15/03/04

The Department for Work and Pensions is very concerned that up to four out of ten pensioners are missing out on Council Tax Benefit, with a staggering three quarters of a billion pounds going unclaimed. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to urge pensioners to check whether they may be entitled to receive Council Tax Benefit.

Some pensioners are missing out on a 100 per cent refund, and on top of this they may be due arrears back to last October and could receive an extra five months benefit towards last year's council tax bill, bringing a possible cash windfall.

In addition, less than half of home-owning pensioners are claiming the money they should get because they may wrongly believe that, because they live in their own home they may not be entitled to help, but that is not the case. Claiming this benefit could cut on average of up to £426 off their council tax bill.

Claiming is now easier than ever. The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit claim forms have been combined, meaning people don't give officials the same information twice to qualify for both benefits, and now we're cutting the claim form for pensioners by a third.

If in doubt, there's no harm in checking - that's why when we contact every pensioner in the country about pension Credit and pensioners contact the Pension Credit Application Line, we will automatically send out Council Tax Benefit claim forms if they haven't claimed.

This leads on to a point made by another reader's concerns about being "conned" after saving for their retirement and incurring penalties. Again, I'd like to encourage people who may have saved for their retirement to check out whether they are entitled to the new Pension Credit - they may well then receive the savings element of the new Pension Credit which actually rewards people who have saved for their retirement and is payable to pensioners age 65 or over. In addition, they may also receive the guaranteed credit element of pension credit, which is payable to people who are aged 60 or over.

The Department for Work and Pensions is very keen to ensure that all pensioners get every penny they are owed, whether it is Pension Credit, Council Tax Benefit or Housing Benefit or any other benefits they may be entitled to. So again, I would urge people to either contact the Pension Service on 0845 60 60 265 to arrange a home visit or to get details of advice surgeries in their area where they can get help and support, or alternatively contact their local authority or other organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau to find out more. - Jackie Woods, Department for Work and Pensions, North East Regional Press Office.

FARMING

IT is extremely annoying and insulting for farmers to read the Friends of the Earth representative's comments (HAS, Mar 11) about well documented problems with current farm practices.

He says the number of farmland birds has declined rapidly, but the British Trust for Ornithology has reported large increases in 14 species, and increases over the last ten years in about twice as many species as have declined.

The CAP reforms to be implemented next year are designed to focus on rewarding farmers for protecting and improving the environment. But even before their advent farmers have voluntarily and with the help of agri-environmental schemes made vast improvements in providing habitat for birds, animals, and insects. This has involved planting 6,000 miles of new hedgerows, 87 million trees, creating 13,000 hectares of field margins and over 12,000 ponds in the last ten years. Anyone who doubts the impact of this on bird life need only visit the countryside at daybreak to witness it.

While I basically agree with FoE's comments on GM crops I can only hope the public will be better informed about current farming practices in future. - J Heslop, Gainford.

POLICE

MR McKimm (HAS, Mar 11) criticises Durham Police over what he describes as a van being used to catch speeding motorists.

He is blatantly wrong in his assumption, for what he describes is an operation using Automatic Number Plate Recognition equipment(ANPR), which electronically checks vehicle registration marks against databases re excise licence, insurance, vehicle and certain other intelligence. Anything untoward indicated to the operator is passed to the crews further down the road to effect an immediate stop.

As a motorist I would have thought Mr McKimm would have been aware of this silent but deadly piece of equipment that is reaping huge rewards not only in detection of vehicle document offences but also crime. - G Sanderson, Northallerton.

CARD SHOP

WHILE browsing for a christening card in one of the many card shops in Darlington town centre, my friend and I came across a section labelled Special Occasions.

Of course in this section you expect to find cards for weddings, anniversary, new baby, christenings, etc. We were amazed to see sympathy cards in the same section. Since when has the buying of a sympathy card been a special occasion?

We mentioned this to the sales assistant, her reply was: "It's where we were told to put them."

Don't you think the person who decides which cards go where would have a little bit of tact when it comes to these cards. None of us enjoy buying a sympathy card and certainly don't see it as a 'Special Occasion'. - Karen Liddle, Darlington.

IRAN

M TUBMAN (HAS, Mar 9) accuses me of presenting a revised version of history.

CIA documents detailing the full extent of Western interference in Iran in the 50s emerged just four years ago, and were the subject of a special report in the New York Times.

This is an important issue. Until the impact of such interventions is understood, there will be conflict between the West and the Arab world, and the problem of Islamist extremism is likely to persist. - Pete Winstanley, Durham.

HALL'S FUTURE

WEAR Valley District Council threatens to close the Elite Hall, in Crook, saying it is too expensive to run.

What rubbish. For a start, local churches pay exorbitant amounts to use the hall, and they do so regularly. More to the point the Elite has been there for generations, the focal point of social life in the town, without any suggestion until now that it is uneconomical - and of course, for most of that time local rates were a fraction of what we now pay as council tax.

When a vital local facility like the Elite, something which is part and parcel of our community, seems about to fall victim to a cost-cutting exercise, you have to ask just what WVDC do with the colossal amounts they extort from us in tax.

I can think of no issue that has ever aroused do much strong local feeling as this threatened closure and I call upon WVDC to abandon the idea. - T Kelly, Crook.