Additional Winter Payment for Inverness Pensioners and Disabled People

A one-off additional payment of £20 is to be paid to those Inverness residents eligible for winter payments.from The Highland Council's Inverness City Committee.

The decision to offer a one-off additional payment was made at a meeting of The Highland Council’s Inverness City Committee on Monday in recognition of the hardship faced by those in most need in meeting rising fuel bills.

The additional payment of £20 per applicant will be paid in February 2009 and an advert on how to proceed will be placed in the local press in the next few weeks.  These payments will be in addition to the payments of £40 for those on Pension Credits and £25 for those on Disability Allowance which have already been made.

The offer is open to people entitled to claim under the current rules which are that:

The applicant must be aged 60 or over or be a person with a disability:-

Provost Jimmy Gray, Chairman of the Inverness City Committee, said: “There was unanimous agreement to make some form of recognition of the difficulties being felt because of the huge rise in energy costs. After debate it was felt that the best way to do this was in a one off additional payment to those that were eligible to claim under the scheme. This means that eligible pensioners will be entitled to a total £60 and eligible disabled a total of £45. In doing so the Inverness Committee hoped that they could go some way to alleviate the hardship felt by the most vulnerable groups in our community.”
 
Anyone who has any queries should contact the Chief Executive’s Office at the Town House on 01463 724293.