Lyn Boyd and Gayle Brown

Small Charity 3 part time staff & volunteers360 Member organisationsVCS organisations with an interest in mental health and well beingAdvice, support, information sharing, research, training, events, lobbying

To Influence Policy and Practice

Current economic and political situation

Changes to Local Authority and NHSFunding Cuts PersonalisationNo Health without Mental HealthBenefits

Possible ConstraintsCapacityLack of FundsGeographic BaseStature small regional charityPerception of North EastTime to build up media & other contactsResponse Time

Consult with our MembersBrief Councillors, MPs and LordsPress ReleasesWebsiteE bulletinsSocial media facebook and twitterWrite letters and emailsEventsAsk for help from our friends

Reports and concerns from member organisations about the initial assessment of ESA applicationsIndividuals contacting MHNE in very distressed conditions needing support prior or following assessmentsTo research how widespread these concerns are and to raise this issue at the highest levelsTo examine the impact of the ESA and appeals process from a social, economic, psychological and physiological perspective

The Government Claims these changes will rid the system of fraud and abuse and make it fairer on the tax payer I think it was the right policy to do because there had been people sitting for over ten years on sickness benefit and no-one had ever seen them Ian Duncan Smith (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions)

Survey compiled and sent out to all membersFollowing requests new survey designed specifically for service users and distributedConsulted local MPs, welfare rights organisations etc Collection and collation of resultsBriefing of MPs and media, press release Hardest Hit eventDiscussed in Parliament In process of reporting the findings

Throughout we have researched the issues surrounding ESA and reported on a regular basis via our website and information bulletins

MHNEs concerns raised in debate in House of CommonsHansard Extracts- (see handouts)Tremendous feed back from a wide range of sourcesSteve Bell agreed use of his cartoonRaised Profile for future campaignsArticles in newspapers hmmmOngoing research and campaigning

A small organisation CAN have an impact!

Any questions?