• Review Concentrix and HMRC Investigations of Tax Credit claimants
    We're going to see Iain Duncan Smith next month and we want to take this petition with us with as many names as possible. You may not get why we're so wound up about it. Let me share a few stories (all real, local people). Before I do, lets just remember what tax credits are for. They are contributions from the government towards the cost of ofsted registered childcare so that work is possible. Many users of tax credits are single parents but many are also in couples. They are for people for whom work would not be possible without assistance towards childcare (which by the way has to be paid one month in arrears and is subject to fines for late payment). One woman was told that her tax credits would stop because her daughter doesn't exist. The fact that said daughter was crying in the background whilst her stressed and bewildered mother was trying to sort it out whilst wondering how she was going to pay for childcare was irrelevant. Another woman was told that her tax credits would be cut to £85 a month (a contribution towards an £800 childcare bill for 2 children representing well over half of the whole family's take home pay.)This was because concentrix concluded that a previous childcare provider had not been ofsted registered and therefore this lady was in debt to them for falsely claiming help towards childcare that year. Of course the provider had been ofsted registered, we may never know what information concentrix used to reach their conclusion but our member had to shoulder the full responsibility of proving her case, all the while on reduced tax credits and even had to arrange a meeting with her employer to explain that work would not be feasible if she couldn't prove her case. The member is now vindicated but the stress she was wrongly put under was extremely serious and unnecessary. Another member was subject to a thorough investigation of her circumstances after which concentrix reached the bizarre conclusion that her total childcare costs for 2 children were £4 a week....totally validates any claim that the government and their agencies are out of touch with real life...if such a cheap provider exists I want their details! I could go on....case after case, story after story - already vulnerable people being made to feel desperate, hopeless and quite frankly criminalised. Please, if you agree with us, sign and share to say this is not OK. Perhaps there's a case to be made for people to be investigated as benefit fraud happens - but the way it is being done is unnecessarily negatively impacting people who could do without it!
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    Created by Redbridge Gingerbread
  • Syrian Children Appeal
    I believe this issue is important because we have to whatever we can to save the lives of those that have embarked on these journeys. These children have had to flee their homes in search for a better life and we need to provide some sort of comfort for them. A few Syrian kids were asked What makes you happy? Moiad,8, from Dara'a, Syria said "There is no war here. Reading and playing. Helping my mum." Briksam,9,from Homs, Syria."I like going to school,studying and taking tests.Being with my family." Najam,6,from Homs, Syria. "Toys.When my older brother, Ahmed, comes to visit." These Children only want one thing , to live their lives as normal children and this is something they should be able to experience in a free world and not caught in the middle of war. We must remember that although their homes have been taken , we need to ensure their futures are not taken away from them. To find out more go to www.unicef.org.uk
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    Created by Fiyin Fagbohun
  • say no to Facebook dislike button.
    Because it will be abused by people intent on bullying and victimisation.especially among younger users.
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    Created by Kenneth Chalk.
  • Weedkiller: Not in our Bread
    Glyphosate is the most widely sold weedkiller in the world; you might know it as the active ingredient in Roundup. Government figures show its use in UK farming has increased by 400% in the last 20 years. Many farmers routinely use glyphosate and other herbicides to clear their fields of weeds before crops emerge in the spring. On the advice of the big chemical companies like Monsanto, farmers also use herbicides on crops shortly before they are harvested, in order to dry out the plants and make them easier to harvest. Tests by the Defra committee on Pesticide Residues in Food have found up to 30% of Britain's bread contained glyphosate. Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organisation, identified glyphosate as a ‘probable carcinogen’ to humans. The safety regulators in the UK and EU only look at glyphosate on its own. But in the real world, glyphosate is always mixed with other chemicals to make sure the glyphosate sticks to, and penetrates the plants it’s sprayed on. Many of these other chemicals are toxic. According to recent research, some of these mixtures can be up to 1,000 times more toxic than glyphosate alone. A recent European study found 7 out of 10 people had traces of the weedkiller in their urine. Glyphosate has also been found in the breast milk of German women. We now know that glyphosate has potentially significant health implications for all of us. There is no excuse for glyphosate use. Please sign our petition and keep weedkiller out of our bread.
