Agenda item

The following Notices of Motion have been received:-

(i)             Community Safety, Cohesion and Resilience.

This Council expresses its deepest sympathy with the families affected by the tragic events in Southport on 29^th July. Our thoughts remain with the community there and our praise goes to the public and frontline emergency services who responded on the day and have since, to aid the recovery.

The exploitative criminal disorder that followed, exacerbated by false information online, led to widespread criminality, far right extremism, racism and Islamophobia. There is no place for this in our society and this Council utterly condemns it.

Thankfully we escaped direct civil unrest in Bury, though we were at risk and so on high alert throughout and since. As a result, there has been real harm done to some of our communities; our refugees and asylum seekers, and particularly our Muslim community, who understandably feel a heightened sense of anxiety, fear and vulnerability.

This Council welcomes the immediate intervention of the Government, who ensured a robust response to get the criminality under control and who supported the local and national Police to make prompt arrests so the courts could deliver swift justice.

We also welcome the support from the Home Office who provided immediate security, particularly at Muslim places of worship and community centres. The Council and our two constituency MPs, worked rapidly with mosque and community leaders on their Home Office applications, and all who applied received protection and most of them within 24 hours of submission. This offered an immediate sense of reassurance to those attending prayers and community events.

This Council recognises that the damage caused by the extremist groups is real and will be long lasting and we must now turn our attention to the long term safety and security of our communities, and healing the anxiety and distress caused.

Bury is a proudly tolerant and diverse place and we thank everyone in the borough who spoke up against the criminality and called out racism wherever it manifested itself.

It is clear we need to prioritise inclusion, cohesion and safety to rebuild the confidence of those targeted, so they can live and work peacefully in our town without the anxiety of being targeted because of the colour of their skin.

This Council therefore resolves to:

• Build on our response work by collaborating with our faith and community leaders to build greater resilience and strength
• Participate fully in the Greater Manchester recovery coordination activity, recognising the fluidity of communities across administrative borders, whilst reflecting specifics of Bury’s neighbourhoods
• Collaborate with faith and community leaders and MPs to support future applications to the Home Office security protection fund
• Revisit our LET’S Do It! strategy, alongside the Community Safety Partnership Plan, to refresh our priorities by co-developing with our communities and build a ‘Stronger Together’ community strategy for Bury
• Foster and facilitate opportunities for social interactions that allow the development of tolerance and trust to develop a shared sense of pride and place in Bury
• Ensure Council communication and engagement is reflective and responsive to the needs of all our communities, and work with partners to do ensure their approach is the same
• Link our community strategy work into that of Health Inequalities to deliver an equitable and inclusive approach
• Identify projects that encourage communities to work together for mutual benefit
• Progress the ‘Different Cultures, Same Horizons’ element as part of our Culture Strategy, with intergenerational work based on heritage
• Facilitate Team Bury work to gain insight of new and emerging communities (and leaders within these) that don’t currently show in census data
• Encouragement of ‘upstanding’ – calling out and reporting behaviour – rather than bystanding and promote our Hate Crime reporting centres.

In the names of COUNCILLORS; A Arif,  Bayley, Boles, Cummins, Farooq, Fitzgerald, Frith, Gold, Green, Grimshaw, Haroon, Hayes, Hook, Ibrahim, McGill, Morris, Moss, O'Brien, Pilkington, A Quinn, D Quinn, Rafiq, Rahimov, Rizvi, Rubinstein, Ryder, L Smith, Southworth, Staples-Jones, Tariq, Thorpe, Walmsley

2) Government Funding Streams

This Council notes that:

1. The previous government had provided funding up to the 30 September 2024 in respect of the Household Support Fund (HSF). This fund was aimed at providing targeted support and did not affect people who received any benefits.
2. The Chancellor the Exchequer in a recent speech (29 July 2024) announced that the newly elected Labour Government would be scrapping winter fuel payments for those pensioners not on pension credit or other means-tested benefits.
3. The previous Government in the 2024/25 Local Government Policy Statement published on 5 December 2023 confirmed that they remained committed to improving the local government finance landscape in the next parliament.

This Council further notes

1. That a fair funding review of Local Government has been promised since 2016 and Bury Council voted against a Conservative Group proposal to lobby direct the then Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities to give a commitment as to when such a review would take place.
2. Notwithstanding the above in recent years the Local Government Settlement has resulted in this Council’s Core Spending Power (CSP) being higher that the overall Core Spending Power for the rest of the country.
3. The scrapping of the winter fuel payments (other than for those pensioners on pension credit or other means-tested benefits) is likely to result in a significant number of pensioners living in Bury struggling to stay warm this winter.      
4. That the recently elected Labour Government although announcing an extension to the Household Support Fund are yet to announce the level of funding for Bury.

