is significantly lower than the living wage rate.

Council is also concerned by the low take up of pension credit with only 63% of those eligible nationwide receiving them – and over 880,000 pensioners not doing so. Council recognises the role we have to play to increase awareness of benefits such as Pension Credit to ensure people are aware of the support they are entitled to.

Council further notes that the Energy Price Cap is due to rise by 10% in October, which combined by the removal of Winter Fuel Payments will push thousands of local pensioners into fuel poverty.  

Council resolves to:

• Instruct the Chief Executive to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer calling for the policy on linking Winter Fuel Payments to Pension Credit receipt to be immediately paused and introduce a new threshold to determine eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments. Council further requests the Chief Executive write to all MPs covering the Cumberland area asking them to give their formal support to halting the changes to the Winter Fuel Payment eligibility.
• Request all Group Leaders within Cumberland Council to sign a joint letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer calling for the new Winter Fuel Payment policy to be suspended and reviewed.
• Urgently commence a significant awareness campaign to maximise uptake of pension credits. This will include use of council noticeboards, social media, promotion in local press and also targeted letters to those who may be eligible.

The full papers for the meeting are here.
Any questions don’t hesitate to ask.