Norfolk County Council Conservative leader Derrick Murphy today proposed that £100,000 from Council underspends should be give to Age UK Norfolk's winter warmer to help provide small grants to older people to help with winter fuel bills.
Check out the following article from the Norfolk County Council website outlining more information:
"Norfolk County Council today (Mon 5 November) agreed to provide £100,000 to help the county's older people meet spiralling fuel bills in the coming winter.
At the Council's Cabinet meeting, Council Leader Derrick Murphy proposed that £100,000 should be given to Age UK Norfolk for their warm winter fund. This will be used by Age UK to offer small grants of between £100 and £200 to older people who need help meeting fuel bills, and will also fund further work to look at the underlying need for this kind of support as heating costs continue to rise.
The £100,000 grant will come from a forecast underspend on this year's (2012-13) Norfolk County Council budget*.
Derrick Murphy said: "This is one way in which some of Norfolk's most vulnerable residents can directly benefit from the sound management of the council's finances and our continued determination to drive down costs.
"The winter can be a real struggle for people trying to get by on a pension. With heating costs rising year on year, it is harder than ever for older people to keep warm. For some the stark choice is between heating properly or eating properly. This grant to Age UK Norfolk complements the County Council's Warm Winter campaign and will allow many more older people to receive help. I hope that this will take away some of their worries about the cold months ahead."
Linda Gill, Information and Advice Development Manager, Age UK Norfolk, said the £100,000 offer from Norfolk County Council had come out of the blue.
"I couldn't be more delighted," she said. "This amount of money will make a real difference to older people in fuel poverty or fuel debt. It's tremendous news."
Notes
*Based upon the position at the end of September, there is a forecast 0.82% underspend on the £595.809m 2012/13 budget. For further information see the Integrated Performance and Monitoring Report in the Cabinet papers for today's (Mon) meeting, available at www.norfolk.gov.uk.
An independent assessment of the financial management of Norfolk County Council has given the Authority an unqualified value for money conclusion and commended the ‘excellent’ budget monitoring and forecasting."
The orginal article can be found here: http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/News/NCC113809