In a display of perfect political posturing, Bedford Borough Councillors from across the floor are blaming each other for local and national ‘financial black holes’ leaving elderly Bedfordians caught in the middle.
Earlier this month, Bedford Borough Council’s executive dropped plans proposed by the portfolio holder for valuing families: adult services, cllr Robert Rigby (Conservative, Bromham), to begin charging for some of the council’s Telecare services.
Telecare is the provision of one or more detector devices (e.g. fall detectors) which, if triggered, sends an alert via telephone to a central alarm monitoring centre.
The argument for charging for the service was to establish a “financially sustainable” service for residents.
But nine councillors ‘called in’ this decision so it could be scrutinised by the Adult Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee back in July.
While being ‘scrutinised’, the plans were described as a “cruel” and “wicked” policy by Lib Dem councillors and Labour cllrs joined them in their anger at the proposals.
Speaking at the meeting, cllr Sue Oliver (Labour, Kempston North) lambasted the Conservative executive.
“You have chosen to penalise the elderly, the sick and the vulnerable when you belatedly realised that your Conservative government had slashed local government beyond the bone and failed to address the really, really, failing social care system,” she said.
“And your Conservative administration in Bedford Borough has chosen to pump money into various other manifesto pledges. The leisure village and buying Debenhams come to mind.
“Instead of taking on board the responsibilities of what takes 70 per cent of our budget, and that is adults and children’s social care,” she said.”
At the end of the meeting, it was decided that the decision would be discussed at the full council meeting to be held next week (9 October).
Read: “Wicked” Telecare policy decision to go to full council as councillors battle funding gap
But now the item has been ‘quietly’ dropped from the full meeting agenda and the Lib Dems are ‘loudly’ claiming that as their victory.
Vindication?
The Lib Dems jumped on the chance to highlight the ‘success’ of their campaign with social media posts titled ‘Telecare Victory’ followed by an annoying amount of exclamation marks, which are more akin to a teenager’s social posts than that of an established political party.
Cllr Henry Vann, Leader of Bedford Borough Liberal Democrats (De Parys) has called the drop a “vindication” of their campaign, which he says was, “backed by hundreds of residents, to get the Mayor to change his mind”.
To be fair, they did work hard to raise awareness of the charge and forcing the plans to be looked at by the Adult Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee has meant it’s been looked into much more closely.
That’s kind of the point of scrutiny committee and it shows that sometimes the system works.
However, the Lib Dem’s apparent victory dance hasn’t gone unnoticed and yesterday (Tuesday) Bedford Borough Council’s Conservative councillors were forced to state their version of events on the Telecare charge plans.
Did they humbly congratulate the Lib Dems on a well-fought campaign which made them ‘see the light’? Of course not.
Instead, with textbook confirmation bias, they’ve amended the parameters of the argument and now dragged the Labour government into it, saying the chancellor’s plans to scrap the winter fuel allowance are the reason they’ve dropped their Telecare charge plans.
In the statement, Cllr Robert Rigby said: “I have tried very hard to protect the old, the poor and the needy in my role and this cut in Winter Fuel allowance truly appals me.
“The Labour Government really should be ashamed of what they have done. I call upon our Labour MP to join us to lobby the Labour Government to reconsider this policy.”
Mohammad Yasin MP did abstain from the Winter Fuel Allowance cuts vote, and we’ll report on anything he may say in the future, if and when he says it.
But, for now, Cllr Rigby has also called (with hope) on all parties across Bedford Borough Council to support any new Telecare proposals he puts forward.
“I am rethinking the Telecare charges, and in due course will be putting forward new proposals to put Telecare on a sound financial footing, which I hope all parties will support,” he said.
That’s all well and good, but it’s a little naive to call on cross-party support given the mud-slinging between various councillors and the language directed almost universally toward any political party that proposes changes that might negatively impact the elderly.
What’s more, if he wanted to keep the opposition on his side, he probably should have stopped his statement there.
Instead, cllr Rigby used the moment to have a pop at the Lib Dems, accusing them of leaving a ‘financial black hole’ in Bedford’s finances that he says forced them to penalise Bedford’s elderly communities in the first place.
“The LibDems, who have been vigorous in opposing Telecare charging, have known about the financial blackhole in our Telecare budget for years, and did nothing to deal with it,” he said.
This is all sounds very familiar.
Meanwhile in Westminster
In Westminster, the Labour government has faced increasing pressure to roll back plans to scrap the winter fuel allowance for pensioners from across the political spectrum.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves had announced the benefit would be means tested from this winter due to a £22m “black hole” she said Labour had inherited from the Conservatives.
De ja vu, anyone?
However, The Observer has seen analysis suggesting that the projected £1.4bn savings from her highly controversial cut to winter fuel payments are in doubt.
A report on the analysis by their sister paper, The Guardian, suggests a surge in claims for pension credit since the cut was announced will significantly lower the savings anticipated by the Treasury.
The figures show that in the eight weeks up to the end of September, applications for pension credit have increased by 152%.
A Treasury source told Michael Savage Policy Editor at The Guardian, that they did not recognise the figures.
“We want people to get the benefits they are entitled to, which is why the government is working hard to drive up pension credit uptake,” said a government spokesperson.
“We are committed to supporting pensioners – with millions set to see their state pension rise by £1,700 this parliament through our commitment to the triple lock.
“However, given the dire state of the public finances we have inherited, it’s right that we target support to those who need it most,” they added.
There’s that de ja vu again.
Meanwhile, as cllrs and MPs of varying political parties continue to use issues that will have a real-world impact on people, claiming political victories and/or passing the buck, the elderly across Bedford Borough and the country are caught in the middle.
While the elderly lose sleep and worry about these changes and how they may affect them, they continue to be used to score political points by those who probably don’t even need Telecare or have to rely on Winter Fuel Payments to heat their homes.
While these cllrs and MPs argue over who’s to blame for ‘financial black holes’ at a national and local level, the rest of us are left in limbo.
It’s enough to make your blood boil Then again, at least that might keep some people warm.
