Tax justice for older people with Labour

Labour unveils its manifesto for older people

A LABOUR Assembly Government would work closely with the Labour Government in Westminster to deliver automatic council tax rebates for older people.

Launching its manifesto for older people in Bargoed, First Minister Rhodri Morgan said he was offering a comprehensive package, providing more for older people to do, make their communities safer, improve health facilities and public transport.

The manifesto includes commitments to:

• Work with the UK Government to provide automatic tax rebates for council tax for older people;
• Extend free bus travel for older people over the next four years and develop further schemes for discounted rail travel;
• Extend free entry to museums and galleries for the next four years and provide older people with free entry to Assembly-owned heritage sites;
• Introduce pharmacy-led drop-in centres;
• Invest in new not-for-profit nursing homes and continue investment into new extra-care homes, which provide secure and independent living;
• Provide new funding for the University of the Third Age

Launching the manifesto, Rhodri Morgan said:

"Welsh Labour has worked hard to keep council tax rises under control.  In the last year of a Tory Government council tax rose 19 per cent.  In Wales council tax is 25 per cent lower than that in England.  And only last month our AMs voted against Tory plans to raise rates in North Wales but were defeated by a Tory-led coalition of opposition parties and independents."

"The major problem with council tax is that nowhere near enough older people who are entitled to discounts actually apply for them.  This is because there are either unaware that they are entitled to the rebate or feel there is a stigma attached to applying for council tax benefit."

"I have personally led campaigns, as have my Labour colleagues in the Assembly, to encourage more older people to apply for council tax benefit."

"But we need to make the process far easier for our older people, so that it is an automatic rebate.  I promise to work closely with my UK Government Labour colleagues to make this happen."

"Other parties may promise pie-in-the-sky schemes which are complex, bureaucratic and undeliverable.  They claim to be against the council tax, then vote in the Assembly to force it higher.  Labour wants a simple, straightforward scheme which guarantees extra help for pensioners."

"Labour has delivered for older people in Wales.  Our free bus passes scheme has been a massive success, with 530,000 passes provided to pensioners, the disabled and their careers since it was introduced.  We have doubled investment in the NHS, with 8,000 more nurses, 500 more consultants and seven new hospitals built or on the way.  More operations are now being performed than ever before."

"We have taken real action to make the homes of older people more safe and secure, assisting 64,000 households with measures to improve their heating and security."

"This is a comprehensive package from Labour that gets to the root of the concerns of older people in Wales.  It is a package that provides improved transport with a radical and comprehensive package of discounted rail fares."

"We are offering concrete measures to make older people safer, with the number of community support officers to rise to 700 with Labour, and a new £16m package to make out town centres cleaner and tidier."

"In health and social care we will cut waiting times for operations to 26 weeks from referral to treatment, provide not-for-profit care homes and further reform of charging for care services, making 10,000 disabled people better off and exempting 4,000 disabled people from all charges."

More information:  Labour's plans for older people over the next four years

• Ensure that no NHS patient will wait more than 26 weeks from referral to treatment, including any diagnostics and therapies required - most patients wait far less;
• Extend free bus travel for older people over the next four years and develop further schemes for discounted rail travel;
• Extend free entry to museums and galleries for the next four years and provide older people with free entry to Assembly-owned heritage sites;
• Introduce pharmacy-led NHS drop-in centres;
• Continue to support energy efficiency and home security measures for over 60s and provide free heating systems for the over 80s in need;
• Invest in new not-for-profit nursing homes and continue investment into new extra-care homes, which provide secure and independent living;
• Tidy Towns - invest £16m on a clean-up campaign in Wales' cities, towns and villages;
• Provide new funding for the University of the Third Age;
• Ensure that all older people who want one can have access to an NHS dentist and have free dental examinations;
• Further reform charging for home care services, making 10,000 disabled people better off and exempting 4,000 disabled people for all charges;
• Appoint the Commissioner for Older People;
• Provide free parking at NHS hospitals for patients requiring treatment for Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy and Renal Dialysis; and season ticket arrangements for those who want them;
• Increase the number of Community Support Officers to 700;
• Work with the UK Government to provide automatic tax rebates for council tax for older people.

Comments

[Rhodri Evans]

How about tax cuts for everyone else?
It was this Labour Assembly Government that used the extra cash from Gordon Brown (which was to alleviate extortionate council tax) to pay for the NHS Wales cash flow problems which Welsh Labour cretaed in the first place.

Devolution is all about having control over the party which controls the money. In the 1990s we couldn't do that with John Redwood, but we can now punish Labour for their failings

[Anne]

http://welshwomensvoice.blogspot.com/

Will you answer the following questions.
I am a member of PCS and we are asking candidates in Wales :

1. Where do you stand on cutting civil service jobs in the devolved and non-devolved civil service in Wales?

2. How much importance do you attach to the provision of well staffed local offices providing the public with the option of face to face contact?

3. Where do you stand on privatising public services?

4. Do you agree that Welsh civil servants deserve fair play on pay and would you like to comment on the current method of civil service pay delivery?

5. Do you support the introduction of regional pay in the public sector?

What is your view on this.

Can I also ask what you will do to introduce a green transport policy in wales? What will you do to enable the elderly to cross the road, provide a bus to a leisure centre and parks?
http://inconsiderateparking.blogspot.com/
And finally can you support the campaign to stop garden grabbing in Wales? As you want to protect our heritage but stand by while building after building is knocked down and gardens are concreted over.
http://gardengrabbing.blogspot.com/

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