This Council resolves to:

1. Write to the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government imploring that the CSP for Bury is again higher than the national average.
2. In the same letter to the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government asking when will a Fair Funding Review take place.  
3. Write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer asking what level of HSF this Council can expect for the remainder of this financial year and for the 2025/26 financial year bearing in mind the impact of scrapping winter fuel payments other than for those on pension credit or other means-tested benefits.  

In the names of COUNCILLORS S. Arif, Bernstein, Brown, Gartside, Harris, Hussain, Lancaster, McBriar, Rydeheard, Vernon.

3)  Motion, funding for drop-in centres for older residents

On the 8^th July 2024, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her budget statement. This statement included removing the winter fuel payments from all pension age residents other than those on pension credit.   

Age UK claim that millions of struggling pensioners will no longer receive up to £300 winter fuel payments which they rely on to pay their bills. They believe that as many as 2 million pensioners who find paying their energy bills a real stretch will be seriously hit by this cut, which includes:

• Those on low incomes who just miss out on Pension Credit,
• Those with high energy needs because of disability or illness,
• The 1 million who do not receive the Pension Credit for which they are eligible.

According to the Guardian Deven Ghelani, the founder of Policy in Practice and one of the architects of the universal credit system, claimed that cliff edges in the benefit system are a growing problem. Whilst recognising that pension credit can unlock access to housing benefit and council tax support and social tariffs including the warm home discount and now winter fuel payments, they recognised that about 130,000 pensioners might be better off with a lower income.

The Council has a duty of care for all its residents and since it appears that many older residents are missing out on payments that they are entitled to the Council needs to find ways of ensuring that older residents are aware of available help towards their cost of living. According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2020 46% of all residents over the age of 75 were not internet users, therefore although much of the information may be available online a significant number of older residents will not be able to access it. Although under disability access guidelines organisations are required to make sure information is available in alternative formats other than online, there needs to be a way of making residents aware of its availability and to make it easy for residents to obtain hard copies of any forms.

Some residents may find the completion of the pension credit form challenging since the form itself is 24 pages long with and an additional 24 pages of notes on how to complete the form. Although the Government website does inform residents that they can get help from organisations such as Age UK and Citizens Advice it requires residents to go to their pages to find out about accessing that help.

Winter can be a much more challenging time for elderly residents, with shorter days and longer nights, residents are likely to spend more time in their homes. The Alzheimer’s Society claims that social isolation can lead to an increased risk of developing dementia relating to if a person lives alone, and whether they see friends and family regularly or engage in social or community activities. They separate social isolation from loneliness, which they define as how someone feels about their circumstances. Loneliness has been linked to increased dementia risk.

They also identify other dementia risks including cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity often linked to sedentary lifestyles. While the Council offers advice delivered by the Older People’s Staying Well Team many residents are not aware of this service or how to access advice.

Several community organisations have been delivering drop in warming hubs for older residents, but these hubs could offer much more with support from the Council. Like other businesses, community centres and churches are feeling the impact of increased energy prices and consequently they are struggling to offer the same amount of freely available community access.

Several food banks and food pantries offer drop-in advice sessions alongside food provision to help those in our society who need additional help, we envisage that a similar service could help older residents access the payments they are entitled to.

This Council resolves to:

• Work with community organisations and churches throughout Bury MBC to provide funding to cover the costs of hosting warming hub drop-ins for residents seeking either a warm space or advice on available help
• Invite organisations such as Age UK and CAB (or an alternative Council employee) to attend these drop-ins to provide help and advice regarding eligibility and completion of forms for pension credit, attendance allowance, council tax relief, carers allowance etc
• Work to engage the PCN that does not currently fund the staying well service with a view to bringing the 8 GP Practices in Bury not currently eligible into the scheme.
• Arrange for the Older People’s Staying Well Team to attend these drop-in sessions on a rotational basis to give advice on healthy living and available groups and classes for physical exercise and social activities
• Fund Calico to attend the sessions to provide help to residents in the private rental sector seeking advice
• Council to provide, as part of the Government sanctioned Pension Credit Awareness scheme, for a dedicated employee to send a letter to all residents over the age of 66 years to inform them of the deadline of 21st December 2024, for submitting a claim for Pension Credit in order that they may receive the full three months of backdated benefits.

References

Age UK: Sign our petition to save the Winter Fuel Payment for struggling pensioners

The Guardian: UK pensioners left on ‘financial cliff edge’ by cuts to winter fuel payments, Sun 4 Aug 2024

Office for National Statistics (Census 2021): Internet users, UK: 2020

Gov.uk: Pension Credit claim form

Alzheimer’s Society: Social isolation and dementia risk

In the names of COUNCILLORS Birchmore, Berry, Booth, Duncalfe, Marsden, M Smith, K Simpson and Cllr Mary Walsh.

