• Don't cut vital support for disabled people in Erith and Thamesmead
    I'm disabled and I struggle do things that able bodied people do. It's so hard for me and other people with disabilities to manage extra cost like heating the home to keep warm, and general things like have fuel in the car to get myself around. I'll start from the beginning. At the young age of 3 I was shot in the head with an air rifle, which left me with neurological injuries. Due to the way I walk I've damaged my spine and neck and now have arthritis in my spine and neck. I'm in a lot of pain on a daily basis. I take numerous amounts of pain killers including morphine. Not nice. I can walk very short distances aided, but mainly use a wheelchair. Disabled people need a voice: one that will be heard. I'm sick of living in silence. We, as disabled people are a part of the community and do need extra financial help. Stop punishing us.
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    Created by luke cooper
  • Stop Bullying In Schools
    This is important because bullying affects thousands of children across the UK and whether it be in, primary, secondary or college it can affect them greatly. When I was in school I was bullied very severely and it led to many future problems that I then had to deal with myself because of the bullies I had. Bullying can lead to a variety of different problems from anxiety to self harm. I myself when through self harm and am still dealing with it now, three years later, I am so far beating the urge, but the feeling is still there and I hate to think that so many other children are going through the same thing that I went through. There is a statistic that shows 1 in 30 children self harm, which works out 1 child per classroom, which to me is an outrage and if stopping bullying or at least doing more to prevent it, can reduce that statistic, I think a lot more children would be happier. Bullying doesn't necessarily mean a child will self harm, but I feel that if you are bullied is does knock your confidence, no matter who you are, it will knock you. If schools started to put in place real policies and procedures for bullying, like a zero tolerance rule and go through with real consequences then bullying will cut down. When i was in school I would often go to my headteacher with the fact that i was being bullied, and nothing was ever done about it. It got to the point where my mum would call in, but still nothing was done. I feel like this probably happens for a lot of other students, and I think school staff should take it a lot more serious than they do and actually do something when a student comes to them about being bullied. Children are often too scared to go and tell someone, children should be able to feel like they can talk to someone if they're being bullied. I would like to start this campaign against schools dealing with bullying. Eventually i would like to be able to go into schools and do talks about bullying, and maybe ask children to fill in a confidential survey about bullying with questions such as: Have you ever been bullied? Have you ever bullied someone? Has there been any consequences for your bullies? Has there been any consequences because you bullied someone? Has there been any consequences on yourself as a person because you've been bullied? What do you feel when you bully someone? Do you get anything out of it? I could then use these surveys to get statistics to use in other talks and to help show the severity of bullying in certain schools. This is an issue very close to my heart as i don't want children to have to feel the same way that I did when I stepped into school and to have to face the same issues that I did. I know the world is never going to be rid of bullying completely, but if i can at least make a small change in some schools across the UK, it would give me a great sense of achievement and i feel like it would benefit a lot of children.
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    Created by Jodie Barry
  • Rehouse the orphaned children in the calais camps and French camps
    These children are suffering they are orphaned They have been suffering for weeks We have a human duty to look after suffering innocent children They are no threat to us or our country We have to be a helping hand to those who are can't help themselves We cannot ignore this matter with more talks about nothing we are to take action
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    Created by Kate Eccles
  • Give state pension to anyone with 45 years of N.I. contributions regardless of age
    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%
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    Created by Nicholas Parkinson
  • Stop children's centres' funding cuts
    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.
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    Created by Hannah Staddon
  • Make The Univeral Credit Claimline Freephone
    In a written parliamentary answer earlier this month, Duncan Smith’s junior welfare minister, Justin Tomlinson, said they expect claims to be made online. The government’s universal credit website, however, advertised the phone number. An increasing majority of people do not use a landline phone, especially those on low incomes due to the higher fixed costs than owning a mobile phone. This new number is directly prohibitive to some of the most vulnerable claimants in the country and is a new cost hurdle for people in dire need. Along with this almost 6 million British adults have never been on line, with many more with no or limited access to the internet, again from the most vulnerable sections of society. Once again, Iain Duncan-Smith is playing with the lives of Britain's downtrodden, putting Universal Credit out of reach for those that need it most. Credit it the Guardian for the article that forms the basis of this petition (http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/17/iain-duncan-smith-refuses-to-set-up-freephone-for-families-claiming-benefits)
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    Created by Simon Wilson Picture
  • Maidstone Borough Council: Return Empty Homes Into Use!
