Women born in 1953 have been hit twice. All people, including men, have had their pensionable age changed once and it may well change again. These women do get their pension - at the old rate, women born in 1953 will not get the increase standard rate - have no chance to increase their pension by 10% p.a. if delay receipt to increase their pension (that option is now reduced to 5%.) - we have paid NI contributions for more years than people who will benefit at the new rate. This means that any woman born in the same month (but in 1950) - received their pension at 60.5, who those born in that month of 1953 will start getting theirs at 64.9 years - by delaying their pension to receive at 64.9 like me, they would either get about 44% more pension than me for their life or have 229 more weekly payments if we both died at the same age and received our pensions at the same age. - The average life expectancy of someone 3 years old older than me is not a lot different from me. The government are changing rules by stealth. Changing these rules more than once so they can approach this in a divide and conquer way as only those effected at each change might complain. Each time they change they revisit part of the age groups they have already changed and add a further age group. If you aren't affected this time, you may be affected next time. When it happens to you, it doesn't mean that they won't revisit or change or delay again especially at a time close to when you thought you would retire.

The proposed closures will reduce the accessibility of much needed NHS services to our communities. It will put added strain on services that are already stretched. Journey times to accident and emergency units and special care baby units will be increased for some communities, putting lives at risk. There will be added strain on the ambulance service. All closures will reduce accessibility for families and friends who wish to visit their loved ones, particularly as many sites are not well served by public transport. There will be added strain on an already stretched infrastructure across the county. Mental health services are already under funded with a shortage of inpatient beds in Dorset Psychiatric Hospitals. People have been known to have been conveyed by Private Ambulances to Private Hospitals in various parts of the country- sometimes hundreds of miles from their home, family and/or support network. Dementia services are vital in supporting those living with the condition and their families to live as independently as possible. Please see our website www.keepournhspublicdorset.com for further information. Join us on Saturday 15th October for a public demonstration.

The government want to change the way disabled people can appeal rejections and claim their benefits. The main change is holding the appeals over the telephone, on a webcam or even by reading submitted paperwork. The other worrying change is replacing a judge with a clerk or solicitor with no experience in disability law. Moving the process out of the courts to a decision made by a clerk or retired lawyer is dangerous as they don't have experience making fair decisions in this area. The clerk would also be given performance indicators likely to contain targets for how many people should be rejected. This makes the process more biased against the disabled person. If the changes go through, disabled people would only have their case heard through a virtual court or by submitting evidence on paper. This makes it much harder for disabled people to give detailed and persuasive evidence and for the clerk, to see how their disability affects their ability to work. When assessments for benefits are wrong, disabled peoples’ lives are turned upside-down. It put my family through months of stress and uncertainty. I was assessed as being fit to work although my condition means I can’t stand without help. But thanks to the appeals process in court, I won back benefits that were vital for my family’s survival. If I had gone through the new process I might not have got the benefits I am entitled to and rely on. For many disabled people receiving benefits can be a matter of life or death. The appeals process currently works for lots of people - these changes will prevent disabled people like me from fairly challenging assessments about a person’s ability to work. I count myself as lucky - I won my appeal and now as a family, we’ve managed to keep our heads above water financially. I worry about everyone else that might be wrongly assessed though, and what the proposed changes will mean for them. Everyone deserves a fair, legal hearing. The government are currently consulting on the changes so it's important we make our voices heard.

Deer Park Medical Centre is a GP Practice providing an excellent service to a large number of people in West Witney due to close on the 3rd November 2016. It is currently being serviced under contact to Virgin Care. Whilst many of us do not agree with the privatisation of health services, Virgin are undoubtedly providing a good service. Whatever it takes to keep this practice open must be done. You cannot seriously consider allowing it to close. Other GP practices in Witney are already badly overstretched and waiting times for an appointment are often measured in weeks. This is not the case at Deer Park, I am a patient and have never had to wait more than days, also they operate walk in clinics for urgent cases. Please don't use the people of West Witney as political pawns in this dangerous game.

Please help keep open the highly thought of Moakes Medical Centre in Luton which risks being closed in the New Year. I know first-hand how vital it is to get quick appointments and have access to great doctors. If it wasn't for the quick actions of one of the doctors in this surgery, my husband might not be here now. She requested an urgent appointment at the hospital and within 2 weeks he was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. 3 years on and he is still in remission. N.H.S. England and Luton Clinical Commissioning Group have taken the decision not to renew the contract for Moakes Medical Centre and are proposing to close the it in the New Year. This decision was taken in spite of positive reviews given in a patient consultation. Over the years many patients have built up a good relationship with the staff and the doctors, providing a first class service. This proposed closure will have a big impact on other surgeries in the local area, leading to longer waiting times for an appointment. Please can you to sign this petition to help me save this medical centre. Luton needs Moakes Medical Centre to stay open and continue to provide a great service to the community.