S151 Officer Comment

Currently there is no budget provision, any proposal will need to be funded, the extent of the funding will be dependent on the number of sessions.  Contacting every resident over 66 would cost £24k.

i)               Community Safety, Cohesion and Resilience

Council considered a notice of motion received in the names of Councillors: A Arif,  Bayley, Boles, Boroda, Cummins, Farooq, Fitzgerald, Frith, Gold, Green, Grimshaw, Haroon, Hayes, Ibrahim, McGill, Morris, Moss, O'Brien, Pilkington, Quinn Alan, Quinn Deborah, Rafiq, Rizvi, Rubinstein, Ryder, Smith Lucy Staples-Jones Gareth, Tariq, Thorpe, Walmsley, Whitby.

The Motion was moved by Councillor Walmsley and seconded by Councillor Bernstein and on being put with all Members present including the Mayor voting in favour, Council agreed to:

• Build on our response work by collaborating with our faith and community leaders to build greater resilience and strength
• Participate fully in the Greater Manchester recovery coordination activity, recognising the fluidity of communities across administrative borders, whilst reflecting specifics of Bury’s neighbourhoods
• Collaborate with faith and community leaders and MPs to support future applications to the Home Office security protection fund
• Revisit our LET’S Do It! strategy, alongside the Community Safety Partnership Plan, to refresh our priorities by co-developing with our communities and build a ‘Stronger Together’ community strategy for Bury
• Foster and facilitate opportunities for social interactions that allow the development of tolerance and trust to develop a shared sense of pride and place in Bury
• Ensure Council communication and engagement is reflective and responsive to the needs of all our communities, and work with partners to do ensure their approach is the same
• Link our community strategy work into that of Health Inequalities to deliver an equitable and inclusive approach
• Identify projects that encourage communities to work together for mutual benefit
• Progress the ‘Different Cultures, Same Horizons’ element as part of our Culture Strategy, with intergenerational work based on heritage
• Facilitate Team Bury work to gain insight of new and emerging communities (and leaders within these) that don’t currently show in census data
• Encouragement of ‘upstanding’ – calling out and reporting behaviour – rather than bystanding and promote our Hate Crime reporting centres.

ii)             Government Funding Streams

Council considered a motion received in the names of Councillors S. Arif, Bernstein, Brown, Gartside, Harris, Hussain, Lancaster, McBriar, Rydeheard, Vernon.

The Motion was moved by Councillor Bernstein and seconded by Councillor Vernon and on being put with all Members present including the Mayor voting in favour, Council agreed to:

1. Write to the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government imploring that the CSP for Bury is again higher than the national average.
2. In the same letter to the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government asking when will a Fair Funding Review take place.  
3. Write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer asking what level of HSF this Council can expect for the remainder of this financial year and for the 2025/26 financial year bearing in mind the impact of scrapping winter fuel payments other than for those on pension credit or other means-tested benefits.  

iii)           Funding for drop in centres for Older residents

Council considered a motion in the names of Councillors Birchmore, Berry, Booth, Duncalfe, Marsden, M Smith, K Simpson and Cllr Mary Walsh. The motion was moved by Councillor Birchmore and seconded by Councillor Duncalfe to;

• Work with community organisations and churches throughout Bury MBC to provide funding to cover the costs of hosting warming hub drop-ins for residents seeking either a warm space or advice on available help
• Invite organisations such as Age UK and CAB (or an alternative Council employee) to attend these drop-ins to provide help and advice regarding eligibility and completion of forms for pension credit, attendance allowance, council tax relief, carers allowance etc
• Work to engage the PCN that does not currently fund the staying well service with a view to bringing the 8 GP Practices in Bury not currently eligible into the scheme.
• Arrange for the Older People’s Staying Well Team to attend these drop-in sessions on a rotational basis to give advice on healthy living and available groups and classes for physical exercise and social activities
• Fund Calico to attend the sessions to provide help to residents in the private rental sector seeking advice
• Council to provide, as part of the Government sanctioned Pension Credit Awareness scheme, for a dedicated employee to send a letter to all residents over the age of 66 years to inform them of the deadline of 21st December 2024, for submitting a claim for Pension Credit in order that they may receive the full three months of backdated benefits.

Members considered an amendment moved by Councillor O’Brien and seconded by Councillor Walmsley that:

This Council resolves to:

·       Hold a further Anti-Poverty Summit to draw together our borough’s anti-poverty partnership and co-produce an action plan for how to utilise the extended Household Support Fund – including a specific focus on how we support our older residents during the winter months.

·       Continue our work, as the Council and with our partners, to encourage and support foodbanks, community groups and other drop-ins with wrap around support for those who need additional help.

·       Work with our PCNs and wider public service partnership to find a sustainable funding model for the Live Well and Staying Well provision.

On being put with the 40 members voting in favour, 8 members voting against and the Mayor abstaining the amendment was carried.

The amendment then became the substantive motion, on being put with 40 members voting in favour, 8 members voting against and the Mayor abstaining the amendment was carried.