Hardship Fund / How to Lobby your MP and Forthcoming CBA Meeting Details 05.09.22
Dear Members,
Three key announcements for the first week of our indeterminate action, please read with care:
1/ CBA Hardship Fund open for applications
The CBA Hardship Fund is now accepting applications from CBA members.
You can access the application form here along with the terms of reference.
As previously mentioned in our earlier message to members on 23rd August 2022 the fund will be administered in collaboration with our colleagues at the Bar Council and is designed to support those who are suffering financial hardship from a loss of work due to their participation in the action.
Please return the form, or submit any questions or queries to [email protected]
Please do not wait to apply until you are in significant difficulties. We encourage you to enquire now about the fund and, in particular, to encourage your junior colleagues to do the same.
If you would like to donate to the fund please use the link and circulate it to your contacts, to encourage them to do the same.
2/ Lobbying your MP and a reminder of arrangements for Tuesday 6th September
Please follow the link to send a letter and updated Parliamentary briefing to your MP as part of the intensive Parliamentary lobbying work presently being undertaken by the CBA on your behalf.
Corresponding and meeting with your MP is a powerful mechanism available to you, as a constituent, to continue to push the issue of our ballot demands up the political agenda and maintain pressure on Government at this critical juncture.
Even if you have already made contact with your MP, and especially if you have not yet done so, please take the time to use the link. It will take you less than 5 minutes.
If you are intending to come to the in-person Parliamentary lobbying session at Westminster on the 6th September (pm) you may wish to add a sentence to the pro-forma letter, notifying your MP of your intended visit, and, if you feel comfortable doing so, providing your telephone number. You may also wish to print out the revised Parliamentary briefing and bring it with you.
Here is a reminder of the arrangements for lobbying at Westminster on Tuesday, the evidence session before the Justice Select Committee and the arrangements and times for gatherings outside court centres on each of the circuits:
3/ Under 7’s weekly zoom meetings will continue for the duration of the action
This week’s Under 7’s meeting will be at 6pm on Wednesday (7th September).
Going forward, the meetings will revert to their usual time of 6pm on Tuesdays.
The zoom link will be circulated close in time to the meeting. As ever, these meetings are for CBA members only.
Please encourage any barristers or pupil barristers, of 7 years call or under, to attend. The meetings provide a safe forum for the most junior in the profession to meet with the CBA officers, and YCBA representatives, voice their opinions, and ask questions.
If you have a question or concern in the meantime, and are under 7 years call, please email the YCBA team [email protected]
The national zoom meeting for all levels of call will take place at 10.30am on Wednesday 7th September.
Going forward, the national zoom meeting will revert to 10.30am on Tuesdays for the duration of the action. The link will be circulated the evening before. Again, please remember these meetings are for CBA members only (do not circulate the link).
Yours,
Lucie Wibberley
Secretary
Mark Watson
Assistant Secretary