    Homelessness in Maidstone continues to rise under the Tory government. The period from 2010 to the end of quarter three 2015 saw a more than tenfold increase in the number of households defined as homeless, from 12 to 157. This rise in recognised cases, along with the sevenfold increase in applications for help, shows a growing issue and a need for determined action to combat the situation. Despite these concerning statistics, the Council have undertaken a consultation, which closed on January 25th 2016, on a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO). This would effectively criminalise homelessness, by making it illegal to sleep rough within areas of Maidstone town centre. Meanwhile planned developments to build new homes continue to move forward, but only 15-30% of new homes will form ‘affordable’ housing. Affordable rent can be classified anywhere up to 80% of the market value of the property. The average private rent for two bedrooms in Maidstone in 2014/2015 was £745 a month. As it is widely accepted that rent should take no more than 30% of your monthly income a two person household requires a joint income of £2000 per month, the equivalent of £32,000 per year, to meet 80% of this cost. Projects such as the Winter Shelter, run by local churches and charities, are helping to alleviate the symptoms of this increasingly desperate situation. However, more must be done at a local government and national level to deliver on the causes of escalating private rents, and a lack of council owned social housing.
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    Created by Dan Wilkinson
  • Hold an urgent review into benefit sanctions
    This is so important because it is affecting people's ability to feed their own family. How can we live in a society where people are punished in such a way that they cannot feed their children? It is right that any system of benefits has checks and balances in it so people cannot abuse the system but we also have to have compassionate limits which do not affect the health and well-being of those affected. So many families are having to access the country's Foodbanks because they have been sanctioned. when a sanction is put in place this usually means that the majority of a person's income is stopped immediately meaning they are unable to meet their regular financial commitments including buying food. If they get a hardship payment after two weeks of a sanction this has to be repaid afterwards which adds more of a financial strain. If you refused to feed your dog as a punishment for some misdemeanor you would be prosecuted for animal cruelty but for some reason the DWP can do just that to a family by removing their ability to feed their family. Where is the justice in that? We need a robust system which is also compassionate and acknowledges that these people are human beings with a right to feed themselves and their families.
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    Created by Tracey Hume
  • UK Government To Force All Supermarkets To Give Unsold Food To The Needy
    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.
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    Created by Cllr Sue Sampson
  • Asda fines disabled customers
    Once a month, I take my blind amputee brother to Asda supermarket in Perth. During our last visit to the store, we were appalled at our treatment following the use of a disabled parking space. I discovered a fine which had been imposed on the grounds that my brother (who has lived in a care home for many years and cannot drive for obvious reasons) does not have a blue badge to display. Why should a genuinely disabled person be fined in an Asda car park for not displaying a blue badge? Blue Badge Scotland clearly state on their website: "The Blue Badge scheme is for drivers or passengers with severe mobility problems. The scheme provides a range of on-street parking concessions enabling Blue Badge holders to park closer to where they need to go. The scheme does not apply to off-street car parking, for example in privately operated car parks at supermarkets or airports." I immediately contested this fine with the store management and was shocked to discover that Asda have no power to waive these fines under any circumstances. This is because Asda allow a private company - Smart Parking - to run many of their car parks across the country. This company exploits the blue badge system under their "contract" agreement and employ their own staff to cowardly affix parking fines to windshields without care or consideration for who could be using this space. By allowing such a company to run their parking areas, Asda are complicit in this greedy money making exercise. Following my formal complaint, I had a call from an Asda corporate employee who claims to be among the highest echelons of customer service representatives. This individual showed no understanding or compassion whatsoever, responding to my issue with cold bureaucracy. This employee showed (as with any other member of Asda management that i have discussed this issue with) utter incompetence in understanding the difference between criminal law and contract law. I have been persistently shamed as having “broken the law”, which is absolutely not the case. Perhaps the most shocking revelation during this call is that Asda have confirmed they DO NOT provide their own spaces for disabled people who do not have (perhaps have forgotten or never had the need for) a blue badge. Their best suggestion was that I use the drop off point at the front door. This shows an incredible lack of understanding as they expect me to leave my blind, wheelchair bound brother unattended while I find a regular space. My brother is effectively barred from Asda as there are no suitable spaces to allow safe access to their stores. This amounts to discrimination against disabled customers, as confirmed in my correspondence with Citizens Advice Scotland. They have suggested that there is a strong argument here for the discrimination against the disabled and they have notified trading standards with regards to this issue. I am grateful to have guidance and support of local mps and msps on this matter in addition to a local newspaper that intends to run our story. PLEASE SIGN this petition to help prevent other people from suffering this discrimination, humiliation and indignity while visiting their local Asda store. N.B. Tesco have confirmed that they do not treat their disabled customers in this way and are equally shocked by the conduct of Asda.
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    Created by Bill Cuthbert
  • legal aid for child cases
    This is so important.. how can a child custody case be judged honesty and truthfully if one or both parents cannot afford representation. .. it means that the parent who CAN afford a lawyer has an advantage over the other, as he or she will not know the law as well as a lawyer. This means that the child's welfare is NOT being judged fairly
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    Created by Andy Symzz
  • NO TO FOOD BANKS
    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
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    Created by DENIS CURRAN