Save our disability benefits: Contact your MP
Your local NEU District is campaigning against the government's plan to cut disability benefits.
Pressure from MPs forced the government to back down on its original plan to freeze the level of Personal Independence Payment (PIP). More pressure can persuade Ministers to withdraw more of their attacks!
Please contact your MP about this. You can find out who your MP is, and their contact details, here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
Please find below a model letter at the bottom of this page, suggesting what you might write to your MP.
If and when your MP responds, we would be very interested to see their response, so please send your NEU District a copy.
Resources
Please print this poster and display it in your school or other educational setting. If you can print it on paper of a light colour other than white, this will make it easier for dyslexic people to read.
Image to be used on social media.
Dear [your MP]
I am writing to express my opposition to the government’s stated intention to restrict eligibility to claim disability benefits.
Many disabled people, both in and out of work, rely on these benefits.
[Personal situation where appropriate eg.:
I / my partner / a workmate / my neighbour etc currently receive/s PIP due to my/his/her/their [medical condition / disability], but fear that I/he/she/they will no longer qualify under the proposed new system. This would result in …]
I also believe that there is no justification for reducing benefit entitlement to young adults under 22. When our disabled students leave school, they already face too many obstacles in starting a career, furthering their education and living independently. This measure will simply increase those barriers.
As an education worker [add your job/school], I am very aware of the negative impact of poverty on students’ learning. As the National Education union has stated, “Removing support from disabled adults simply pushes their children deeper into poverty. It is commonly understood that, more than any other factor, poverty impairs the life chances of children.
[Add any relevant information about your school or other education setting eg. poverty levels in the local area.]
If the government wishes to improve public finances, then it would be better to look to the super-rich for money rather than taking it from those who need it. If the government wishes to help disabled people into work, then it would be better to compel employers to make jobs more accessible rather than trying to drive disabled people into poverty or into inappropriate jobs which may make their physical and/or mental health worse.
I look forward to your response
Yours
[your name and address]