No to the cuts that make Families suffer

  Dear Councillors Our deputation against the cuts to the Council Tax Reduction scheme, which   was to be led by Susan Pashkoff of East London Community Unite tonight, was blocked on the grounds that scheme was not on the agenda.  I do not speak for the other members of the deputation, but in my view this was pure sophistry, these proposed benefit cuts will reduce the incomes of the most vulnerable families in Redbridge and so deepen poverty. The cuts are part of the budget which will be voted upon this evening.  English child deaths are rising in a BBC report titled “Child death rates on the rise in England” of last November. The Guardian reported on 27 th February that: “Millions of people – including one in five families with children – have gone hungry or skipped meals in recent weeks because they could not regularly afford to buy groceries, according to new food insecurity data.” Conservative central government cuts are the root cause of the issue. Which is wh...

  Kelly and Gordon Murrell are a fine example of good people who are prepared to speak out for vulnerable children. Gordon did many years’ service for his country in the army at https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/news/nov-2023/lest-we-forget-the-peace-keeping-battalions/ He is now 80, and not in the best of health. Last night (27th February)   Hugh and Kelly went   to 10 Downing Street to deliver a letter to help sick children, along with their supporters. However, there was a long delay due to a function taking place at 10 Downing Street. Gordon had to wait in the cold for around 90 minutes, an ordeal at 80, however, Hugh did not make one word of complaint. Just as before when he was a soldier he did his duty to help those in need. Kelly is following in his footsteps and spoke outside 10 Downing Street asking the Government to more to help poor children in need. Today we have been told that our deputation to Redbridge Council asking Redbridge to do more for vulnerable ch...

 Many thanks to everyone attending this is Kelly speaking out for the poor in 10 Downing Street, let's hope the Prime Minister listens!  Letter delivered below

 This is the letter we will take. Dear Prime Minister We write to you regarding the comments from Cllr Jas Athwal, the Leader of Redbridge Council at Council meetings that Redbridge has the third worst financial settlement in London from central government. As a consequence Redbridge is proposing substantial cuts to services at their budget on the 29 th February 2024. We note with concern cuts to the council tax reduction fund for the most vulnerable residents. Especially in light of the BBC report dated 10 th November 2023 saying  “There were 3,743 deaths in children in the year ending March 2023 - up from 3,452 the previous year, estimates for England suggest.”  The report adds: “The figures suggest the steepest rise in deaths was for children under five. Researchers are doing more work to understand the factors behind this.” The statistics above are published by the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD), the government funded research department tasked with track...

 Great to get the lead letter in Ilford Recorder this week per the pics

 Thank you very much to the person who produced the poster below for the campaign. It would be much appreciated if it could be shared.

Below are two teaching staff from Redbridge explaining how bad poverty is in Redbridge and their concerns that it is getting worse The text below is computer generated and has some errors Transcript below And the one thing that as a teacher you want to have is a good, healthy breakfast.  Because if the child is not physically ready to learn, then it's impossible to to teach that child in a way that you wish you could and the way they deserve. And the amount of children we've seen, almost all of the schools now in Redbridge are running either breakfast clubs, bagel gloves, where children literally get just a plain bagel because they've had no food coming into school. And sometimes we have parents. Which they can't either afford to give children the right kind of breakfast and they get something really sugary, really quick. That's equally as bad because if the detriment I can have today attention span as well. So I think breakfast just starting off today is ...

Members of Redbridge Trades Union Council and East London Unite  are actively campaigning against Redbridge Council's plans to cut council tax support for the poorest residents, during the worst  cost of living crisis in  living  memory when benefits no longer cover the basic necessities of  life  . The campaign highlights the struggles already  faced by Redbridge residents to eat and heat their homes .    The Joseph Rowntree Trust's alarming statistics, show that 14.4 million people, including 4.2 million children, are living in dire poverty  and  62% of  people who are destitute  are  chronically sick and disabled. At a public meeting held on February 13th, the audience heard from local teachers about children coming to school hungry and without adequate clothing affecting their  health and  well-being. A local caseworker explained how he sees  many residents' struggling with housing and debt  pr...