Friday 11 September 2015

Welfare Reform Bill - Letter to the Editor in The Daily Telegraph

This Letter was published in today's Daily Telegraph from a number of faith leaders and others:

SIR – The extensive cuts being debated by MPs this week as part of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill include restricting child tax credits, removing the work-related activity component of the Employment and Support Allowance and further reducing the benefit cap.

Despite a welcome increase in the minimum wage, it is now widely understood that this Bill will make low-income working families worse off and penalise disabled people who are taking their first steps back to work.

An effective social safety net based on dignity and compassion is vital in any just society, yet this Bill will make the lives of already vulnerable households ever more precarious.

Paul Parker
 Recording Clerk, Quakers in Britain
Niall Cooper
 Director, Church Action on Poverty
Cathy Ashley
 Chief Executive, Family Rights Group
Dave Prentis
 General Secretary, Unison
Jonathan Arkush
 President, Board of Deputies of British Jews
Amanda Batten
 Chief Executive, Contact a Family
Megan Dunn
 President, National Union of Students
John Ellis
 Moderator, General Assembly of the United Reformed Church
Duncan Exley
 Director, The Equality Trust
Lt-Col Melvin Fincham
 Secretary for Communications, The Salvation Army
Sally Foster-Fulton
 Convener, Church and Society Council, Church of Scotland
Alison Garnham
 Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group
Rev Steven Keyworth
 Team Leader of Faith and Society, Baptist Church
Derek McAuley
 Chief Officer, General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches
Judith Moran
 Director, Quaker Social Action
Helen O'Brien
 Chief Executive, CSAN (Caritas Social Action Network)
Mohammad Shahid Raza
 Founder Trustee, British Muslim Forum, and Head Imam, Leicester Central Mosque
Chaya Spitz
 Chief Executive, The Interlink Foundation
The Rt Rev David Walker
 Bishop of Manchester
The Rev Steven Wild
 President, Methodist Conference

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