We Are Going To London! Update on Holyrood!
Good morning everyone! We hope you’re doing well.
In pretty BIG news, we received word yesterday that we have been granted access to Downing Street on 15/3/23 at 3pm to hand in our petition! Four of the team should be there to hand it in, from across the U.K. This means a lot of travelling for Sarah, Rachel and Cass, who are coming from across the three nations of the mainland U.K. It’s incredibly exciting, daunting when you’re not well, but we hope this will start a conversation and research into the financial impact of Long Covid on Keyworkers.
It has been determined that pensions are reserved to Westminster, meaning they have to make a decision overall about whether or not they will address the issue around Keyworkers who can’t work anymore. Obviously, as we have stated in previous updates, we feel the bare minimum is that any keyworker who cannot work anymore should be entitled to their full pension and benefits.
In other news, in case you hadn’t already heard, Holyrood is having a Long Covid debate on 14/3/23 and we are hopeful that the issues of Keyworkers deserving compensation and pension for occupational long Covid will finally be heard.
Cass also recently had a meeting with their MP - it was a productive discussion and they’ve offered to help us in any way that they can. There’s a couple of questions currently being drafted and Cass is also working on a range of other questions that can be asked, based on those previously asked by their MSP, Foysol Choudhury.
All this means that there’s a lot of work to be done and not a lot of time in which it can be done. On top of trying to reach MSPs and MPs with our stories, briefings need prepared and we need to try and do a survey for Keyworkers with Long Covid to try and gather some much-needed data: There really isn’t any for the impact Long Covid has on us at all.
So what can you do to help?
You can share this petition, using the link, across social media. We are trying to get to 150k supporters before 15 March 2023 and I think we can do it! Tell everyone you know.
You can keep an eye out on your email: We will be asking you to write to your MPs and MSPs ahead of 14 and 15 March, with some very specific content!
Please complete and share the survey as soon as it is launched - again - keep an eye on your email for that big drop!
We have so much more work to do with this campaign and it often seems exhausting. We are looking into trying to get more on social media, so please send us links to your stories on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, please tell us your stories and we will share them (anonymously) across this petition and social media. Again, if you’re a keyworker outside of healthcare, please tell us your stories by emailing us at keyworkerpetitionuk@gmail.com.
A long post, but as it’s been a while, we wanted to keep you posted! Stay well, stay amazing!