Reg. Charity No.1117509
The Matthew Fulham Foundation
What Are We Campaigning For?
1. To establish a fund to assist victims and their families with costs incurred immediately after an incident (funeral costs, travel to distant hospitals, etc.)
For us it was the worry over how we were going to manage financially in the near future when we got home from Egypt. How were we going to pay for repatriation, a funeral, the credit card bill and then live after redundancy when it was difficult getting out of bed in the morning let alone seeking new employment. People in this country should not have this extra burden after being traumatised by such an event. Lets face it as a country we are not poor. We use billions of tax payers money to aid people in other countries (and rightly so) so why can’t we help our own tax payers? Part or all of any financial aid given to help could be repaid if say an insurance company were to give a the victims a discretionary sum. We would not want to profit from Matthews death and no amount of money can compensate for his life.
2. Provide on-going assistance to help victims and their relatives rebuild their
lives.
For some victims they will need extra financial help in the medium to long term to help rebuild their lives. That may take the form of giving financial assistance to help pay for medical supplies and medication to false limbs or to help pay for carer’s, or even something as simple as provision for allowing the victims to take a holiday to help them rebuild their lives.
If the Government agencies expect the State that a terrorist action occurs in to pay compensation, then those victims will need help to obtain that compensation. The Government should provide that support. That support should be guidance and assistance on how to approach the Government of that State and pursue a claim. Our Government could also put pressure on that State if appropriate to compensate UK citizens. As we have found, it is nigh impossible for a normal citizen of the UK to sue a Government.
3. Consider introducing a £1 levy on every foreign trip undertaken by British Nationals to establish funds (on average 65 million trips are undertaken each year).
There are always arguments about the cost of any schemes to provide financial aid.
By putting a £1-
4. Undertake an immediate review of all emergency communication processes put into
effect after an incident – emergency telephone response team, e-communications, family
liaison officers, commitment to sharing information etc.
Better communication after criminal/terrorist action abroad. For those relatives of victims that are in the UK and those at the scene of a terrorist atrocity.
5. Work with FCO and travel industry to train staff likely to be first on the scene of an incident.
6. Work with the emergency services and travel industry to develop standard procedure for dealing with travel arrangements for victims and their families.
In the aftermath of the Egyptian bombings, the relatives of victims had to make their
own arrangements to get out to Egypt. None were aware that the FCO have a package
(2 economy return flights and 2-
The day after the attack in Egypt around 40 police and other experts were flown out from the UK. This was a missed opportunity to also fly out the victims relatives on the same flight.
What Are We Campaigning
For?
