COUNCILLOR Moulton, deputy leader of Southampton City Council, in reply to my letter claims that pensioners have been hit disproportionately by years of council tax increases, and inaccurately said that I claimed Southampton pensioners are rich.

That is a very poor defence of his party’s policy of giving a council tax discount to pensioners who have too much income to qualify for council tax benefit. If Councillor Moulton is really so worried about pensioners, why doesn’t he get his own Tory-led government to improve the council tax benefit system and to restore the cuts his government has made to the way inflation is applied in the circulation of pensions?

I have huge sympathy for pensioners faced with soaring inflation but, in truth, they are one of the few sections of the community who have some degree of protection.

They have at least been receiving pension increases while workers have been subjected to pay freezes or pay cuts, redundancy and threats to their benefits – as have disabled people below pensionable age who do not get the Tory council’s council tax discount. This Tory council is giving away money with its discount but making cuts to adult social care, pensioners probably being the majority users of these services.

People who do qualify for proper council tax benefit, who may be working, paying ever-higher transport costs to get to work every day and trying to support their family might qualify for benefit as little as £25 a year or less. But pensioners who do not even qualify for the proper benefit and who may live in high tax banded properties will get 10 per cent of their charge refunded by this council – and this can be as much as £250 a year. The Tory councillors do not seem concerned that a pensioner receiving the 10 per cent discount can actually get more than someone who is entitled to receive some proper council tax benefit.

It is obvious to any reasonable person that if the council tax benefit system is not paying enough to low income households the system should be improved. It should not be for the odd council here or there to award a discount just to one section of its own voters irrespective of whether they need it or not (and clearly discriminating against others) at the expense of jobs and services to its community.

Kirklees Council (Manchester) which was giving a three per cent discount to pensioners (less than a third of what Councillor Moulton tried to defend) has scrapped it to help deal with the public spending squeeze. It’s time Southampton did the same rather than cutting services to the vulnerable and sacking workers. I would love to see the Tory council petition its Tory-led government to improve pensions and council tax benefit discounts for the less well-off, but I won’t be holding my breath.

DAVID KEYWORTH, Chandler’s Ford.