APPG on M.E. on welfare benefits: invite your MP
October 05, 2020
One of the many people with M.E. we have supported to apply for PIP will share their experience of the welfare benefits system at this week's All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) meeting on M.E.
Please encourage your MP to attend this meeting, taking place online via Zoom, 4.30pm to 5.30pm, Wednesday 7 October.
Your MP can get details on how to join the meeting by emailing Carol Monaghan MP, Chair of the APPG on M.E.
Parliamentarians who attend will hear from:
- our Crisis, Support and Advocacy Service user about their experience of applying for welfare benefits with M.E.
- Ann Innes, consultant Welfare Rights Adviser, who advises the ME Association on DWP benefits
- Dr William Weir, who will highlight the problems relating to claims on income protection policies and other insurance-based payments for sickness or disability.
You can encourage your MP to attend by:
- sharing our APPG tweet with them
- using the template email at the bottom of this page.
Ruth Richardson, Operations Director, Action for M.E., will attend and we hope as many MPs are possible are able to take part.
What is an APPG?
All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal cross-party groups of MPs and Members of the House of Lords. They meet regularly to discuss, campaign and promote certain issues, in this case M.E. When effective, they are a great means of spreading awareness of an issue within Parliament and the media. At the inaugural meeting of the APPG on M.E. in January, the group agreed to focus on:
- biomedical research
- children and young people with M.E.
- access to healthcare
- access to financial support and welfare benefits
The group will look to produce a report on these key issues which can be used to lobby the Government to improve the lives of people with M.E.
Template email
You can email your MP or call their office by using the details found on the Parliament website. We've provided a template as follows for those that need it.
Dear YOUR MP'S NAME
I am writing as one of your constituents to ask that you attend the next meeting of the APPG for M.E. via Zoom, 4.30pm to 5.30pm, Wednesday 7 October. The group is chaired by Carol Monaghan MP. Please contact her office for an invitation and Zoom link on carol.monaghan.mp@parliament.uk
M.E. is a long-term (chronic), fluctuating, neurological condition that causes symptoms affecting many body systems, more commonly the nervous and immune systems. It is an often misunderstood condition that affects roughly 400 children and adults in our constituency.
At this next meeting, you can hear about the challenges people with M.E. face in accessing welfare benefits, and the stress this causes these already vulnerable people. If you'd like to find out more, please contact Sam Bromiley at UK charity Action for M.E.
Kind regards
ADD YOUR NAME and ADDRESS
