Good campaigning is all about good partnerships. It’s for this reason that we got together last week with 30 other charities, 60 cancer specialists as well as academics, welfare experts and patients. We sent a letter to the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith MP, raising our concerns around the Government’s plan to reform the benefits system.
The letter, which was covered by The Times on Wednesday 14 December, underlines the extent of concerns over the proposed reforms among the cancer community. Right across the sector, people are seriously worried about the impact that measures such as time limiting ESA will have on vulnerable cancer patients. The letter makes it very clear to the Secretary of State that he needs to rethink his plans – now.
However, we haven’t just been campaigning within the cancer community. We’re also working closely with the Hardest Hit campaign. This alliance of disability organisations and bodies, which represents people with long term health conditions, is equally concerned about the welfare reforms. Last week, the alliance delivered a giant Christmas card to the government. The card called on Ministers to deliver a benefits system that gives a fair deal to the most vulnerable in our society.
There are plenty of people up and down the country who have also feel compelled to act. Pat Onions, a campaigner on disability issues, has launched an e-petition on the government website. And George Potter, another welfare reform campaigner, has launched an e-petition that calls on the government to abandon its controversial plans to force cancer patients receiving chemotherapy to undergo an ESA medical assessment in order to prove that they are too ill to work.
We don’t have long to persuade Ministers to change their plans. The Welfare Reform Bill will reach the end of its parliamentary journey early next year. But given the level of concern that exists about the Government’s proposals, we definitely stand a really good chance!
