The volunteer Services Grants scheme enables many charities and voluntary organizations to keep going locally to provide essential services for those who are in need of it. Between 30-40 local charities and voluntary organisations will loose the chance to bid for the £366,000 funding to pay for essential costs. Youth services, homeless support and elderly support will diminish and 20 organizations have said that their charitable activities will half and are at risk of disappearing entirely. We need to now stand up for our charities that have given us all a safety net if the worst should happen and sound assistance when us or are loved ones need help.

if these homes and day centres are sold off to private companies, then ordinary people will not be able to afford to put their loved ones in these places, even as council run they are quite expensive, this city and many others in the country ordinary people are struggling to make ends meet, and when a loved one suffers from dementia it is hard to look after them and your family, and knowing that they are cared for and safe takes a great worry off the families who need these services, private companies means shareholders and all shareholders care about is money, and to make a profit, they make cuts in care, staff and wages and employ people untrained in dealing with the elderly and dementia

MCCH Aspirations helps at least 10 citizens of Shepway per day who are recovering from mental health issues, back into work and training. For many this is a life line, providing support in their darkest hour to gain hope to be a contributing member of society once again. They get results too.

Many people working in heavy manual and industrial jobs, and many women who expected to retire aged 60 started working full time aged 16 or less, their life expectancy is generally much less than people who started work later in life. They have also exceeded the maximum number of qualifying years N.I contributions by nearly 50%

Without this funding, two generations are disadvantaged: young parents who want to improve their education and skills, and their children who will also miss out on valuable early years education before age 2.

I had bacterial meningitis when I was 22. I was fortunate to survive. Meningitis & Septicaemia is the biggest killer of under 5 year olds. There is a vaccine to prevent this but parents have to pay for it. Too many children are needlessly dying because the Department of Health has not funded a thorough enough vaccination programme. They and the Government, our employees, need to hear our collective voice and demand this free vaccination

If you cut funding, the number of pharmacy will be reduced by between 1000 - 3000, this will in turn transfer their workload onto the remaining pharmacies, GP, Walk-in and Urgent Care Centres and A&E departments.The cuts will affect all pharmacies and damage the pharmacy network and all other frontline services providing patient care. It would benefit all frontline services if a National Minor Ailment Scheme (Pharmacy First Scheme) were introduced to move patients with minor ailments from GPs, Walk-in and Urgent Care Centres and A&E departments into pharmacies and provides cost savings far greater than £170 million.

The Monday to Friday service is to be withdrawn from 28th March 2014. The bus links the rural areas of Charlesworth and Chisworth to shops and doctors' surgeries and shops of Marple and Glossop and provides a link to railway stations at Glossop, Marple and Hazel Grove.The bus is a direct link from Marple and Hawk green to Stepping Hill Hospital.

There is far to much food waste when we have people going hungry. All stores should be required to donate unwanted food to charities and to food banks. It should apply to any supermarket with a footprint of 400 square metres or larger. If companies flout the law they are to incur fines. Supermarkets are to sign a donation deal with charities, which will be able to increase the quality and diversity of food that they currently get and distribute. In terms of nutritional balance, they currently have a deficit of meat and a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables. This will hopefully allow food-banks to push a fresh source of nutritional quality food to people and families in need.

14th-18th Dec 2015: over 350 individuals came to Loaves and Fishes Charity in East Kilbride for food for their family. They were desperate - mothers crying because they had nothing for their children to eat. Some were walking 3-4 miles with children in the rain. If it's happening in E.K. then it's happening in other areas. We get constant cries for help from social work & welfare depts because they can't help them. Their only crime is being poor. At least during World War 2 our mothers payed for their food. 2016 they come to food banks because they have no money

If you are not aware, the decision has been made to remove the second fire engine and retained Firefighters from Oakham Fire Station on the 31/03/16. Removing the second fire engine and retained Firefighters from Oakham Fire Station will mean slower response times to emergencies, which will have a significant impact, putting life and property at greater risk in Rutland and surrounding areas. There is also a very high likelihood of the Heavy Rescue Unit (HRU) also crewed by Oakham retained Firefighters and used for incidents involving larger vehicles also being removed. You may be aware that Uppingham are now recruiting retained Firefighters…..! This is because they are under crewed and struggle to keep their fire engine “on the run” (available for calls). If the second fire engine at Oakham is removed, the fire engine at Uppingham in most cases will be the fire engine to cover Oakham when the first fire engine (Oakham’s first fire engine) is on a call. When Uppingham are not available it could be a fire engine from Melton or Leicester covering. We all understand that money has to be saved, but removing front line services in not the way. We all pay our council tax with a proportion of it going to Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority (check your council tax demand notice for details). We do not mind paying this as we all feel that if we are unlucky enough to be involved in an accident or a fire, with rapid response from the fire service hopefully the outcome will not be too severe. If the removal of the second fire engine goes ahead leaving a greatly reduced service, putting life and property at greater risk in Rutland and surrounding areas, do you think we will then be getting a discount in our council tax to reflect the change…? I doubt this very much, so we would be paying the same for a greatly reduced service. We cannot let this happen, we need to keep all the people of Rutland and surrounding areas as safe as possible and respond to emergencies as quick as possible. This will be your last chance to make your opinion count; I fear that if the second fire engine is removed there will be no chance of it returning. Please sign the petition.

My daughter has a life long incurable disability. She did not choose to be so disadvantaged. She was born with the condition and her fiance has the same impairment. Both have autism, are highly intelligent, and like 90% of other people on the autistic spectrum are unemployed. The DWP placed them both in the 'support' group. This is a curious name as neither actually receive any extra assistance, financially or practically. It basically means they are 'unemployable', which is not great for self esteem. Neither chose to be out of work, on benefits and to live in poverty. What stops them, like others with disabilities, getting a job is employer attitudes, an individual's health, lack of experience and job opportunities, a review by the house of lords found in 2015. They were planning to get married this year and we were all looking forward to the day. It would have been a small family occasion, but something to celebrate. Even this small piece of happiness has been smashed by the latest revelations in the Guardian. Under the Tory welfare 'reforms' - I think the word 'changes' is more appropriate - if they marry, they will be moved over onto universal credits, which are less generous than the tax credits and ESA they currently receive. So much for the Tory endorsement of strong families. They have very little money now. Married, that would be even less. The hypocrisy amazes me. Iain Duncan Smith's speech in the summer of 2015 made the point that if the government wants to reduce the employment gap for those with disabilities, then support and financial investment are vital. Instead, these cuts are driving some of the poorest households into further poverty and penalising people who are too disabled, or sick, to work.