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    Created by Ruth Semple
  • Dogs and Cats still being eaten in Yulin and Guangdong
    People think that because the Yulin Dog Festival has apparently been stopped, dogs are no longer on the menu. Just because it isn't labelled as a Festival doesn't mean it has gone away. Dogs and cats are still rounded up, some stolen from loving homes, tortured and killed or skinned alive in preparation for eating. These animals are thinking, feeling creatures not that much different from us. They deserve love, kindness and a good home, not starvation, cruelty, torture and death. The situation in Guangdong hasn't changed either, with thousands of dogs slaughtered and eaten locally or shipped to other places around the country.
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    Created by Carolyn Hucker
  • #noTTIP in Sheffield
    TTIP is a free trade agreement between the US and EU. With the difference in laws in these countries, this deal threatens multiple areas of our lives. Our online safety, our food safety (The US use chlorine to preserve chicken), our cosmetics, our right to protest, the building blocks of democracy, our environment and our free health services. For more information pop into a local LUSH store between the 18th September and the 2nd October or watch the video below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVs0aGCGEAk
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    Created by Meg Stickland
  • Create a Minister for Mental Health
    Currently mental health issues are looked after by a junior Minister who is in charge of care in general. Mental Health issues need to be dealt with separately and the government needs to make sure that people get appropriate care.
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    Created by Anne Marie Brody
  • Make Queens Bohemian Rhapsody our new national anthem
    Because the monarchy is archaic and we are paying for their royalties and it's costing us millions in tax payers money that could go to for example... the NHS. Also we could build more houses on their former land.
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    Created by Ian Gregory
  • Create post of Shadow Minister for Mass Extinction
    The total destruction of the vital environment and large swathes of animal life on earth, caused by the insatiable drives of capitalism threatens the entire bio-diversity of the planet in the long term and the foundations of human civilisation in the short term. Now, that wouldn't be very nice, would it?
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    Created by Connor Kelly
  • Providing HIV education in schools
    This is important not just for prevention but also what having HIV actually means and what it entails. We as a nation are far too unaware of what having HIV actually means and how it is transferred.
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    Created by Paul Duncan
  • time to reform parking enforcement and introduce technology to deliver service
    Civil Parking Enforcement has at its heart legal principles of fairness, justice and public service. On all three counts , local councils and central government including the department of transport have repeatedly failed to provide clear directions to the 'operation' of the system within the meaning and spirit of the law. There is a clear lack of imagination and the wrong uses of technology. No road user sets-out to break the law , cause congestion or invite upon themselves costs they have no budget for. Who wants to go for a £40 shop and pay a £60 parking fine ? Now is the time to reform the parking 'regime' for economic gains , user satisfaction , improved revenues based on positive actions , new jobs and the latest technologies .
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    Created by Mohammedali Kapasee
  • Refugees Welcome in West Norfolk
    David Cameron announced we’ll welcome 20,000 more Syrian refugees. But there’s a catch. This will take 5 years, leaving thousands of refugees in limbo. It’s now up to us to show that in cities, towns and villages all across the country we’re ready to welcome people now. Aylan, the toddler who drowned fleeing Syria, was just three years old. His town was under attack by Isis. His five year old brother and his mum also died trying to reach safety.We don't want Britain to be the kind of country that turns its back as people drown in their desperation to flee places like Syria. So let's stand up for Britain's long tradition of helping refugees fleeing war. Let's show the Prime Minister that we, the people of the UK, are proud to do our part and provide refuge to people in their hour of need. Please sign and share, or start your own petition for your town or city here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/efforts/refugees-welcome
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    Created by ralph sliwa