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Quite often, some might say all too often, the reader’s responses to articles published in the Media are often far more interesting than the published original and one response because no doubt of my personal experiences, caught my attention concerning “Carers”.

We all know that cuts in Government expenditure are coming and therefore in the run up to the final decisions being made in October, one can expect just about every special interest to be putting forward the case why they should be ‘left alone’. However and as I thought about it, there is rather more to this “Benefits Reform” and in a sense, the basic decision hinges around whether people expect help from the State on the basis of a ‘right’, a contractual basis or, on as ‘needed’ basis.

Full Time Carers.

A lady wrote in and made the case for carers benefits being protected from the upcoming cuts and although she made her case well, it was far too narrowly focused for the current situation and circumstances so my reply was as below:

“Although I hear what you are saying, what you present is nothing more than ‘special pleading’ and you really need to think about it rather more clearly because I am sure that there are other groups of people who too, think that their cause deserves ring fenced special measures.

And no, I do not dismiss the needs of ‘Carers’ and just how their contribution benefits the taxpayer and society in general because up until the end of January when my Mother died, I was one and giving up my independent life, had been so for 6 years previously. My Mother had been a semi-invalid for years and originally my Father, her carer with the odd “Attendance Allowance” that gave my Father, a “Carers Allowance” (about £50 pw) but when it all came too much for him and I moved in to look after both, all that happened was that his Carers Allowance was switched to me.

Becoming a Carer

The funniest thing I can remember was having to fill in a booklet to make the claim for me as the “Carer”, it had space for only one ‘person being looked after’: I added my Father to my Mother, the form was returned, “YOU CAN ONLY CLAIM FOR ONE PERSON !” – Morons I wasn’t looking for “double Bubble” or twice the cash, just letting you know.

The way it works, I got the Carers Allowance which is not “Means Tested” and as I was looking after my Parents full time, I was paid a supplementary benefit which after 60 became called “Pension Credit” to top me up to some theoretical “minimum income” level; “…that you need to live on…”

Of course and since her death (Pops died Easter 2007), I have lost my Carers Allowance along with the pension income of my Mother who, coming on for 90, had various other benefits such as a free TV licence…etc. On top of that, apparently I have found out that my carers allowance included a £20 a week premium which I no longer get so, whilst I may now own a house, my income has diminished considerably in most directions ! Should I complain ?

I say NO ! I was living and working in the USA (a wonderful experience), when I came home to look after them and as I was flying some 36,000 feet above the Atlantic, my Father who was my Mother’s carer was taken into hospital for an emergency operation, I was ‘coming home’ at just the right time. I would have been content if my parents had ‘sold up’ and moved into a retirement home leaving me with no inheritance but, that was not their wish. Neither is it my wish to be dependent upon the State which means other taxpayers, I am working on my business plans with the aim of beating the £130pw I currently get from my fellow citizens via their taxes and I would rather do without.

Help As Needed

I am sure there are many other circumstances and variations for carers and yes, I was lucky, my Parents individually were coherent to the end. I once met a lady who cared for her Mother who had dementia and her only complaint was that her mother only knew who she was 10% of the time, I never experienced that.

But the real question that overhangs all discussion on “Benefits” must be just how far do you go with help ? When I needed it looking after two people I loved, was ‘it’ there, yes and now it is just me, I am content. I got help when I needed it so that I could concentrate on looking after the people I love/loved and this would be the same whether I was a carer of old people or, a single mum.

Perhaps we should look at what as a society we want to achieve, help as needed or help on some kind of “contractual basis”, whatever, tough choices.

Middle Class Benefits

We are all aware that Gordon Brown as both Chancellor and Prime Minister, set out to enmesh as many of the population into becoming “Clients of the State, his State” so that today, even the middle classes enjoy this benefit or that and have factored it into their budgets. Before the ‘Cultural Working Class Revolution’ of the 1960s, Britain was often labelled as a class ridden society, I would suggest that it still is but, with a twist…

It is now an introverted type of class snobbery where spite, envy and people “getting more than me” rules both politics and the media generally which in turn closes down other possibilities.

Reducing the Benefits Burden

Being working class and having bought up 4 children in the past, I cannot think of anything more daft than sending your children to Public School where even the most mediocre seen to charge £5,000 a term. However, it must surely be fair that if some fool wants to (Dianne Abbot comes to mind) and as they are relieving the State of funding the education of their brat, why should they not get tax relief on the cost ?

Take it a stage further because of course the Schools will raise their fees pretty quickly, such is human nature but one can do something else. In return for the tax relief, they pay an additional percentage (10%) into each school’s scholarship fund to ensure that suitably (academically), qualified children could earn a free education including uniform and school trips, regardless of their social background, talent wins out over class (either way).

You could do the same with private medical provision where a family plan is taken out but of course, you would have to accept that people will be thrown back on the State in old age unless an insurance company can construct a cradle to the grave premium structure. The principle is that if anyone takes away costs from the public purse, they should at least have tax relief. Oh and before anyone talks about ‘Two Tiers’, over the past 6 years nursing both my Parents, I was often amazed by how few NHS Nurses there seems to be, especially in Intensive Care, they all all “on contract”.

Conclusion

Still, such proposals will never gain traction I suppose, spite and envy will see to that plus the Socialist dogma of all supposed wealthy people are ‘obviously scum’, now seems embedded in the psyche which is sad.

However in order to reduce the overall burden on taxpayers, may well involve incentives for people to “look after themselves” through giving them tax reliefs for doing so plus, concentrating the freed up resources on those in more need.