Why Everyone Should Support the Call for #20More4All

 News  No Responses »
Mar 012021
 
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#20More4All: testimonies, stats & facts

 Welfare reforms, Universal Credit  2 Responses »
Mar 012021
 
DPAC Logo with text underneath "Disabled People Against Cuts" and then web address dpac.uk.net

To coincide with today’s day of action, DPAC is publishing “#20More4All – Why the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit must be applied to legacy benefits: testimonies, stats & facts”

The testimonies collated in the document have been collated together from three sources:

  • Responses to an online survey set up DPAC Sheffield and @ImaJSAClaimant. There were 177 respondents. 17% of these are on Universal Credit and have received the uplift. 84% reported they are in receipt of legacy benefits.
  • Responses to a survey carried out by Unite Community. 539 Community members responded. These include disabled people and unemployed workers.
  • Emails sent to Disabled People Against Cuts. These include three from legacy benefit claimants describing their everyday financial struggles and another 25 with copies of letters sent to constituency MPs asking them to support the extension of the uplift.

We have left the comments in people’s own words as we received them.

The research evidence section collates key findings from a number of recent reports that clearly evidence the need not only for the £20 uplift to be extended to legacy benefits and made permanent, but also the urgent for a new social security system that ensures a guaranteed decent income for all.

Linda Burnip, co-founder of DPAC, said: “The survey results show how necessary an uplift to legacy benefits is needed. People especially those in the WRAG who are being forced to live on a measly £74 a week are being left to starve or freeze. Even in austerity struck Tory Britain this is totally unacceptable.”

Andy Mitchell, @ImaJSAClaimant on twitter, said: “For me the comments quite clearly demonstrate how much the extra £20 is needed for the most basic of human needs. In a wealthy country, even after spending 10 years living through and being affected by austerity, it is deeply troubling that disabled people and families with dependent children are missing out on meals and cutting back on heating, As Linda rightly says, it is totally unacceptable – but it is something too many in society have turned a blind eye to for far too long.”

Jen Jones, founder of DPAC Sheffield and herself a claimant of legacy benefits, said:”I cried reading the replies, so many people who feel just like me. Forgotten, unwanted, or a burden, stated that they would wish the extra support for only the most basic necessities. To eat 3 meals a day, to be able to wash themselves and their clothes and to keep warm. We’re not asking for the moon on a stick. Support us to live.”

#20More4All – why the £20 uplift must be extended to legacy benefits – final

We Need Your Help… to Fight For #20More4All

 News  No Responses »
Feb 202021
 
DPAC Logo with text underneath "Disabled People Against Cuts" and then web address dpac.uk.net

At the Spring budget on March 3rd the government are set to announce a 6 month extension to the £20 uplift to Universal Credit.

This is welcome news.

But yet again the needs of disabled people have been overlooked. The government is making a deliberate calculation that they can get away with this; while they fear a public backlash if they make the £20 cut now, they aren’t worried about a fall out over their treatment of disabled people.

And why would they be when they have got away with the grave and systematic violation of disabled people’s rights over the past decade? But we have also seen over that period how they can be pushed into making concessions when they feel enough pressure over an issue. One example of this was in March 2016 when Chancellor George Osborne was forced to make a u-turn over plans to tighten PIP eligibility for people with access to mobility aids and equipment. At that time, different campaign groups, trade unions, charities and many Parliamentarians were all united in the same demand.

We have the same situation now: whether it’s DPAC’s #20More4All campaign, the Disability Benefit Consortium’s #IncreaseDisabilityBenefits or Unite Community’s #UniveralDiscredit campaign, we are all calling for the same thing.

But we can only succeed if we ALL make an effort and do what we can however small.

We are asking all our supporters to email your MP telling them why it is important to you that the uplift is extended to legacy benefits. You can find a template letter here: https://dpac.uk.net/2021/02/email-your-mp-to-call-for-20-uplift-to-stay-be-applied-to-legacy-benefits/

Please also email a copy to us at: 20More4All@gmail.com that we can send on the both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. We want to deliver as many letters and expressions of concern on this issue as possible to before the Spring Budget on 3 March.  

You can also have your say anonymously – about your experiences and what the uplift means to you but filling in this extremely quick and straightforward survey: https://forms.gle/Y5uB5Mp95oJfzgAg6 [Thanks to Sheffield DPAC and @imaJSAclaimant for producing this].

We are also looking for disabled people on legacy benefits who haven’t had the £20 uplift and are struggling to manage financially to speak to the media. If you could help us please send an outline of your situation and contact details to mail@dpac.uk.net

Please have your say. Disabled people’s voices are too often unheard. It’s time for us to show we have voices and to use them.