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Contacting your local councillor or MP

A local councillor is a person who has been elected to the council. Their job is to help make decisions on behalf of everyone who lives within a certain area or ‘ward’.

Your MP is a representative who has been elected to parliament to make decisions and laws on behalf of everyone who lives within an area or ‘constituency’.

In some parts of the country you are also represented by Assembly Members, like MSPs (Scotland), Members of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) or London Assembly Members.

All of them are there to help you, their constituents.

How can I contact my representative?

A website called WriteToThem makes it really easy.

Visit WriteToThem now.

You don’t need to know anything about your representatives – not even their names! All you need to know is your own postcode.

You can send a message through the site, and the response will come to your email.

Why contact your representative?

Some reasons you might contact a representative include:

  • You’ve been unfairly treated by your landlord and you want some advice.
  • You would like your local council to spend some money on improvements within your community.
  • Your accommodation is below standard and you haven’t been able to get things changed.
  • You’d like to see a change in the law that would benefit other people who live in tower blocks.
  • You would like your MP to ask a question in Parliament, which can be the first step towards getting an issue discussed.

How do I know which representative to contact?

Each type of representative works in different areas, so you’ll need to contact a different one depending on what your issue is.

If you visit WriteToThem.com, you’ll see a short description of the areas each representative works in, when you get to the page where you pick which one to write to.

It is usually your local councillor who deals with practical housing matters. while MPs and MSPs are more concerned with changing the law (although they can step in to help their constituents if needed).

If you’d like more detail, you can see this Help page on WriteToThem.

Related guides

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Tools you can use

Contacting your landlord

Tips and letter templates to help you communicate with your landlord when there’s something wrong, or you want to find out more.
Two people in front of a wrold map. One is filming the other in an interview. Two people in front of a wrold map. One is filming the other in an interview.

Tools you can use

Contacting the media

Sometimes, if you’re not getting results through any other means, it can help to get some coverage in the local – or even national – press.
Two women discussing over a laptoip. Image by WOCintechchat Two women discussing over a laptoip. Image by WOCintechchat

Tools you can use

Starting or joining a Residents’ Association or an Action Group

Joining together with other residents in your block or community can make you much more powerful.
Image by Bobafred: the word INFO and braille beneath it Image by Bobafred: the word INFO and braille beneath it

Tools you can use

Using Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information is a way of getting information from public authorities, like councils or housing authorities. It’s available to everyone and you don’t have to be an expert to use it.

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