There will be a meeting of the West Yorkshire Group of the Civil Service Pensioners Alliance at 11.15 AM on Wednesday 26 June 2024. (Please note the revised time.) The venue is the PCS Offices in the Merrion Centre, Leeds.
AGENDA
- Apologies for absence
- Minutes of the last Group Meeting held on 13 December 2023
- Report from the Committee Meeting held on 15 May 2024
- Feedback from CSPA North East Regional Meeting held on 6 June 2024
- Motions for National AGM October 2024
The Committee has agreed to put forward these draft resolutions to the Group meeting. Members wishing to propose additional resolutions can do so either by emailing me at relaxpaul@btinternet.com or alternatively at the meeting itself.
a.) This AGM mandates the EC to campaign for the abolition of standing charges for utilities and for social tariffs to be available for those in receipt of pension credit, and to do so alongside other organisations with similar objectives.
b.) This AGM notes that weekly difference between the old and new state pensions is now £51.70 per week and growing. This AGM believes that there are no rational grounds for this discrimination simply on the basis of your eligibility date particularly as many older pensioners will have needed 44 years’ worth of National Insurance contributions in order to qualify for a full state pension. This AGM believes that the next government should provide a timetable for a phased equalisation and instructs the NEC to make representations accordingly to the DWP
c.) This AGM notes that the current government has switched from an income tax cutting strategy to cutting National Insurance contributions, something which does not benefit anyone above state pension age. This AGM believes that this is a deliberate strategy to partially counteract the working of the triple lock, given that reneging on the triple lock has become a near political
impossibility. This AGM also notes the continuing long term failure to produce a workable policy for social care costs despite the Dilnot Commission in 2011 and many promises since. Therefore, this AGM calls upon the Government to commit the amount saved by cutting NI instead of income tax towards the Social Care budget and instructs the EC to campaign accordingly.
d.) This AGM believes that the freezing of income tax allowances and thresholds should cease in 2025 and from 2025-26 should rise by inflation, returning to the principle applied since 1977, that income tax allowances should maintain the same purchasing power from year to year. The EC are instructed to lobby for the implementation of this policy.
e.) This AGM notes with great concern the presence of advisors around senior parliamentary figures who promote the idea that pensioners are under taxed. This AGM rejects that view as ill-founded and divisive.
- Future Guest Speakers
- Guest Speaker Andy Aitchison, North East Regional Representative
- Any other Business (to be notified in writing to the Chair prior to the commencement of the meeting)
FUTURE MEETING DATES
The Committee has scheduled the following dates for future Group Meetings:
Wednesday 26 June 2024
Wednesday 25 September 2024
Wednesday 11 December 2024
Wednesday 19 March 2025 (Group AGM provisional date)
It is our intention that these dates are published in The Pensioner but just in case please store in electronic diaries or keep this paper safe.
We look forward to seeing you at events. Details of guest speakers will be furnished in the agenda papers you will receive in the post in good time for the scheduled meetings. If you have any suggestions for guest speakers, please let me know on 07531 266502 or by Email to relaxpaul@btinternet.com
(Draft) MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE CSPA WEST YORKSHIRE GROUP HELD ON WEDNESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2023
Present: Paul Laxton (Chair), Linda Rawson, David Parkinson, Alan Swift, Jean Ainsworth, Patricia Holmes, Geoffrey Wood
1.) Apologies for absence: Steve Dodds, John Welham
2.) Minutes of the last meeting.
These were accepted as a true record. There were no matters arising not covered on the main agenda.
3.) Report from the Committee Meeting held on 8 November 2023.
The Chair gave an oral report. The Committee meeting was primarily about bus franchising. David Parkinson expanded on the bus franchising presentation which was summarized in the newsletter.
4.) Oral report from National AGM held 11-12 October 2023
Both of our resolutions were carried. PL and DP gave a flavour of the AGM, particularly the concerns over declining membership and the declining number of active groups. A full report of the AGM has been published in The Pensioner.
5.) Social Care “Where are we now?”
The proposed modest reforms to payments for social care by recipients put forward by the Johnson government where placed ‘on ice’ until 2025 due to financial constraints. It is vital that sight is not lost of the major reforms needed to the provision and financing of social care and that the political parties’ feet are held to the fire in 2024 when the General Election will almost certainly take place.
6.) Feedback from the Regional Representative.
None available as the Regional Rep. was indisposed due to dealing with private family matters.
7.) Guest Speaker ‘Scams and how to avoid them’ Niccolo Sto Tomas, Crime Prevention Officer, West Yorkshire Police, based in Leeds.
The Speaker gave a wide ranging talk on scams and how to protect yourself, and also handed out a number of leaflets. The scammers work to gain your trust before cleaning you out. Do not give them your information or make advance payments. The Chair thanked him for a very interesting presentation and will make the leaflets available for people to read at what is hoped will be a better attended meeting.
8.) Future Guest Speakers
A Solicitor will be sought for the March AGM to talk principally about wills and Power of Attorney.
9.) A.O.B. Nil
THE GENERAL ELECTION HAS BEEN CALLED
I have had to hurriedly revise this page with the sudden calling of a General Election. As a non-party political organisation, it is important that any comments from me are accurate and balanced. To allow HQ to get newsletters out in the post, I need to submit the paperwork for postage by early June, before the publication of party manifestos, so my apologies for anything out of date when you receive this newsletter.
REDUCTION IN WORKERS’ NATIONAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS
There has been a change in the direction of travel of National Insurance contributions which generally speaking, tend to go up rather than down. This change of direction has allowed the government of the day to avoid raising the rate of income tax, something that has become increasingly untouchable as a political option. The current government has made two reductions in the last few months that it says will put an average of £900 back in workers’ pay packets in a full year, although for part time workers it will be much less. The Labour opposition has promised that the NI cuts will not be reversed. How does this affect you? If you are a former civil servant still working but below state pension age, then you might benefit from this measure if your job pays more than £1.048 a month. If you are receiving the state pension, whether or not you are doing paid work, you will derive no benefit from this measure as National Insurance is not paid by workers over the state pension age.
THE ‘TRIPLE LOCK’
Both major parties have committed to retaining the triple lock on state pensions. The Conservatives have gone a stage further, guaranteeing that the state pension will always be below the income tax threshold, currently £12,570, calling it the ‘triple lock plus.’ This looks as if the Tories plan to reintroduce the age allowance for state pensioners abolished by George Osborne – but smaller. It also signals that the income tax threshold for workers will be frozen for some time to come and that will push up tax for many pensioners too. Labour has not matched this offer, but deducting income tax from the state pension is complicated and will mean far more people in contact with HMRC. They may well fall into line as Labour also clearly intends to freeze the income tax threshold.
SOCIAL CARE
At the time of writing neither major party has made any commitments to alleviate the financial worries of pensioners needing care. Let us hope that the next Government does not imitate its predecessors by kicking the issue once more into the long grass.
PAUL LAXTON
CHAIR
CSPA WEST YORKSHIRE GROUP
