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The economy’s in meltdown: let’s skim off the elderly
MESSAGES of doom and gloom pour out of city pundits, economists and sometimes politicians: the nation is in a financial mess, and few can escape the blast of despair.
But one part of the population has lived with despair for years – the elderly. While most Britons have enjoyed a high level of prosperity since the late 1990s, even though it was founded on the treacherous foundation of easy credit and debt, the majority of the elderly have scraped along on a pittance of a pension compared to their counterparts in other major economies in the EU.
For them, the boom years have meant very little. Nor have there been any signs that government ministers have been aware of their plight – even though they may make themselves feel better by awarding a winter fuel allowance just before Christmas.
Last week hundreds of pensioners filled Parliament Square, urging the government to restore the link between average earnings and pensions.
Will the government pay any heed to their clamour? Will Gordon Brown pencil in the need to heavily overhaul pension payments to meet the threatened economic blizzard?
Who is more vulnerable to the financial crisis than the elderly on fixed low pensions – pensions that fall in value in real terms as higher food and energy prices bite?
But if the government can be accused of indifference to the misery of pensioners, a similar charge can be levelled against local authorities, such as Camden Council, that seem bent on hacking away at the home care mechanisms the elderly have enjoyed over the years.
You would think that at a time when minds should be concentrated on how best to help pensioners in the coming months, even years, the very last thing politicians would think of is how to curtail existing services.
But imagination can often be found in short supply among decision makers.
Unfortunately, when local authorities trim and cut to keep within budgets, far too many pick on services for pensioners, introducing degrading means testing or simply raising charges for what are essential services.
Slowly, a campaign – led by Campaign Against Care Charges – has been building up in the borough against the council’s latest attempt to balance their books at the expense of the elderly.
A public protest meeting is to be held tomorrow (Friday) afternoon at Kentish Town Congregational Hall in Kelly Street, from 2-4pm.
We hope Town Hall officials and politicians will attend to hear at first-hand what their cuts will really mean to the lives of residents in Camden. |
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