Lunch Reimbursements For Volunteers On State Benefits - Please Act

The Department for Work and Pensions' new guidance, issued in May 2006, says that lunch reimbursements count as earnings for volunteers on state benefits, and thus could affect their benefits. The letter below (see link) was written by Kate Bowgett from Off the Streets And Into Work (OSW) to make it easier for volunteer-using organisations to contact MPs and others to complain about this change in DWP policy and practice. Kate has left gaps in the letter for people to fill in their own examples.

Pro forma letters are not taken as seriously as other letters, so it is important to chop and change the letter, add your own views, and in general give the letter a personal voice.

Kate says, The general feedback I seem to be getting from the Cabinet Office and parts of the DWP is that people are not 100% behind the 'no lunch expenses for people on benefits' thing, but that now the leaflet's been printed it's too late to retract the statement. I think it's up to all of us to put pressure on them to do just that. Postal addresses are: The Right Hon. John Hutton MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, The Adelphi, 1-11 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HT

The Right Hon. Jim Murphy MP, Minister of State, DWP at the address above. He has responsibility for Jobcentre Plus. Ed Miliband MP, Minister for the Third Sector, Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall, London SW1A 2AS. Your MP at House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.

Their email addresses are listed at www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm Alternatively the 'Write To Them' website at www.writetothem.com makes it easy to contact MPs by email. It would be helpful if you could notify katebowgett@osw.org.uk and andy.forster@volunteeringengland.org . It will be easier for them to discuss the issue with DWP if they know there is huge opposition to this change in DWP policy and practice. Download the Pro Forma letter here

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