Harry Steer says it is time for anger and shouting!

I recently had the opportunity, with my fellow member of the OPC Francis Tonks, to talk to the Pensioners' Association about the Older People's Council, its formation, development and recent strategies. Apart from the Chair's proposal that there ought to be a competition held to suggest what 80 year olds could best spend their 25p increment on, which I thought was an excellent idea, a number of questions and observations arose. One was why isn't the OPC better known and others ranged around what are we doing and what were we actually for.Another observation pointed out that there were literally dozens of organisations ostensibly working for older people but seemingly getting nowhere when the one fundamental question is asked; why are we so miserably off in real money terms. We agreed at that meeting that this is an obscenity. Recently hiked up charges for gas and electricity, coupled with rising food prices leave many of us with the alternative, eat or heat, freeze to death or starve. Also recently I have been to a number of meetings suggesting that something ought to be done. There should be forward planning, there should be more health provision, better accomodation etc, etc which I seem to have heard continuously since my early days as a councillor in the 1960's!

I was reminded from all this of the words recorded, in translation, of a Roman army administrator named Caius Petronius talking in AD 66 who said, "We trained hard but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be re-organised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by re-organising, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress whilst producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation". Nothing has changed in 2000 years! We talk about it and talk about it, but very little seems to get done. Let's form a Committee, a Working Party, a one day Conference, an Advisory Group!

Now we are entering the Conference season. Will any of the political parties address the issue of worthwhile pensions, or will it again be talked about, surveys undertaken, advisory bodies set up, comparisons made, one-off payments suggested for fuel bills, food bills or insulation, or ..... you name it!

This brings me back to our Pensioners' Association meeting and the questions asked. The OPC is not wider known because despite all attempts at publicity the media broadly is not interested unless there is a degree of sensation. Starve in a bed-sit this winter or die of hypothermia and there will be shock, horror .... but will anything result? We feel frustrated at lack of focus, the lack of attention, but where do we go? We in the OPC continue to raise issues appertaining to the nearly 50,000 of us in this City often with good effect. However my personal feeling is that now is the time for anger and shouting.We cannot wait twenty years while people plan and talk; we need action now. After all, that great economist, Maynard Keynes said, "In the long term we are all dead"!

Harry Steer
Chair
Brighton & Hove Older People's Council

Open letter to The Argus concerning Paying for Social Care

Many of us will need social care at some time, especially as we get older or experience illness or a disability (for example, social care in a home, support to continue living in one’s own home, the treatment for long-term conditions like diabetes or mental illness). How will we pay for that care in future? Who will pay for it? The government has estimated that in 20 year’s time there will be an additional 1.7 million people needing support, and there is likely to be a £6billion shortfall in the funding for this care

There are questions here which concern us all:
What should be the balance between family, individual and the government for providing funding for care?
Should Government funding be the same for everyone, or allocated in different ways, dependent on need, ability to pay, local area, or the onset of disability?
What is the role of taxation or some form of social insurance?
How important for the system is national consistency or local flexibility?
What is our individual responsibility for our care needs in later life?
Should anyone be expected to sell their home to pay for care? Are there other, better ways of paying for care?
What should be the balance between targeting resources at those least able to pay and supporting those who plan ahead? Means testing may penalise those who have saved for the future, but without means testing support for those who need it most will be more restricted

Most people underestimate the likelihood that they will need long term care. A third of all men and half of women reaching 65 will need care at some time in the future. Social care does not just happen to someone else. It happens to us

Brighton and Hove Older People’s Council would like to submit a summary of views from local residents to a nationwide consultation ahead of forthcoming government proposals for future funding of social care. If you have any comments, please send them by the end of October

You can either
write to The Older People’s Council, Room 39, Kings House, Grand Avenue, Hove BN32SS
or
email us at olderpeoplescouncil@brighton-hove.gov.uk
or
post your comments on this blog


John Barry
Secretary, Brighton & Hove Older People’s Council

Open letter to Brighton & Hove MPs concerning older people and energy costs

I write to you as secretary of the Brighton & Hove Older People’s Council

Everyone will be aware of the recent and unprecedented increases in energy costs, and the resulting prices rises imposed by energy suppliers for gas and electricity. The effect of these increases will obviously be felt by everyone, but we are particularly concerned about the impact on older people in Brighton and Hove. Many of these people are on limited incomes and have few reserves to fall back on. Some have already spoken to us of their real worries about coping during the coming winter

The Ofgem report published earlier this week (Ofgem: Energy Supply Probe – Initial Findings, 6 October 2008) provides telling evidence of the energy problems faced by many elderly people. There are 9.1 million people over the age of 65 in this country. By no means all of them are fuel poor but included in that figure is a high number of the economically poor, the chronically sick and the disabled. Adequate heating is essential for them. For their energy supplies many older people are standard credit customers or on prepayment meters, and because of their economic status many tend to be less likely than others to have access to the best price deals

We know that energy saving and efficiency schemes, promoted both by the government and by Brighton and Hove City Council, are aimed at helping the fuel poor and vulnerable energy consumers. These and all similar measures may produce long term savings, but these initiatives offer little prospect of immediate help with winter fuel bills for the elderly and those on low incomes

In the current economic uncertainty over the problems in the banking and financial sectors there remains an absolutely vital need to support vulnerable older citizens. We have long argued that the state pension is simply inadequate for those with limited resources. Now more than ever we need your support for a significant pension increase which would be of crucial assistance in meeting higher energy costs. We urge you to support vigorously any move to increase the winter fuel payments for older people

Finally the Older People’s Council asks that you make representations to the relevant minister requesting that immediate assistance be given to older people to help with their direct energy costs this winter


Yours sincerely


John Barry
Secretary, Brighton& Hove Older People’s Council