Calls for support to be given to pensioners who are no longer entitled to Winter Fuel Payments will be decided by the county council.

Councillor Eddie Reeves, leader of the county’s Conservative group, put forward the motion for the upcoming Oxfordshire County Council meeting on Tuesday, November 5.

He proposes allocating money within the Budget Priority Reserve in next years’ council budget, with a view to creating a Winter Fuel Payment Protection fund.

This fund is meant for “pensioners who are in genuine hardship, but who are not eligible for other government support, are helped through the Winter”.

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The motion also calls for the creation of an awareness campaign, which would encourage elderly residents who are eligible for Pension Credit and other means-tested benefits to register and claim them, so they can still receive their Winter Fuel Payments.

It also requests that the Leader of the Council should write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reassess the impact of withdrawing non-means-tested Winter Fuel Payments, and to find ways to ensure that pensioners, particularly those who are eligible for other benefits but do not claim, are protected from fuel poverty.

This comes after the Conservatives launched a petition calling for Winter Fuel Payments to be restored, after Labour decided to scrap the scheme.

Councillor Reeves delivered an open letter with details of this petition to Banbury Labour’s MP Sean Woodcock on Tuesday, October 28.

If the motion is passed at the county council meeting, it would need to be referred to the cabinet before it can be enacted.