by Paul Donovan
BRITAIN’S six million carers who look after relatives and friends save the National Health Service billions. They need to be experienced in first aid, counselling, health and safety, pharmacology, cooking, cleaning, communication and stress management. They should expect to forgo their personal privacy and make do on very little.
One such carer is Preethi Manuel. She looks after Zharah, her 21-year-old daughter has cerebral palsy. Preethi has acted as Zharah’s full-time, prime carer for the past two decades. Paid care assistants come to her flat to help out, but many prove more trouble than they are worth.
Preethi has to manage all her daughter’s needs. She has to stay fit in order to carry out all necessary physical tasks and provide a decent quality of life for her daughter. Preethi says: “Zharah does have a full life, being with people she loves, going to the shops and local cinemas. These are all benefits she gets from being at home.”
Zharah is non-verbal, but bright and she wants to learn. However, this has proved another area of frustration as the college where she was accepted has failed to provide the necessary trained assistance. Preethi has become a fighter for her daughter’s rights, pursuing court cases through the courts against local schools. She loves her daughter deeply and will do anything for her, but at times she despairs about the limits on her own life.
Although there is supposed to be provision for a weekend break every month, Preethi is unable to take advantage of this because paid care assistants are currently unable to cope on their own. A writer and teacher, Preethi still insists. “I need to make clear that caring is the best and most difficult job I have had in my life.”.
For Preethi and many thousands of others who provide unpaid care for loved ones, the report of the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, Valuing and Supporting Carers, provides some hope. This highlights the £87 billion worth of care provided by those who look after friends and relatives. It recommends income replacement for those unable to work because of their commitments and compensation for costs involved during “intensive” caring.
The report found that carers often struggle to stay in work and then suffer “opportunity penalties” because their skills become outdated. It states: “We believe that the Department for Work and Pensions should support adults who become carers during their working lives to combine work and care and enable those who wish to return to paid work when caring ends or changes to do so. It must ensure that in caring for family members, young carers are not disadvantaged in accessing opportunities for education, training and employment, and it must mitigate the financial strain on those whose pensions have been affected by their caring roles.”
The Government’s 10-year strategy “Carers at the Heart of 21st Century Families and Communities” sets out a wide range of commitments. These include “the provision of information and advice; breaks provision for carers; improved support from the NHS; and support to help carers better combine work and care”. The Government stated aim is that: “Carers will be supported so that they are not forced into financial hardship by their caring role.” However, the Work and Pensions Committee expressed disappointment that benefits for carers are not directly addressed in the carers’ strategy and are only identified as a long-term priority from 2011.
There needs to be a complete change in the culture of the care provision system. The Government has good intentions, but seems reluctant to pay for care if it thinks it can continue to get it for free. So carers such as Preethi still have to fight for everything they need. It is encouraging that the debt society owes to carers is finally being recognised, but there is still a long way to go and the solutions are not all about pounds and pence.
