PRESS RELEASE JANUARY  2011

Boris adds £14 million to cost of Freedom Pass

The concessionary travel Freedom Pass for elderly and disabled people is safe for another year, but it will cost Enfield Council - and all other London councils - more money because London Mayor Boris Johnson has
torpedoed a five-year deal to hold charges down.

Revealing the result of a 10 month-long negotiation between the councils and Transport for London (TfL),. Monty Meth, Enfield Over 50s Forum campaign coordinator, warns of a longer-term threat to scrap the early morning
peak time travel to reduce the scheme¹s cost. 

Both conservative and labour candidates at the 2008 London Mayor election pledged to end the Freedom Pass restriction to a 9am start on TfL's bus and underground routes, so the concession is now for the first time available
24x7. While I can't see this changing before the 2012 mayoral election, it would not surprise me to find it being axed to control the scheme's overall costs, said Monty Meth

Last February, London councils and TfL, chaired by Boris Johnson agreed to share the extra cost of using the Freedom Pass before 9am on weekdays, but it was scuppered in October by the Mayor. It means that instead of paying £261.7 million to TfL in the coming year for being able to use the Freedom Pass on buses, tubes and DLR routes, London councils will be charged £275.48 million ­ an increase of almost £14 million which will have to be
found by cash-pressed councils.

The total charge for the Freedom Pass to be shared by all 32 London councils and the City of London in the financial year 2011/12 is nearly £296 million. In addition to the above payment to TfL, overground train companies will get
£17.9 million and £1.7 million will go to independent bus companies.

Islington council leader Catherine West, who leads the London Councils transport and environment committee, told the Enfield Over 50s Forum: "With government cuts already hitting the poorest London boroughs hardest, the
decision by TfL and Boris Johnson to renege on their five year deal came as a real blow.

After urgent talks with TfL we've now agreed a settlement for 2011/12 but we remain in negotiations over further assistance to boroughs. I'm absolutely committed to protecting the Freedom Pass and the vital lifeline it provides to older and disabled Londoners. It's the best concessionary fares scheme in the country and I'll continue to fight any attempts tothreaten or reduce it."

The Freedom Pass is used by some 1.2 million older and disabled people in London and it can be used 24 hours a day, seven days a week on TfL routes. Outside London, the Freedom Pass is often restricted to bus routes after
9.30 am and train services vary. Enfield Council's share of the Freedom Pass cost in the coming year will be
nearly £9.8 million. This is some £1.3 million more than last year, but part of the increase will be offset by a crafty move by the new coalition government to wrap up the national concessionary grant into the total annual
financial settlement paid direct to individual councils.

So instead of the government grant of some £28 million going directly to TfL, which was then deducted from the amount charged for the Freedom Pass to each borough, the grant has been rolled into the lump sum going to each
borough ­ known as the Formula Grant - leaving each council to share out the money to meet its varying demands for services, including that for the Freedom Pass.

Once the extra money going into the revenue support grant is deducted it could mean that the Freedom Pass will be costing Enfield¹s council taxpayers an extra £400,000 this year.

'Although the Freedom Pass is safe for another year, the danger signs are clearly visible with transport operators all demanding more money to match the fares increases they are imposing on people at large. In addition, there are siren calls for the Freedom Pass to be withdrawn as a universal benefit and restricted to the poorest pensioners', said Monty Meth.

'The next move could well be an attempt to restrict the scope of the scheme and return to the off-peak restrictions that prevented its use before 9.30am ­ which stopped people using the pass for early hospital and other
appointments', he added.

Enquiries: Monty Meth 020 8882 1303 ends

PRESS RELEASE AUGUST 2010

Enfield council’s plan to load the increased cost of concessionary travel for pensioners and disabled people on to the proposed higher car parking charges is wrong in principle and threatens to damage community cohesion, says the borough’s Over 50s Forum.

Every family in the borough knows someone enjoying the freedom pass and to pass on its cost  to just one section of the community - the car user - risks playing one section of the community off against another and even creating inter-generational conflict. 

The LBE Cabinet has approved a report virtually doubling car parking and permit charges.  Part of the reason given for the increase is that the cost of all forms of concessionary travel has gone up from £8.2 million to £9.12m in 2010/11. 

The case for increased car parking charges is based on there being no increases for over three years; current charges are lower than other London boroughs and 30% below the N. London average; and there is extra highway maintenance costs following the worst winter for 30 years - all valid reasons to raise charges for motorists who park their cars and use the roads.

The charges for concessionary travel which, in addition to paying London councils for the freedom pass, includes the blue badge scheme for disabled people; the taxicard scheme which offers reduced fares in black cabs to blind and disabled war pensioners; the brown badge parking scheme for the over 70s should be shared by all council taxpayers - including pensioners - and be paid from the borough’s general fund or the £73 million said to be held in its reserves or balances, says the Forum.

“It is well-known that the over-65s are the fastest growing part of the population and that the numbers in the working population are going down - and this trend is accelerating.  This is already leading to threats to cut winter fuel payments to pensioners.  Some people want to means test both winter fuel payments and the bus/freedom pass,” said the Forum’s campaigns coordinator Monty Meth.

“We are concerned that one section of the community is being played off against another. We fear that if we are seen to place the cost of the freedom pass on to the car user - they in turn will support those seeking to whittle away at the concessions older people have secured.” 

“Things could become tense between younger and older generations, instead of being a united campaign of everyone - young and old to resist some of the cuts now being planned in Whitehall”, he added. 

“We are asking the council why it is imposing on car users ALONE the extra cost of the freedom pass when all motorists are not wealthy and driving 4x4s? Are not hard-working families with young children car users and are they not likely to be hit by the impending two-year wage freeze, let alone the threat of job losses? So why are we making life even more difficult for them”, challenged Monty Meth.

Enquiries: Monty Meth 020 8882 1303