Charities demand restoration of benefits value

Mon,16 March 2015
News

Disability Rights UK is a signatory to this letter, published in the Guardian, demanding the restoration of the value of all benefits

Guardian letters page

We write as organisations working with children and pensioners, disabled people and those with long-term health conditions, in- and out-of-work families, and those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. We have sent a letter to the leaders of the three main parties calling on them to commit to restore the value of all benefits, and to maintain this in real terms in the next parliament and beyond.

The UK’s social security system provides essential support to many of the people with whom we work. It should guarantee their dignity, protect them against poverty, and enable them to have a basic standard of living.

Adequate social security provision benefits all of society, not just those who rely on it at any one time. If we do not protect the value of all benefits, significant numbers of people will be unable to participate fully in society, an outcome that surely none of us desire.

  • Alison Garnham Chief executive, Child Poverty Action Group
  • Caroline Abrahams Charity director, Age UK
  • Heléna Herklots Chief executive, Carers UK
  • Lesley-Anne Alexander CBE Chief executive, Royal National Institute of Blind People
  • Jon Sparkes Chief executive, Crisis
  • Matthew Reed Chief executive, The Children’s Society
  • Javed Khan Chief executive, Barnardos
  • Mark Lever Chief executive, National Autism Society
  • Disability Agenda Scotland (six member organisations)
  • Jolanta Lasota Chief executive, Ambitious About Autism
  • Fiona Weir Chief executive, Gingerbread
  • Geraldine Blake Chief executive, Community Links
  • Howard Sinclair Chief executive, St Mungos Broadway
  • Sir Stuart Etherington Chief executive, National Council for Voluntary Organisations
  • Liz Sayce OBE Chief executive, Disability Rights UK
  • Rick Henderson Chief executive, Homeless Link
  • Aaron Barbour Director, Katherine Low Settlement
  • Andy Kerr Chief executive, Sense Scotland
  • Anna Feuchtwang Chief executive, National Children’s Bureau
  • Marcus Roberts Chief executive, Drugscope