TO: Liz Kendall MP (Secretary of State for Work & Pensions) and Ed Miliband MP (Secretary of State for Energy Security & Net Zero)

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Every single day, 300 people across the UK die in poverty. And the “cost of dying crisis” is getting worse.

Everybody living with a terminal illness should be able to spend the last months and days of their life focusing on what really matters: making memories with their loved ones. But last year 18% of those that died across the UK were living in poverty.

That's over 111,000 people who spent precious time at the end of their lives worrying about how they would make ends meet – struggling to pay their bills, forced to make the impossible choice between food or heating their home, and building up debts that would be passed onto their loved ones after their death.

Life is often more expensive when you live with a terminal diagnosis and, with the rising cost of living, more terminally ill people are being pushed into poverty every year. But it doesn't need to be this way. That's why Marie Curie is calling on the UK Government to act now, and:

Make sure that all people living with a terminal illness have enough income to live their life comfortably until the very end, regardless of what benefits they may receive.
Introduce a social tariff for energy to protect people living with a terminal illness and their households from spiralling energy bills.

Please sign the petition if you agree that the UK Government needs to fix the cost of dying crisis.

➕ Why are so many people dying in poverty?

At Marie Curie, we've known for a long time that people who are diagnosed with a terminal illness are more likely to experience poverty. Many will lose income after they need to give up or reduce paid work, will face the additional costs of assistance with aspects of daily living like transport and personal care, and will have to pay out of pocket for home adaptations or specialist equipment. On top of this, alongside the rising cost of living, people living with a terminal illness often have energy bills that are thousands of pounds higher than the average household’s due to the added energy needed for symptom management.

When the cost of living increases, so does the cost of dying. The UK Government needs to confront rising poverty rates head-on, and address the additional costs that people living with a terminal illness face.

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