The government have announced proposals to close the Magistrates’ Courts in Camberwell Green and Hammersmith. This comes only months after a decision was made to close 84 courts in England and Wales including ten in London. When that decision was made, the rationale offered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service for one of the closures, Feltham Magistrates’ Court, was that there was capacity for Hammersmith magistrates’ court, described by HMCTS as a “modern purpose-built courthouse” to absorb its work. The closure of the busy Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court would leave four deprived London boroughs without a Magistrates' Court. The government’s consultation offers no assessment on the impact for the 100 or so, predominantly female staff currently employed at the courts. The difficulty in reaching alternative courts and the costs of traveling in London is likely to lead to more miscarriages of justice due to the longer journey times acting as a deterrent to victims and witnesses. The proposals place great emphasis on alternatives to the public physically traveling to a court building such as the expansion of digital technology and the wider use of video links. Existing technology is unreliable and often results in delays, and any new technology needs to be properly tested and evaluated before decisions are made on court closures. These further closures make no sense and will seriously restrict access to justice, causing further delays in the delivery of justice and undermine public confidence in the justice process.

In June 2014, the Government introduced charges for using the Child Maintenance Service. To apply for a maintenance assessment it costs £20.00, with no guarantee any maintenance will ever be received. To then have the maintenance collected, more charges are imposed on both parents. The paying parent pays an extra 20% on top of their maintenance assessment and the receiving parent has a further 4% of their maintenance deducted. This means on an assessment of £100, the paying parent actually pays £120 and the receiving parent only gets £96, with the government taking a total of £24, not including the application fee. So far the charges have totalled over £8.5 million and are rising to a staggering £1 million per month. This money should be supporting the future of children and going towards essentials such as clothes, healthy food, books, education and heating. The charges are designed as a deterrent for using the Child Maintenance Service and it is feared that thousands of children are not receiving maintenance as a result. Even the government’s own research predicted 100,000 fewer parents would make maintenance arrangements because of the introduction of charges. Where maintenance is received it is often at a lower amount, either because parents feel pressured to accept a lower payment rather than use the Child Maintenance Service and face charges, or because they use the service and have money deducted by the government. The new system also puts extra pressure on relationships between parents, particularly when there is a history of abuse and/or violence. Studies have shown how essential child maintenance is for lifting the growing number of children living in poverty out of that desperate and disadvantaged situation. The charges are due to be reviewed at the end of the year so now is the time to call on the government to end this unfair tax on single parent families. Sign the petition asking the Minister for the Department of Work and Pensions to end all charges for the use of the Child Maintenance Service.

The council have a history of closing down community centres in Brixton without proper justification. After a routine health and safety check ,the independent surveyor, Mr Chris Steel of C. Steele Associates Limited, assured us that we could remain in the building whilst the work was carried out. However, a month later we received letters from the council asking us to leave the building permanently. We've been working in this building for the past 25 years and it's one of the last remaining community centres that have not been sold to developers. Our work history at this building has been long and varied.This was recognised by the late great Muhammad Ali who attended our Jubilee 2000 Afrika campaign for the cancellation of 3rd world debt in 1999. Many political and human rights campaign's have been established at the centre. The centre is a hub for refugees and asylum seekers and people looking for advice and support around housing, employment and other social issues. Whilst the council want to force us out, our vision for the centre is to expand and archive the work that has been accomplished in the building. And to make the building a flag ship alternative space in Brixton.

This puts a strain on the already stretched A&E services not only in Kent but in the entire country. Our large elderly community have been the mainstay of this country over the decades, gave their time and their lives to serve this country and now, when they need help the most, it is embarrassingly unavailable. Not everyone can get to the William Harvey in Ashford which is now our closest A&E department and the waiting times have increased exponentially, especially now with the closure of the Canterbury A&E. As time goes on the infrastructure is constantly changing to meet the needs of an ever increasing demand on traffic which in itself adds to the increased need for A&E to be a permanent feature in the town as it is one of the busiest ports in the world.

Hospitals are being forced to send vulnerable patients home after surgery due to "bed blocking" but many still need time to recuperate before they are well enough to cope at home, especially those living alone and the aged. My own 83 year old mother benefited from a short stay at Cheadle Hospital after a knee operation. Without that support she would have needed 24 hour care, especially as she suffered from dementia.

Despite closing some time ago for refurbishment, East Barnet Health Centre has reopened and reestablished it's surgery. This however hasn't seen the reopening of the baby clinic, meaning that local parents /carers are left without the access to monitor their children's health closely and seekany advice or guidance they may need. The nearest open clinic is at Vale Drive Health Centre in High Barnet, meaning several of us find it difficult and are unable to travel to an already busy clinic. The health visitors say that they hope the clinic will reopen soon, however we hope to assist and show that the clinic being reopened is of importance to us within the local area. Our children are denied the chance to easily access the checks these clinics provide and parents / carers cannot access any information or advice they may need as easily as they should be able to. We miss out the chance to have our children weighed, measured, get advice on weining , breast feeding and so on. It is not always possible or realistic to travel and use the already over used clinic on a Monday at Vale Drive. Please please sign and share to show this clinic is needed and important to us local users.

It is another step to privatisation of the NHS. Walk in centres are all-new buildings financed by local taxpayers. They alleviate pressure on A &E. It is always very busy and its usual for an hour's wait to see a nurse which proves how well used it is