[guide.chat] Save DLA & AA: the second task
- From: "Scott C" <castledine10@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:15:48 +0100
Well only 19000 people agree with me anyway.
----- Original Message -----
From: Benefits and Work
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:36 AM
Subject: Save DLA & AA: the second task
It's been an extraordinary fortnight since this campaign began. So, apologies
for the long email, but we want to get everyone caught up.
AA & DLA WON'T END ON 13 NOVEMBER
Firstly, we want to make it absolutely clear that AA and DLA are not going to
be abolished on 13 November, because some people seem to have got that
impression.
We're asking you to make your voice heard before the green paper consultation
period ends on 13 November because, if you don't, it makes it much more likely
that disability benefits will be handed over to local authorities at some time
in the future.
EMAILING DISABILITY ORGANISATIONS
Over 19,000 people have now signed up to the campaign and last week disability
charities were deluged with emails after we asked campaigners to contact them
and ask what they are doing about this issue. So much so that after a few days
we had to ask you to stop sending emails, as they were simply being met with
standard responses and were very unlikely to even be being read.
But you got the message across in astonishing numbers and with extraordinary
speed and effectiveness. It is very unlikely that there is a disability charity
in the UK that is not highly aware of this issue and also aware that their
members are watching how they deal with it. You can read more about this at:
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/latest-news/1097-stop-press-charities-left-reeling-by-your-response
We think it would be excellent if as many disability charities as possible were
monitored over the coming months to check the degree to which they publicise
this issue, consult with their members and respond to the green paper. It's not
something we have the resources to do here. But we're hoping that groups of
claimants with an interest in a particular charity might get together to do
this.
The Carer Watch website below has made a forum available for anyone involved in
this campaign to use for free, you don't have to be a Benefits and Work member.
You might want to try to meet up there with people with an interest in the same
organisation.
CONTACT YOUR MP
This week we're asking you to contact your MP and/or regional assembly member
and ask them what they are going to do about this issue.
Once again, we're not going to provide a standard letter because we think that
will be taken a great deal less seriously than your personal opinions. But some
of the things you might want to include are:
Tell your MP that you are concerned about proposals in the green paper to hand
disability benefits over to local authorities.
Would the proposals make you less independent or affect your quality of life?
Ask them to ask the secretary of state for work and pensions to provide a
precise list of which benefits may be affected now or at some time in the
future. You might also want to ask for an explanation of why such unclear terms
were used in the green paper when people's future is at stake and they are
supposedly being consulted with.
If your MP isn't Labour, ask them what their party's policy on this matter is.
Whatever party they belong to, ask them if they are prepared to give an
assurance that they personally will vote against any plan to transfer funding
from attendance allowance or disability living allowance to local authority
control.
Would you vote for another party if you thought they would be less likely to
cut your benefits? If so, tell your representative. - they may be interested to
hear that.
You can write to your MP at their constituency office or at the House of
Commons (though it may take longer to get a reply from there as MPs are on
holiday at the moment) or use Write to Them which is also useful just for
identifying who your representatives are:
www.writetothem.com/
WHERE TO SHARE YOUR REPLIES: CARER WATCH
Rather like the disability charities last week, we were completely overwhelmed
by your emails. There's no possibility of us being able to answer them all.
However, if you're a member, you can post information in our discussion forum
at:
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=showcat&catid=13
Whether you're a member of Benefits and Work or not, you can also post in the
Carer Watch forum below.
Although set up by carers, Carer Watch is being used by sick and disabled
claimants as well. We've heard a lot from Carer Watch in recent weeks about the
work they've done to try to get carers organisations to be more assertive in
relation to benefits and to consult more with members and we've been very
impressed, particularly as they are an entirely unfunded group.
They've set up a special forum for this campaign, you have to register to post,
but it has the huge advantage that it's entirely free:
carerwatchdotcom.myfineforum.org/about748.html
We've also written a brief article about the kind of responses you're likely to
receive from your MP:
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/latest-news/1098-beware-weasel-words
AND FINALLY . . .
Congratulations on what you've achieved so far. The campaign has grown so
quickly and spread awareness of this issue so widely that we've dropped our
original plan to send out an email with a new task each week. The idea of
chipping away bit-by-bit at different disability agencies that we originally
had no longer seems to make sense. But there will be more emails over the
coming weeks - we have at least one more major task after this one - and we'll
be keeping people informed after that.
What would be really excellent now is if the realisation that there are many
thousand of claimants out there who are able to get together and act for a
common purpose could be translated into something longer lasting. There's no
point in a private sector company like ours trying to spearhead this - we are
far too open to the accusation that we are only in it for the money.
Is it time for someone to revive the idea of a Claimant's Union?
Good luck,
Steve Donnison
Please feel free to forward or publish this email.
Benefits and Work Publishing Ltd
Company registration No. 5962666
(c) 2009 Steve Donnison. All rights reserved.
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