The Universal Credit Bill is now certain to become law, after the PIP 4-point rule was removed from the legislation to prevent a rebellion by backbench Labour MPs and the bill was certified as a "money bill" meaning that the Lords cannot change it.
But there are many more battles ahead, most likely beginning with the Pathways To Work White Paper. So we're leaving all the suggestions for things you can do up here, for the next time they are needed.
Take part in the Pathways To Work consultation
Contact a member of the House of Lords
Contact an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)
Contact organisations you have a connection with
Take part in the Pathways To Work consultation
The consultation is now closed, the results will appear on this page.
Contact your MP
Whatever party your MP is a member of, it is worth contacting them.
You can email your MP via Write To Them Make sure you include your name and address so that they know you are one of their constituents.
Whatever party your MP is a member of, it is worth contacting them.
You can email your MP via Write To Them Make sure you include your name and address so that they know you are one of their constituents.
Even better, write them a letter or arrange to talk to them in-person at a constituency surgery.
Poor responses from MPs
Many people have told us that they’ve contacted their MP, especially a Labour one, and either received no reply or just a standard response setting out the party line, which doesn’t address their concerns at all. What can you do if you are in that position?
Your details
The first thing is to make sure you include your name and address on all correspondence with your MP. If you don’t, it can be ignored on the grounds that you may not be that MP’s constituent.
Keep it short
It might be better to send several emails spread over a period of days or weeks rather than one very long one which your MP, or their staff, never get to the end of.
Think of one or two important points you want to make and stick to those in your email or letter.
Try different contact methods
If you don’t get a proper response, or any response, consider phoning your MP’s constituency office and trying to arrange a face-to-face meeting or a telephone conversation, where you can put your views across clearly.
Make your MP’s lack of engagement public
The Green Paper changes are a matter of huge importance to thousands of every MP’s constituents and how your MP votes could affect their lives considerably. So, if your MP won’t engage with you on this subject, consider publicising that fact on social media and in the letters pages of your local papers. Most MPs like to be thought of as good constituency MPs, so this may encourage them to respond.
Keep writing
Very few Labour MPs in particular, are going to be willing to openly criticize their leadership in writing to a constituent. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t getting worried or that they aren’t saying something very different to their colleagues. You have no way of knowing what effect your communications are having, so keep them up because they may be making a difference.
Above all – don’t be discouraged
You have nothing to lose by contacting your MP. It may make a difference. Doing nothing definitely won’t. But even if your efforts don’t achieve tangible results, you will know that you did everything you reasonably could to help yourself and others. Which is more than any MP who votes for these cuts can ever say.
Contact a Lord
You don’t have your own member of the House of Lords, in the way you have an MP. But the House of Lords can do a great deal to challenge, delay and sometimes even change legislation.
If you visit the Lords section of Write To Them there is an option to “Find a Lord interested in my topic”.
You can put in key words like “PIP”, “social security”, “depression” – it’s best if you enclose them in quote marks – and you’ll be given a list of the Lords who have spoken about your chosen subject the most. It will also tell you which party, if any, they belong to. It’s worth checking what they have said on the subject as some may be strongly anti-claimant.
Alternatively, you can select a Lord who has a connection with where you live or work.
At the top of their results page there will be a link saying “I want to write to. . .” which will allow you to email them.
As with MPs above, please aim to be polite and reasonably brief.
Contact your councillors
Local councillors don’t have a say in national policy making, but they are likely to have a close connection with their local party machine and can feed back rising concern about these measures. If the Green Paper cuts to benefits go through, they are likely to place an increased strain on local services . The Disability Policy thinktank forecast that the cuts will lead to £1.2bn in extra costs for the NHS and local care services provided by councils, so councillors should be concerned.
Councillors are beginning to speak out.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves' local Labour party has written to her to say it does not support the cuts.
Meanwhile Labour councillors, who control the council in Cheshire West and Chester have approved a motion stating: “This council stands in solidarity with disabled people and calls on the Government to reconsider its approach to welfare reform.”
You can find your local councillors here
Contact an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)
As well as contacting your own MP about the proposed benefits cuts, you may be able to get your message to other MPs of all parties, if there is an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) which covers your condition.
APPGs consist of members of both Houses of Parliament, from all parties, who share an interest in a particular topic. A number of these groups relate to different health conditions.
We've put together more information and a list of the most relevant APPGs here.
Meanwhile the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Poverty and Inequality has made a call for evidence to examine the disproportionate impact of poverty a call for evidence to examine the disproportionate impact of poverty and inequality on disabled people. This short inquiry will inform discussions around the upcoming green paper on disability benefit reform. Closing date Monday 14 April
Contact local media
Local newspaper are often fairly desperate for content, including reader’s letters. You can ask for your name and address to be withheld to maintain your privacy. Write about why you are concerned about the cuts and encourage other readers to complete the consultation or contact their MP.
Some claimants are going further and getting stories in the media about their fears, like these:
'They're taking PIP benefits from me - but I'm in too much pain to work'
Benefit changes could be 'life or death' - claimant
Greenwich woman Parkinson’s: 'PIP vital for daily living'
The Local Media Works website allows you to find the contact details for local papers in your area.
If you have a local BBC Radio station, you can find their contact details here.
Contact organisations you have a connection with
If you have a connection with a major charity, please contact them if you think they could be doing more to publicise the Green Paper changes and encouraging their members/visitors to take action.
Alternatively, if they are doing a great job, let them know that it's appreciated, because there's always an element of worry for a charity when it criticises the government
And you may have a connection with a smaller charity or a local branch that could also be more proactive on this issue, perhaps with some support from you.
Or you may be have contacts with an advice agency, housing association, trades union, housing association , food bank or some other group that could also be encouraged to do their bit.
Offer to be a case study
Disability charities have had very little time to respond to the Green Paper and, for some, finding people who can help with a campaign at such short notice is likely to be a real problem.
Could you volunteer to be a case study? This could just involve setting out, on conditions of anonymity, how the Green Paper cuts are likely to affect you. Or you might e willing to take a larger role in getting information out.
Either way, it would be worth contacting organisations that cover your condition and offering to be a case study.
Sign a petition
Signing a petition probably doesn’t achieve much on its own, in most cases. But if it’s just one of a range of ways you are trying to make your voice heard then it’s worth doing.
Let us know in the comments section about any petitions you have spotted.
Support a campaign
There may be campaigns being run by different organisations that you can support. One way to find them is to search #WelfareNotWarfare
Take part in a protest
Let us know in the comments section or drop us an email, if you are organising a protest or aware of one.
