webofevil | (no subject) (Reply)

More special-interest whining from smug scroungers:

Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Dear Secretary of State,

It is with grave concern that we are forced to write to you again about the impact the Welfare Reform Bill proposals will have on cancer patients.

As representatives and supporters for the whole cancer community, we are speaking on behalf of many cancer patients and their families whom we believe the Welfare Reform Bill will push into poverty.

Cancer patients want to work. They haven’t chosen to give up the safety of employment. The assertion that providing hard earned benefits at a time of greatest need encourages a dependency by seriously ill cancer patients on benefits is utterly
without foundation.

The UK’s leading cancer charities have repeatedly asked for vital changes to the Bill. However, not only has the Government failed to address their concerns but instead you are proposing to make it even harder for many patients undergoing gruelling chemotherapy to claim the financial support they desperately need.

In our experience of treating, supporting, or being cancer patients, one year is simply not long enough for many people to recover from cancer treatment. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be highly debilitating. The ongoing and severe side-effects can leave patients struggling for years. Although there is clear evidence that one year is not long enough for patients to recover, the Government has shown no willingness to find a compromise....

- 89 signatories including the usual suspects—heads of cancer charities, etc -

[Full letter (PDF)]

A tip for the Secretary of State: quite a few of the signatories are themselves cancer patients. Leave it a few months before you reply and, statistically, there'll be at least one or two fewer replies to send out. Never hurts to save the department the price of a stamp. Keep up the good work!