What’s the biggest decision facing the coalition? Lords reform? A euro referendum? Punishing greedy and incompetent bankers? No, no, no. Let’s talk instead about David.
David was in the Royal Navy and worked hard until he was 70. Now aged 76, he’s done all the right things … well, except for one thing – which is to suffer from a severe neurological disorder. He needs carers four times a day for dressing, washing and feeding, and can only get a shower once a week. Recently, his wheelchair brake broke and his carers refused to lift him out of his chair and into bed for health and safety reasons, so he spent three days sitting in it.
I spoke to David last week. After half a century of hard work, his payments for the care he needs – shared with his local authority – have recently risen from £260 to £324 a month, and he struggles to pay the bills from his dwindling savings and pension. Nobody told him it would be like this.
The point, of course, is that almost all of us are David, potentially. We live longer, we are infirm for longer, we need the help that all too often there aren’t family members around to provide. This is the huge question mark in the later stages of most lives – how will we cope and how will we pay?
