I am not a prospective politician or economist. I'm not even much of a cider drinker. While I am politically and socially aware, I harbour no aspirations in those quarters. Yet when my government, who work for me and is paid by me, start attacking those closest to me, I'm not going to stay quiet. While the issues I have regarding disability and care are personal, they are not issues unique to me and my family. There are literally millions of carers in this country who are generally forgotten about and underrepresented so while I speak for myself, I suspect that I'm not alone in my thoughts. So, Mr. Osborne.
VAT - Mr. Osborne has successfully avoided raises taxes on our incomes! Hooray! The Wurzels won't see a tax on their cider! Hooray! We will, however find taxes raised on almost everything we spend our incomes on instead. Everybody pays VAT. It's the same rate whether you're a millionaire or in the dole queue. This is unfair because the poor pay more as a percentage of their income than the rich, but I guess it is a good way to encourage saving. People wishing to avoid the increase in taxes on goods and services will have to forego the odd meal out, give up chocolate, put on another jumper if they can't afford to call out a man to fix the heating ... ahem. Yet our society is consumer driven. We are blasted by advertising everywhere we go, on TV, on billboards, on buses, in magazines - so when Mrs. Public goes to the shops with her daughter who just saw an ad on TV for an amazing toy that all her friends have got what's Mum supposed to say? "Sorry, dear, but since Mr. Osborne put the VAT up, that's really out of our budget, see what you can make from this potato". The point here is that everything except the bare essentials (and who decides what's 'essential'?) is about to get more expensive. Rather than ask those who can pay more to pay more, Mr. Osborne's actions will strike the poorest first and hardest. Let's consider some of the those poor.
Disabled Living Allowance - I've always thought there was something socially sacred about the disabled, along with children, the elderly and the sick. The most hated people in society are those who attack these people, so maybe Mr. Osborne should stand alongside false meter readers and the Moors Murderers? Or is that a bit Daily Mail? A bit extreme? Is it? People who claim DLA haven't just got a bad back and fancy some time off work, they are severely disabled. Some do work, many want to but don't get sufficient support in job-hunting, and some just cannot. They aren't fraudsters; many don't have the capacity to commit fraud. We have cared for Sarah for 24 years. Every day we have to deal with the fact that she is a burden on the state, a drain on the public pocket. I find it degrading and insensitive for David Cameron, who had a disabled child of his own, to now ask millions of people to PROVE that they are disabled as if it's something to be ashamed of, to reinforce the stigma that already exists over aspies, and Downsies and mongoloids. Good work there, Tory.
The Department of Works and Pensions estimate that 0.5% of over 3million DLA claims are fraudulent and to weed out this small proportion of people, all DLA claimants will now be subject to medical testing. OK, so what will this testing involve? DLA comes in two components: mobility and care. To qualify for the full whack, the claimant must required 24-hour care and have severe mobility problems (ie. be wheelchair or bed bound). Most claimants have invisible disabilities (like autism) so I want to know if Mr. Osborne's assessors will deem her ability to walk equal to her ability to work. Furthermore, DLA is an example of a 'gateway benefit'. Mum's Carer's Allowance is directly tied to Sarah's DLA, so if that benefit is decreased, so are all our others. For families that depend on benefits, this is a very real concern. And another thing - how will Mr. Osborne pay for the medical professionals, assessors, the stationary and tranportation required to test 3million people of whom, as I said, only 0.5% are thought to be fakers?
Cuts to local government - Rhondda-Cynon-Taff Carers Support group have taken Mum to a botanical garden in Carmarthen today. Good if you have a passing interest in flowers, which my mother does - happy days. The support group is the only thing of it's kind in Aberdare that I know of and while they don't offer amazing opportunities - a day trip here, a painting class there - they do exist. It is funded by RCT council. Our Social Services, however, are somewhat put upon because our town has all the issues that come with deprivation - mass unemployment, domestic abuse, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and buckets of mental health problems. As well as all of this, Social Services are also expected to look after the disabled and their carers. Nationwide, councils are being forced to put social care first in the ConDem cuts firing line and I wonder at the wisdom of taking funding away from councils like RCT, who are barely containing local problems as it is. Again, this is not a unique situation. Look at Haringey here in London, nationally reviled as the council responsible for the deaths of Victoria Climbié and Peter Connelly because of inadequate social care. And the ConDems want to take more money off them?
Of course, Camerclegg will tell you it's phase one in the Big Society. Lovely volunteers with purely altruistic thoughts will hurry to the rescue of disabled people everywhere! They will work for free (presumably, considering horribly poor most disabled families are) and before we know it everyone will be happy and middle-class with two children, two cars, a mortgage and an ISA! Hooray! Does Mr. Osborne truly believe that in the greed-ridden society fostered by the great Thatcher herself, that all these people with their own homes and jobs to look after and with no monetary incentive are going to volunteer their time for the disabled, the sick and the old? I wonder if Camerclegg have ever been out of the city. Here in London we're spoilt for choice for accessible voluntary groups, but they just don't exist out in the sticks. So with no volunteers and no social services the disabled are left house bound while the elderly die quietly in their homes or clog up hospital beds.
To conclude then:
- Everything is going to get more expensive.
- DLA claimants and their families are facing slashes to their incomes when everything is about to get more expensive.
- Councils are having to cut back on social care, leaving the disabled to fend for themselves at a time when their incomes are being reduced and everything is getting more expensive.
I really wouldn't mind paying more for a pint of cider to avoid this. So roll on the ConDem budget. And what with Andrew Lansley clearing the way for the privatisation of the NHS (an overstatement I'll admit, but one I won't back down on), should be a good year for Tories, cider drinkers and masochists.
Additional reading from The Guardian
And CarersUK (the budget response is second on the list)
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