Oct
13
In all the doom and gloom of banking collapses, recession and rising costs there is one group in society that seems to be forgotten. The press is full of the woes of the pensioner or the first time buyer or the young family but what about the group who do not fall into any of these categories but are unable due to chronic ill health to work, the married over 50s with no dependant children but not in receipt of a pension. Not poor enough for working tax credits because their husband/wife is earning more than the minimum wage, not old enough to get any paid up pensions, not “disabled” enough in the terms required by the Disability Living Allowance forms to get disability allowance - yet unable to go out and survive a full days work. These couples have been left to face rising costs for fuel and food, they get no help to pay for council tax, prescriptions, dental care or eyecare. They have lost all chance of saving for their ‘real’ retirement. People seem to assume they got some huge pay-off when they were forced out of their jobs - the reality is most are fired ‘on the grounds of capability’- a fantastic get-out-of-jail free card for employers. Many of these people have suffered from cancer and it is the drug treatment or chemotherapy which has damaged them to such an extent that they are no longer able to work - and yet the hospital authorities only treat the disease, they lose all interest in the fall out that treatment causes. Truly, the forgotten people. In this cancer awareness month it is time for the authorities to consider the aftermath of cancer. It’s not enough to get people through the disease only to leave them living in abject poverty for the rest of their lives.
