Pensioner jail terms create pressure for council tax action

Pensioners are serving sentences in prison in an attempt to urge the government to reform the council tax. The Reverend Alfred Ridley, 71, has already begun a 28-day sentence in the Category A Woodhill prison near Milton Keynes for non-payment of a £63 council tax bill - and retired social worker Sylvia Hardy, 73, is due to begin a seven-day sentence on Monday week for non-payment of £53.

Her incarceration - probably in Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire - will coincide with the first day of the Labour Party conference. The pensioners and their supporters are hoping their actions will be discussed by delegates in Brighton and that pressure will be brought to bear on the cabinet, which appears to have turned its back on major reform of this controversial tax.

At the end of this year Sir Michael Lyons publishes his government-commissioned report on the future of council tax. Although the government has indicated it will only tinker with council tax rather than considering major reform or a new system, the actions of Alfred and Sylvia - and the others who they say will follow them to jail - will bring a new kind of pressure to bear. 'As a political statement, this is very powerful and must help people make up their minds,' says Mervyn Kohler, head of public affairs at Help the Aged. 'We have got to find a more satisfactory system than the current one as there will always be a gulf between council tax increases and the rises in state pensions.'

Both pensioners have refused to pay any increase in council tax that exceeds the annual rise in their state pensions. Ridley would like to see an increase in VAT rather than increases to council tax. Lyons's report will consider options such as a local income tax and land valuation tax - and the government might be forced to be more open-minded in appraising these alternatives. Concern is also growing as England gets closer to the 2007 rebasing of council tax - an exercise that will see many thousands of people getting much larger bills.

Una Ridley, Alfred's wife, says he is coping well with prison life although he arrived with only £13 in cash, no change of clothes, and did not take to the strip search. 'The prisoners in there are very supportive,' says Una. 'And one or two of the warders are as well.'

He is sharing a cell with a 23-year-old inmate and has already been taught to barter with matches. The Ridleys have only managed to speak once on the phone since he went into prison 11 days ago because of delays in obtaining a phonecard, but she was able to visit her husband last week.

Alfred and his family are reconciled to his being in prison. 'He chose to go this way,' says Una. 'The laws state that if anyone sticks to the route Alfred has gone that they can serve up to 28 days. The magistrate could have made it 20 days - but he was well within his rights to give 28 days.'

The Ridleys, who will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary after the reverend's release next month, were the founder members of South Northamptonshire Together Against Council Tax Increases.

Una is angry not just at the council tax rises, but also at gas bills (which rise 14.2 per cent tomorrow from British Gas) and petrol price rises. 'For people on pensions, everything revolves around how much money you have to spend to get through this life.' She is distraught at the idea that other elderly people on fixed incomes might need to sell their homes to pay these large and growing bills.

Sylvia Hardy is not looking forward to her incarceration but is prepared for the ordeal. Hardy and Ridley have health problems, and are unlikely to receive their state pensions while in jail, according to Age Concern.