Fuel bill cash still not paid to elderly
Saturday 28th February 2009, 10:41AM GMT.
Money allocated to help thousands of elderly residents in Powys with their winter fuel bills has still not been paid.
Christmas bonus payments of £60 for 1,220 elderly people in Montgomeryshire, which were promised by the Government to help elderly people with winter fuel bills, will not be paid until March.
According to research carried out by Liberal Democrats in Parliament, almost one in 10 older people will be getting their Christmas bonus three months late.
Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik is now calling on the Government to speed up payments and make sure older residents get their bonus as soon as possible.
He said: “This late payment is appalling, at a time of sky high heating and fuel bills, paying the bonus three months late is just not good enough.
“I am urging the Government to ensure that payments are made promptly next Christmas. Making the elderly wait until it’s nearly Easter is just not acceptable.”
Mick Bates, AM for Montgomeryshire, said: “I find it appalling that there are people who still have to choose between heating and eating.
“We should be making more headway on making newer houses greener and improving older housing in our most deprived communities.
“We need to seriously examine ways we can reduce fuel poverty and therefore pensioner poverty.”
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