Email your MP about proposed PIP changes
Is it ok if I post this Scopies? It's been arranged by the Organise network, they put up petitions to help working people, long-term disabled etc.
This link gives an example letter for you to send to your MP, protesting about the proposed changes to PIP - ie the Gov plan to replace payments with vouchers. All you have to do is put your name and address to the letter + it'll go to your MP automatically.
The more noise we make about this the better - we need to protest before Labour put it into practice + stop them in their tracks.
PS I don't actually qualify for PIP myself, but I can see the impact of this proposal on those who do would be devastating…
Here's the link:
Comments
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I’ve just sent a scathing email to my MP about everything he and labour have already let me down on. I haven’t copied this one and decided to write my own about 10 paragraphs long because I am sick to the back teeth of Rachel Reeves, Liz Kendall, Bridget Philipson and company thinking it okay to ruin my mental health and people here suffering too because of it so I’ve given him a piece of my mind with my full name attached letting him know he’s lost a loyal voter and every point as to why including the new education bill which will again target the mentally ill, this time being children. I wouldn’t be surprised if he loses his seat to reform (not that I’d want that) come next election as people round here are seriously angry.
I encourage anyone here to do the same and express their opinion because if enough of us do it, they might wake up.
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I did this and got a generic, trite reply back quoting the old 'those who can work should work' line. I sent a scathing reply, pointing out PIP wasn't an out of work benefit and suggesting more respect for very worried constituents would be nice. Haven't heard back. Conservative MP, Ashley Fox - name and shame
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Wouldn’t expect anything less from a conservative unfortunately. My MP is labour and grew up local and is at risk of losing his seat so I’d hope that he might care if he gets enough emails saying he’s losing votes. Not that I truly do expect him to care though, but writing to him is really the only thing I can do.
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The Tories had a published idea to replace PIP with vouchers. As I have said many times, Labour have so far only committed to the cost savings (across the entire welfare budget) inherited from them.
They are publishing their plans on how they'd like to achieve the savings in the Spring. Publicly they have stated they will be going their own way to make those savings.
So as of today, Labour are not planning to replace PIP with vouchers.
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This is great thankyou id never be able to do a form myself
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No but with Starmer saying he’ll be ruthless, Reeves saying ‘working people shouldn’t pick up the bill for the workless’ and now a bill that literally snoops on people who are already ill, whatever’s coming in April is going to screw someone already vulnerable over. Vouchers or not MPs deserve to know that it isn’t acceptable to repeatedly pick on the vulnerable who already live barely above the poverty line
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Then arguments should be focused along those lines when communicating with your MP.
Rather than protesting against a specific action they aren't actually currently planning to do.
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You're dead right Mangomungo (like the name!) + great work writing your own scathing email. Everyone around here is angry with Labour too, don't think they'd vote Reform here, they most likely vote Tory, or Lib if they're feeling brave.
But you're right, the real danger for the longer term is Reform, they'll win over swathes of the country at this rate + have GB News putting out endless propaganda for them. If they do get a majority next election, or a coalition with the Tories, we'll see public services + welfare support obliterated.
Got to say though, Labour so far are very much as I expected, carrying on to a large extent with Tory policies. Don't expect much from them, unless we make them sit up and realise they're going to get kicked out. I feel there's no real morality in their policies, no drive to make things better for the poor + disadvantaged. They're just there to feather their own careers.
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Thank you for your comment, I like your name too! I think I had rose coloured glasses about labour because I was getting into politics when Corbyn was leader but it’s a far cry from his policies now. I don’t really know what I was expecting but I’m seriously disappointed in the way they’ve acted so far and I think truly the only way they’re going to maybe change their behaviour (the backbenchers generally not the cabinet) is if they think their own careers are at risk! But a Tory reform coalition is absolute nightmare fuel I couldn’t think of anything worse
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Wish I had your confidence Kimmy. The problem is Labour are in a fix with the economy + need to make savings, and so far they haven't ruled out the voucher proposal to PIP. That's why it's a good idea to write to MPs now, so they're all in the picture about the strength of feeling about this idea, before they take the plunge + decide to put it into action. It would probably be a lot harder to get them to change their minds if they do decide they're going to follow the Tory's plan.
