Please sign the War on Welfare Petition

Head Office Circular No. NP/209/15/BO

To the Secretary all Branches,
Council of Executive members,
Regional Councils and Regional Offices

Thursday 22th October 2015

Dear Colleagues,

Please sign the War on Welfare Petition

The War on Welfare Petition (WOWP) was debated in the House of Commons on 27 February 2014 after gaining 104,818 supporters. The motion put to the House, called on the Government to produce an analysis of the cumulative impact of the Government’s cuts on sick and disabled people, and was overwhelmingly passed.

During the debate Mike Penning (then Minister for Disabled People) undertook to carry out several actions, including asking his officials in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to work closely with Dr Simon Duffy of the Centre for Welfare Reform to make the Independent Cumulative Impact Assessments carried out by him as accurate as possible. Since that debate nothing has happened. Dr Duffy has been in touch with the DWP but has not been able to progress his work.

Now the War on Welfare Petition is back and this time only has six months to reach 100,000 signatures.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who opposed the introduction of the work capability assessment under the last Labour government, is supporting the new petition, and saying: "Two years ago I backed calls in Parliament led by John McDonnell MP for a full cumulative impact assessment of the impact of cuts on disabled people, calls wilfully ignored by this Government. Disabled people have been targeted and are being hit up to 19 times harder by the cuts than others with estimated £28.3 billion cut from support. The Summer Budget announced another cut of £30 cut per week for those disabled people deemed unable to work, but able to do some work-related activity. I share the view of the huge coalition of DWP workers, medical professionals, disabled people's organisations, the TUC, and dozens of MPs who are calling for it to be scrapped. "

RMT supports WOWP calling for the Work Capability Assessments to be scrapped and replaced with a system that is fair, humane, and treats claimants with compassion and respect.

PLEASE HELP US THEM REACH THE TARGET BY SIGNING AND SHARING

Thanking you in anticipation.
Yours sincerely,

 

Mick Cash
General Secretary