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Post by nickd on Apr 13, 2012 13:03:12 GMT 1
The time for talking about is over, it's now time to email your MP today and make sure they keep welfare benefits within scope of the legal aid scheme. The vote on April 17th is just hours away as MP's only return to the House of Commons on Monday the 16th April. They will be busy catching up on all sorts of things & won't have time to read lots of long and complicated papers.
Be clear about what's at stake now. Today the Government announced it will oppose the amendments made in the House of Lords, indeed it will go further with very little concession being made. It's opposing almost all of them and now it's really up to individuals to act by contacting their MP's. I appreciate that many of you may not feel as though it is worth the effort or perhaps you struggle with things like this; what I say to you is to put yourself in the place of someone who has to contest the state without any help - the reality is that for many of you it will be left for you to deal with on your own.
It's simple to contact your MP via 38 degrees or other points of contact. Here's what you do...
Use the links which follow, they will take you to the 38 degree site and then all you do is enter your postcode and a few basic details. They've got letters on their site. There are also a couple of templates below this post for welfare benefits, but remember there's also clinical negligence, industrial disease and domestic violence at stake too. Don't worry about getting all technical about it unless you really understand it all, the main things is to tell your MP you want them to oppose all or at least some of these amendments.
If you want to use the ones for welfare benefits as a template just select the print area by highlighting them with your cursor as you drag it across the text. Then hold down 'Control' and 'C' on your keyboard to copy. Then when you get to the 38 degrees site after putting in your post code it will divert you to a text box once you click 'get started'. Then just press 'Control' and 'V' and the template will paste into their site. You can change it around if you like, it's up to you. It really is easy so please do spare a few minutes and safe lots of people a whole load of hassle when they find they can no longer get help. secure.38degrees.org.uk/legal-aid-MP-vote
secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/legal-aid-ask-your-MP?source=twitter-link
Thank you!
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Post by nickd on Apr 13, 2012 13:04:59 GMT 1
Template 1 from people who advise others on benefits or those who just want to keep it simple. (Just copy & paste) [/b]
I understand that the legal aid bill will be voted on again in the House of Commons on Tuesday 17th April. We need to keep the changes which the House of Lords have made to this bill. Their amendments protect disabled people, children and victims of domestic violence from the worst of the reforms. Please vote to back the Lords’ changes and not waste their good work.
Remember, in particular the importance of amendments 11, 12 (these are now in the bill for consideration as 168 & 169) and also 119 which relates to the single telephone gateway amendment . These amendments are vital to people challenging the State over their welfare benefits in our Tribunals and ensure people can access our help other than through a single point telephone gateway.
The Tribunals judiciary has estimated that by 2015 the number of appeals will have reached a crippling 644,000 a year. This will cost millions upon millions of pounds. Mandatory revision before people can appeal and taking on even more staff is not the answer unless people are adequately helped with people being able to put their case. With legal aid, appellants win around 70% of their cases; - highlighting costly systemic departmental error. We help with earlier dispute resolution and more timely placement into the DWP's WORK programme. The government has announced it will concede to legal aid for Upper Tribunal & higher courts for welfare benefits with an amendment replacing 169 and 240; this will not help all of the problems in our First Tier Tribunals for which you need to support amendment 168.
The evidence is that for every £1 spent on welfare benefits advice £8.80 is saved by the State. These amendments save rather than incur expense.
Many thanks for your consideration.
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Post by nickd on Apr 13, 2012 13:06:48 GMT 1
Template 2 For people who need the support of legal aid for welfare benefits (just copy & paste) [/b] Dear (insert name of your MP - this is done automatically on the 38 Degrees site) Legal Aid, Sentencing & Punishment of Offender’s Bill to be debated on the 17th April 2012 in the House of Commons. (Amendments to retain welfare benefits specialist help in scope of legal aid scheme)I, Along with the vast majority of people support responsible welfare reform. However, there can be no denying that the government’s programme of radical overhaul of the entire benefits system is very much untried and tested territory. We have yet to see what the true impact upon the vulnerable and disabled will be and there is a need to make sure adequate safeguards remain in place. The implementation of Employment & Support Allowance has already resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of benefit appeals which have been lodged with Her Majesty’s Tribunals & Courts Service. The Tribunal judiciary has produced statistics which show an alarming increase in benefit appeals from 167,000 in 2008/2008 to 418,500 in 2010/2011 with projections that this will have reached 644,000 per year by 2014/2015. [You could always insert a bit about yourself to personalise your own experience..] For example "I suffer from a chronic form of arthritis and recently had to deal with a benefits appeal. It took a long time to resolve and I found it both stressful and injurious to my personal health. It is my own experience that tells me people should not be exposed to the trauma of dealing with such a challenging situation without access to proper help" There are very few constituent MP’s & doctor’s surgeries who will not have seen a sharp increase in the numbers of claimants turning to them for help. We believe the right solution is to allow paid professional benefit specialists, typically employed by well established organisations like the Citizens Advice Bureau and law centres, to be able to carry on with their work. They have a proven track record in dealing with around 130,000 often complex problems at a fixed fee of just £150 per case. This is how much their already under-resourced organisations are paid; regardless of how much time they may have to spend on a case. They achieve the right results with success rates of at least 70% which highlights their expertise and illustrates how often the authorities get it wrong. Their work is invaluable in achieving better prospects of an earlier dispute resolution & thus the avoidance of unnecessary costs. The House of Lords voted by a substantial majority to support the work of benefit specialists under the legal aid scheme in passing key amendments 11 and 12 (now for consideration as 168 & 169) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing & Punishment of Offender’s Bill. They also opposed the introduction of a single point telephone access point to access legal aid by voting for amendment 119 in the House of Lords which keeps in place the traditional routes of access by which many of your constituents are by comparison probably able to access your help. *I attach (a brief summary of facts or your own information or the Justice for All briefing for your consideration) I strongly urge you as my constituent Member of Parliament to do the right thing and make sure these vital amendments remain in place. I am very grateful to you for your consideration and I put my trust in you for your support. Yours Sincerely (Name) Read more: mylegal.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=frontline&thread=638&page=1#1495#ixzz1rvByqUHq
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