As an active member of the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC), the Arthritis Research UK policy, campaigns and public affairs teams have worked closely with the Chairs of the coalition on the DBC’s new report. The report demonstrating the huge problems which many people experience when trying to access Personal Independence Payments, and includes statistics from the DBC Big Benefits Survey – with over 1500 responses specifically from people with musculoskeletal conditions- and an in depth case study provided by Arthritis Research UK about Debs, who had her PIP reduced and lost her Motability care as a result.
You can support this campaign by sparing a couple of minutes to send the report to your MP, and ask them to help improve PIP for everyone with arthritis who needs to rely on it. If you would like to read the full report, it’s available on the DBC website.
Arthritis Research UK and Arthritis Care merger
We are delighted to tell you that Arthritis Research UK and Arthritis Care will be merging to become one organisation this autumn. The decision was made after careful consideration and due diligence, with both organisations focused on how best to serve the interests of people living with arthritis in the UK. We believe this is an opportunity to build on the best of both organisations and we are excited about the future. We are pleased to share that Liam O’Toole will be chief executive of the merged charity. Although we will officially become one charity in the autumn, it will take time to bring together our combined resources. We will keep you updated about changes that affect you and there will also be information available on both of our websites over the coming months. Please get in touch if you have specific questions or concerns.