Video of interview with Sandi Downing, Chief Executive, Carers Northumberland
For support and advice
Online campaigners
Archive for June, 2012
Do you live near Hexham – Minerva Centre
28 June 2012
Located in the very centre of Hexham, Northumberland, The Minerva Centre offers a college environment, where students can learn and practice painting, pottery, design, photography, anything and everything concerning the arts!
Students can do fun activities like t-shirt, curtain, pillow designs, making cards and pictures with their own pictures and designs. And more structured courses for NVQ & City&Guilds qualifications. All of which is made fun! We offer a super friendly environment with fantastic staff and teachers. Come down to the centre and see first hand how our past and present students have flourished at The Minerva Centre.
Our mission is to help those with different learning abilities realise their full potential as individuals by providing craft, design and general art training. We aspire to develop individual strengths and build on self-esteem and self-confidence through the courses and practical work experience offered.
Minerva can help you reach your full potential by offering guidance while teaching you new art skills
DLA/PIP Help Group’s Response to – DLA reform and Personal Independence Payment
25 June 2012received from DLA Help Group
Please find attached our group response to the above consultation.
Submitted 10:20 25/06/2012read here DLA Help group submission
Launch of East Midlands Disabled People Against Cuts Group
25 June 2012Disabled people and their allies in the East Midlands are invited to the launch of East Midlands Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), a disabled people led group bringing to the East Midlands the campaign to stand up for the rights of disabled people against the vicious attacks being perpetrated by the Condem government.
Date: 30th June 2012
Time: 2 – 4pm
Venue: New Walk Museum & Art Gallery Café, 53 New Walk, Leicester LE1 7EA
Reversing from Recovery – from Spartacus group
25 June 2012Our new report, Reversing from Recovery, is set to upset the motor industry and cause ripples throughout our fragile economy.
Why? Well, under the proposals for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which under the Welfare Reform Act will replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA), the Government’s own figures project a 27% reduction in the number of working age disabled people eligible to access the Motability scheme. This equates to an approximate 17% reduction in the total number of Motability car scheme customers.
Reversing from Recovery uses information available in the public domain to show that the Government’s plans, by reducing access to the Motability scheme, will create a domino effect, including the loss of:
- More than 30,000 new car sales each year
- 3,583 jobs (from 21,080 jobs to 17,497 jobs)
- £342 million contribution to GDP (from around £2 billion to £1.67 billion)
- £79 million in tax receipts
In addition, many disabled people are saying they can’t see how they could continue working without their Motability car; they will have to stop paying taxes and start claiming out of work benefits.
Some would say that there is an alternative, such as public transport.
However, a few days ago Transport for All and DPAC invited MP’s to join them on public transport in London, to test this theory. Public transport in London is the flagship of accessible transport. Nowhere else has as many accessible buses, tubes, trains or taxis, but Londoners will assure you that the situation is dire.
If there’s a limited chance of using public transport in London, then the chances of finding it in a remote area of the UK are even smaller – many places don’t even have a bus every day, let alone an accessible bus. Without their adapted vehicles, PIP claimants will be housebound and unemployable, as many disabled people already predict.
Of course there is the Government response of Access to Work, and the vast amount of money that will become available for taxis. Except… extracting help is almost impossible in some regions. And of course, Access to Work won’t help anyone go to see their doctor, attend hospital appointments or visit friends.
To download the full report and a summary version, go to the Reversing from Recovery download page….
….but a report is no good if no-one sees it. To help get it to the people who matter, log in to the Spartacus Forum at www.spartacusforum.org.uk for simple ideas and templates to help you play YOUR part. There are also email/letter templates available on this site at http://wearespartacus.org.uk/letters/. Let’s make sure every MP, Motability dealer and local newspaper in the country understands the economic impact of DLA reform.
Remember: Alone we whisper, together we shout!
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Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families
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VIGIL TO SHOW SUPPORT OF APPLICATION FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW OF WCA
25 June 2012
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THE MENTAL HEALTH RESISTANCE NETWORK WILL BE HOLDING A VIGIL OUTSIDE THE ROYAL COURTS OF JUSTICE ON FRIDAY 29 JUNE
On Friday 29 June there will be a hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, London, where a judge will decide whether to grant permission for a judicial review of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) as it affects people with mental health problems. The WCA is being used to harass and remove benefits from people in mental distress, leading many to contemplate suicide: some, we believe, have already taken their own lives.
The MHRN is supporting the application for judicial review and is organising a vigil outside the court on the day. The vigil will be peaceful and will serve to show our solidarity with all people living with mental health difficulties who are in the firing line of Tory brutality.
We won’t know until the day before what time the case will be heard so we are asking people to arrive outside the courts at 11.00am on the 29th. Bring banners if you wish, but the vigil will be conducted in a spirit of respect for the court.
Please spread word of the vigil as widely as possible
MHRN VIGIL
29TH JUNE 2012 TIME 11 a.m.
Venue -
ROYAL COURTS OF JUSTICE
STRAND
LONDON
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Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families
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