This is a useful report, came out yesterday in the Independent. Talks about changes to the medical assessment as well as PIP etc. Starmer says "he would be "ruthless in cutting benefits" if needed to balance government spending"
and they still haven't ruled out replacing PIP payments with vouchers. I don't have any misconceptions about them, I think the fact that they're so open about being ruthless means they won't have any qualms about doing these things if they need to. Sorry if it's frightening people, me too, but we really do need to speak up, and loudly, before it's too late:
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I agree with you there Kimmy, we need to focus on all these proposed changes, not just PIP (though they still haven't ruled out replacing them with vouchers).
The first post of this thread I put up was just an easy protest email about PIP provided by another organisation, better than doing nothing. But emailing your MP about all the predicted changes would be much better.
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Just read this in the Independent report (link above):
"It’s unlikely the government will press ahead with a move to vouchers, hinting that they are against the idea."
Ok, maybe you're right Kimmy, let's hope so! But the other "reforms" don't look good: they reckon "450,000 fewer people will be considered to have limited capability for work." So people will be told they're fit to work when they aren't, and they could lose support as a result, if they have an additional payment for limited capability for work.
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Anything at the moment is speculation, guesswork and opinion.
Lots of click bait articles going round too, probably cobbled together by AI that a journalist then takes credit for.
Until Labour make their plans known in the Spring, no one knows what is going to happen.
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We've the same mindset MangoMungo, me too Corbyn et al, although I had big suspicions at the time of Starmer's election that he was only saying things to win the leadership. I can't see much of a future with them, though better than the alternative…
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LOL… I really don't think they'd quote Starmer etc unless it was real, don't think it was all cobbled together by AI. But we'll see…
But in the meantime, writing to your MP is better than keeping shtum ; )
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I say cobbled together by AI because a lot of the articles are actually incorrect, talking about working & PIP (PIP isn't an out of work benefit as we know), using the term Incapacity when Incapacity Benefit itself was phased out over a decade ago, referring to "Government plans" when that specific idea hasn't been endorsed by the current Government… Either a very poor standard of "professional" journalism or AI.
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This whole situation is really stressful and is another factor that is making me ill. I have multiple disabilities including mental health ones. I have written to my MP to express my concerns stating my barriers to work and got a non generic response back saying she would take my feedback in account and express these needs in parliament. I feel that I should send another one stating my wider concerns about the Labour Government and what this is doing to the most vulnerable. They are supposed to be about the most vulnerable in society and about Justice etc but are targeting the most vulnerable rather than the least. The rhetoric is that we are lazy and are capable of work but yet a lot of us aren't, if I could go out to work I would jump at the chance. Quoting the tax payer and yet until this illness hit I was working, I went to University and paid my own way through that and yet now that I am incapable of working they make me feel worthless and of no value. It is frustrating and heartbreaking.
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I can empathise with you - most of us if we were able to would love to work it isn’t a case of being lazy or workshy like the press keeps harping on about. I tried my hardest to go to college, to work etc but I just can’t do it and I’m just going through assessment for autism and adhd as it was missed when I was young as I just break down at any sign of stress. I would definitely write to your MP again if you feel able to as the more of us express our opinion, they may start to worry that they’ll lose their seats come next election and I think that’s the only way they’re going to realise what they’re doing. I have good days and bad days with it but the worry is constant especially about losing the £400 health element as my pip claim hasn’t been accepted yet. You’re definitely not worthless though and that’s not determined by your ability to work, disabled and ill people contribute in different ways to society than financially and if the chancellor has dug herself into a hole she needs to get herself out of it without punishing the vulnerable.
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Well, you're right to point that out Kimmy, maybe you're right about AI too…
We won't really know until they announce something, as you say. I just don't like sitting around waiting + not knowing. I'd sooner fight…
It's really hard trying to get detailed info about what the Tories were actually planning to do, and what Labour is likely to do, having these plans. Disability Rights UK gives what I think is a good likely scenario, which you can read about here:
I don't think their article is just clickbait, as a lot of the things they talk about are given in a sketchy way on the Gov site, here:
One thing's for sure, we're an easy target for Labour, they only have to play on the idea of people being "workshy", which a lot of the public believe already. So I won't be at all surprised if they do these things. It won't upset those holding real power like multi-millionaire investors.
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A lot of us are in the same boat Kitsmum, you aren't alone feeling like this. Being told you're useless and "workshy" and a burden to society, while constantly worrying about how to pay for your meals + bills, takes a toll after a short while. The never-ending poverty and the isolation it brings can have a huge effect on your mental health. It can make people unemployable, and they know that, it's not just the immorality of keeping the long-term sick and disabled on such a low income that they find it hard to survive, it's also totally counter-productive.
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