I’m not sure if this has appeared on the forums before, but there’s an “e-petition” calling for the introduction of winter heating payments for people with cancer at petitions.number10.gov.uk/Cancer-keepwarm/#detail that only has 215 signatures to date. Thought some of us might want to sign this petition, especially in view of the current freeze.
The petition says:
“Cancer patients need to keep warm due to the treatment they receive, as it is much harder than normal when on chemotherapy. This means during the winter the heating needs to be on throughout the whole day. This puts an unbearable financial strain on families when often they are trying to manage on benefits and carers have had to give up work to care for a loved one. I believe that cancer patients should be entitled to a winter heating allowance, regardless of their age, inline with pensioners.”
An early Government response cited DLA as the answer to our heating issues, but not all of us are elligible for DLA, and it’s meant to pay for additional care/mobility support, not fuel.
The Macmillan website also has a campaign around this issue, with an e-mail to send to our MPs – mine has responded positively, so we’ll see what happens next.
One thing I remember from my chemo January before last is whacking the heating up to keep warm and then the shocking bill that followed. Off to sign and round up some more signatures too.
There have been a couple of other recent e-petitions calling for winter heating allowance to be extended to people with various health conditions/illnesses, with the Government response sticking to their “people in most need” policy. But we need to remember that this was also their response to our campaign to obtain free prescriptions for people with cancer in England, and this was finally successful last year. So please do keep up the campaigning!
Forgot to mention that, when you sign the e-petition, you’ll receive an e-mail from the Number 10 website. You then need to click on the link in their e-mail for your signature to register.
Marilyn x